Jude 1
1
Greeting
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, loved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
Contending Earnestly for the Faith
3 Beloved, as I was exerting every effort to write to you concerning our shared salvation, I deemed it necessary* to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have secretly slipped in—those who were designated long ago for this condemnation*—ungodly ones, who transform the grace of our God into sensuality, and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Judgment of Ungodly False Teachers
5 Now I want to remind you,* although you know everything once and for all, that Jesus,* having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their position of authority, but abandoned their own dwelling place, He has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them indulged in sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh* in the same way as these, are set forth as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet, in the same way, these ones also, being dreamers, defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak abusively against the glorious ones. 9 But Michael, the archangel, when he disputed with the devil, arguing concerning the body of Moses, did not dare to bring an abusive judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these people speak evil against all that they do not understand; and all that they understand by instinct, like the irrational animals, by these things they are destroyed.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam for gain, and have perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are hidden reefs in your love feasts, feasting together with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds carried away by winds, autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted, 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shameful deeds, wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been kept forever.*
14 And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these people, saying, “Behold, the Lord has come with tens of thousands of His holy ones 15 to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the deeds of their ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all* the harsh things* that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”* 16 These are grumblers, discontented individuals, advancing according to their own inordinate desires; and their mouths speak arrogant words, flattering people for the sake of profit.
Final Exhortation
17 But you, beloved, remember the words spoken in advance by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 for they kept saying to you that “In the last time, there will be scoffers, advancing according to their own desires of ungodliness.”* 19 These are the ones who cause invidious distinctions, worldly-minded, not having the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, which leads to eternal life. 22 And show mercy to those who are doubting, 23 and save some by snatching them out of the fire; and to others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Doxology
24 Now to the One who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God* our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord,* be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and now and forever.** Amen.
Notes
3 Greek I had necessity
4 One ancient Greek manuscript replaces condemnation with preaching
5 One ancient Greek manuscript inserts brothers at this point
5 Some ancient manuscripts read the Lord
7 Or unnatural desire
13 Greek to the age
14-15 This quotation derives from 1 Enoch 1:9, a Jewish apocalyptic text dated approximately first century B.C
15 One ancient Greek manuscript omits the expression: … the deeds of their ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all
15 Some ancient manuscripts read harsh words
18 Quoted from 2 Pet. 3:3
23 Some ancient manuscripts read this verse differently as: and others save with fear; snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment stained by the flesh
25 Some ancient manuscripts read to the only wise God to harmonise the text with a parallel construction in Rom. 16:27
25 Some ancient manuscripts omit the prepositional phrase through Jesus Christ our Lord
25 Greek to all the ages
25 Some ancient manuscripts read both now and forever
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Jude 1: AFINTLIT
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
