A "Grain Of Wheat" Ministries publication

Translated by David W. Dyer

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The Letter of Jude

JUDE CHAPTER 1

1:1Jude, a slave of Jesus the Anointed One and brother of James, to those who are called – who are loved by God the Father and are kept secure by Jesus the Anointed One: 1:2May God’s mercy be real to you and may His peace and love be multiplied in your lives.

1:3Beloved, while I was being diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you to encourage you to earnestly struggle to continue in the faith which was once for all delivered to those separated for God.

1:4For there are certain men who have crept in secretly, even those who were already written about from ancient times, who will suffer the coming punishment. These are ungodly men who distort the grace of our God to justify unclean sexual behavior and who refuse the rulership of God over them, namely the lordship of Jesus the Anointed One.

1:5Now I want to remind you – even though you already understand all these things – that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who were not believing. 1:6And even the angels, which did not remain in their own sphere of authority but left their proper place, he has kept perpetually bound with chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day.

1:7Also, consider Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities around them, who, in the same way, gave themselves over to practice sex outside of the marriage covenant and engaged in deviant sexual behavior. These are set before us as an example by suffering the judicial sentence of eternal fire.

1:8Yet in exactly the same way these people also, following their unclean imaginations, defile their bodies through sexual sins, reject God’s authority, and even insult glorious heavenly beings.

1:9In contrast to this, Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil as he disputed with him about the body of Moses, did not dare to speak slanderously against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

1:10But these people speak slanderously of beings they really know nothing about and pervert themselves in the unclean practices which they know instinctively like animals without the ability to reason.

1:11Woe to them! For they have followed the way of Cain,* have run heedlessly after the error of Balaam who exercised his “ministry” for the sake of money, and will be destroyed as Korah was for opposing those whom God was truly using.

*Cain offered vegetables to God instead of a lamb. He imagined that what he could produce himself should be just as good for an offering as what God required.

1:12When you eat a meal together in an expression of God’s love, these people are right there in your midst like hidden reefs, fearlessly serving only themselves. They are like clouds without rain, carried here and there by the winds. They are like autumn trees without fruit, being twice dead, which will be uprooted.

1:13They are like wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. They are wandering stars, for whom the outer darkness has been reserved during the kingdom age {singular, Gk}.

1:14It was concerning these that Enoch, the seventh descendant of Adam, prophesied saying, “Look, the Lord is coming with myriads of his holy ones 1:15to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the sinful among them of all their profane works which were immoral and all the offensive things which these boastful sinners have spoken which were in opposition to him.”**

**These “offensive things” include teachings and opinions which they claimed to be “from God” but which were really in opposition to his holy nature.

1:16These are complainers who, being discontented, are really following their own fleshly cravings. And through

**These “offensive things” include teachings and opinions which they claimed to be “from God” but which were really in opposition to his holy nature.

their talk, they exaggerate their own spiritual condition and flatter others to gain their own advantage.

1:17But you, beloved, remember that these were described beforehand through the words of the sent ones of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One. 1:18They explained to you that in the last time there will be deceivers following their own ungodly, unclean sexual desires. 1:19These are those who separate off their own groups of followers, who are being guided by the soul and are not holding onto the Spirit.

1:20But you, beloved, be building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 1:21keeping yourselves in the love of God, and continually receiving the mercy of our Master, Jesus the Anointed One, thus enjoying the results of more of God’s eternal life.

1:22On some of the aforementioned people have mercy, but be using discernment! 1:23And some rescue with fear, snatching them out of the fire, while detesting even their garments which have been stained by their carnal behavior.

1:24Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish in joyful exultation, 1:25to the all-wise God our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, both now and for all the ages. Amen.

Words in this translation found in italics are words which are implied by the Greek text but do not represent actual words in the Greek text. This practice is common in almost all modern translations. Occasionally, this translator has added words to the translation which represent his own ideas and opinions which, although they are based on his own biblical understanding, are not part of the actual Greek text. Such words are enclosed in brackets, like this [ ]. The reader should understand these words as being the opinion of the translator. In contrast to this, the words in these braces { } indicate legitimate, alternative translations or explanations. Words within parentheses () are part of the original Greek text. Such parentheses are often used in other New Testament translations also.

End of The Letter of Jude

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