|
Jude, a
servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been
called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: {2}
Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. {3} Dear
friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation
we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith
that was once for all entrusted to the saints. {4} For certain
men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped
in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into
a licence for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and
Lord. {5} Though you already know all this, I want to remind you
that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed
those who did not believe. {6} And the angels who did not keep
their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has
kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the
great Day. {7} In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the
surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and
perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment
of eternal fire. {8} In the very same way, these dreamers pollute
their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. {9}
But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil
about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation
against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" {10} Yet these men
speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things
they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the
very things that destroy them. {11} Woe to them! They have taken
the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they
have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. {12} These men are
blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest
qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain,
blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice
dead. {13} They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their
shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved
forever. {14} Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about
these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his
holy ones {15} to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly
of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all
the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." {16}
These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil
desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own
advantage. {17} But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of
our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. {18} They said to you, "In the
last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly
desires." {19} These are the men who divide you, who follow mere
natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. {20} But you, dear
friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the
Holy Spirit. {21} Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. {22}
Be merciful to those who doubt; {23} snatch others from the
fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even
the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. {24} To him who is able
to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence
without fault and with great joy-- {25} to the only God our
Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. |
