Greeting

¹Jude, a servant1 of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

aTo those who are called, bbeloved in God the Father and ckept for2 Jesus Christ:

²May dmercy, epeace, and love be multiplied to you.

Judgment on False Teachers

³Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our fcommon salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you gto contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴For hcertain people ihave crept in unnoticed jwho long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert kthe grace of our God into sensuality and ldeny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵Now I want mto remind you, although you once fully knew it, that nJesus, who saved3 a people out of the land of Egypt, oafterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And pthe angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— ⁷just as qSodom and Gomorrah and rthe surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and spursued unnatural desire,4 serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

⁸Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and tblaspheme the glorious ones. ⁹But when uthe archangel vMichael, contending with the devil, was disputing wabout the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, x“The Lord rebuke you.” ¹⁰yBut these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. ¹¹Woe to them! For they walked in zthe way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain ato Balaam's error and bperished in Korah's rebellion. ¹²These are hidden reefs5 cat your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, dshepherds feeding themselves; ewaterless clouds, fswept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, guprooted; ¹³hwild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of itheir own shame; jwandering stars, kfor whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁴It was also about these that Enoch, lthe seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, m“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵nto execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have ocommitted in such an ungodly way, and of all pthe harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶These are grumblers, malcontents, qfollowing their own sinful desires; rthey are loud-mouthed boasters, sshowing favoritism to gain advantage.

A Call to Persevere

¹⁷But you must tremember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸They6 said to you, u“In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, vdevoid of the Spirit. ²⁰But you, beloved, wbuilding yourselves up in your most holy faith and xpraying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ykeep yourselves in the love of God, zwaiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²²And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³save others by asnatching them out of bthe fire; to others show mercy cwith fear, hating even dthe garment7 stained by the flesh.

Doxology

²⁴eNow to him who is able fto keep you from stumbling and gto present you hblameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵to ithe only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, jbe glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time8 and now and forever. Amen.

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