Jude 1 (BHT-ATN)

“To: Those Who Have Been Summoned”

1 From: Jude, a slave indeed of Jesus the Messiah, and a brother of James.

To: Those who have been summoned,+ chosen and loved in united fellowship indeed with God the Father,+ and in union with+ Jesus the Messiah watched over and guarded.+

2 May mercy, and peace and love, be ᵖyours+ in ever greater measure.

“Fight Hard to Uphold the Faith”

3 Dear friends, although I was indeed most eager to write to you about the salvation we share,+ I felt it extremely urgent+ for me to write and exhort you to fight hard to uphold the faith that was uniquely and decisively passed on to the Lord’s holy people+ 4 I say this because certain men, whose punishment,+ which I’m about to describe, was written about long ago, have wormed their way into your fellowship—ungodly people, who twist into an excuse for licentious conduct the teaching+ about our God’s gracious gift, and disown the very one who alone is Master and Lord over us, Jesus the Messiah.

5 Now I would like to give you, even though you already know all these things, a solemn reminder: The Lord, on a first unique and decisive occasion having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, on the second special and decisive occasion+ destroyed those who refused to believe.+ 6 And as for the angels who refused to keep to their own domain, but abandoned their own home: It is for judgment at the great Day that he has kept them locked up in eternal chains, down in the regions of deep and gloomy darkness.+ 7 And what about Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns near them? Because their inhabitants+ gave themselves to sexual immorality and pursued forbidden relations+ just as these angels did,+ they likewise serve as a warning and example, by suffering the punishment of a fire that burns forever into the very ages of the ages.

8 Likewise, these fellows, too, despite such warning, justifying themselves as they do by their “special dreams,”+ bring defilement, for one thing, to the body,+ and reject, for a second, authority, and slander, for yet a third, those of high honor,+ 9 although not even Michael the archangel, in his dispute with the devil, when he challenged the accuser’s claim to the body of Moses,+ dared to bring against him a slanderous accusation, 10 but said, “May the Lord rebuke ˢyou!”+ These men, however, while they mount slanderous attacks against everything, on the one hand, that they don’t comprehend, by all the merely instinctual, senseless+ animal-like things that they do understand, on the other, bring about their own utter destruction.+ 11 Woe to them! How great is the calamity that awaits them! For it is the path of Cain that they have taken! It is the deceitful error of Balaam into which they have rushed headlong+ in return for handsome payment! It is the rebellion of Korah in which they are as good as destroyed! 12 These fellows are hidden reefs at the very meals for which you gather in honor of the Lord,+ sharing in them without any fear; shepherds who care only for themselves;+ clouds that promise rain but are then carried off by the winds;+ trees still without fruit even in late autumn,+ dead twice, pulled up by the roots; 13 wild waves of the sea, tossing their shameful deeds ashore like dirty foam;+ men whose guidance is no less deceitful than that of wayward stars,+ for whom a place in thick and utter darkness+ is reserved forever into the very ages of the ages.

14 Now, the seventh man in the genealogy beginning with Adam,+ Enoch, prophesied about these people, too, saying, “Listen! The Lord will surely come with countless thousands+ of his holy ones, 15 to execute punishment+ against all mankind and reprove all people+ for all the ungodly things they have done in such an ungodly way,+ and for all the defiant+ things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These men are grumblers, incessant complainers,+ whose conduct is governed by+ nothing but their own evil desires. Their mouths are full of+ boastful, high-sounding rhetoric, doling out one-sided flattery and catering the teaching that comes out of them to particular people’s whims+ for the sake of personal gain.

17 You, however, dear friends, must keep before your minds the things foretold by the apostles appointed and sent+ by our Lord, Jesus the Messiah. 18 For they told you again and again, “At the end of the age+ there will be scoffers, whose conduct will be governed by+ nothing but their own ungodly desires.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, people whose sinful desires control them,+ devoid of the Spirit. 20 You, however, dear friends, continuing to build yourselves+ up on the foundation of+ your faith most holy, praying in union indeed with the Holy Spirit, 21 yourselves must keep in God’s love,+ waiting expectantly for the mercy+ of our Lord Jesus the Messiah unto life in the coming age. 22 Whereas on some you are to have mercy, who are wavering with doubts, 23 others you are to save by snatching them from the fire,+ while to still others you must relate with an attitude of mercy coupled with fear,+ hating even their clothes, stained as they are by such filthy desires and deadly+ bodily corruption.+

24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from faltering beyond recovery+ and to bring you before his glorious presence without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus the Messiah our Lord, be glory, majesty, supremacy, and authority, before all ages and now and forever into all the ages. Amen.

+1:1Or called, or invited.+1:1Lit loved in God the Father. ME (see translation and notes at Jn 10:38, Jn 17:21, Rm 6:10, and Ga 2:19). Cf 1 Co 1:9; 2 Co 13:14; Jn 17:21; 1 Jn 1:3, 2:24.+1:1Or by, or for.+1:1τετηρημένοις ( tetērēmenois) is in an embedded focal position (confirmed through personal correspondence with Dr. Stephen Levinsohn), and has therefore been placed in clause-final for extra focus and stress. Repetition has been used to the same end.+1:2Unless otherwise marked (through superscript—ˢyou), all second person pronouns are the in the second person plural.+1:3Or about our common salvation.+1:3Lit I had necessity. ME (see BDAG, 421, sv ἔχω 7.a.β.; NET Bible Notes, Jd 3).+1:3Lit the holy ones/saints.+1:4Or condemnation, or judgment.+1:4IT. “Grace” is being used metonymically here to refer to the teaching/message about grace (see BDAG, 820, sv πίστις 3; UBSHS [Jud], 17-18). Cf TEV.+1:5Lit the second. ME/IT (see BDAG, 220, sv δεύτερος 2). This is referring to the time when the Israelites were supposed to enter the promised land. Instead of entering the promised land, however, that generation died in the wilderness as a result of unbelief.+1:5Cf Nu 14; Dt 1:19-46; Ps 78:21-22, 95:8-11, 106:26; 1 Co 10; Heb 3:16-18; 2 Pt 2:20-22.+1:6Lit under gloomy/deepest darkness. ME (see BDAG, 429, sv ζόφος 2; NET Bible Notes, 2 Pt 2:4; UBSHS [2 Pt], 110).+1:7Lit they. ME/IT. The people in these places are obviously meant here. Cf TEV.+1:7Lit went after different flesh. ME(I/F/OTB) (see translation and notes at 2 Pt 2:10; UBSHS [Jud], 26).+1:7Lit in like manner to these [angels]. ME. Cf HCSB.+1:8Lit by or because of dreaming. ME (see NAC [1 and 2 Pt, Jud], 455; UBSHS [Jud], 29).+1:8Lit flesh. Translated according to “Flesh” C (see FBT Chart).+1:8Or glorious ones, or dignitaries. See note at 2 Pt 2:10.+1:9Lit when, disputing with the devil, he was debating about the body of Moses. ME(H)/IT (see L-N, 33.444; NAC [1 and 2 Pt, Jud], 458; UBSHS [Jud], 33).+1:10Cf Zc 3:1-5.+1:10Or unreasoning. Cf CEV.+1:10Lit everything they understand instinctually like unreasoning animals, on the other, by these things bring about their own utter ruin.+1:11Lit have poured themselves. ME(I/F) (see ANLEX, 141, ἐκχέω 2.b.; L-N, 68.75). Cf ISV.+1:12Lit at your love feasts. ME(H) (see L-N, 23.28; UBSHS [Jud], 37). Cf NLT, TEV.+1:12Cf Ezk 34.+1:12Lit clouds without water being carried about by the winds. ME(H)/IT (see NAC [1 and 2 Pt, Jud], 466; UBSHS [Jud], 39; translation and notes at 2 Pt 2:17).+1:12Lit late autumn trees without fruit. ME(H)/IT (see NAC [1 and 2 Pt, Jud], 467; UBSHS [Jud], 39).+1:13Lit waves of the sea foaming out their own shameful deeds. ME (see NAC [1 and 2 Pt, Jud], 467; UBSHS [Jud], 41).+1:13Lit wandering stars. ME (see L-N, 15.27; NAC [1 and 2 Pt, Jud], 467; NET Bible Notes, Jud 13; UBSHS [Jud], 41).+1:13Lit for whom the gloom/thick darkness of darkness. ME (see translation and notes at 2 Pt 2:4, 17).+1:14Lit the seventh from Adam. ME/IT (see NET Bible Notes, Jud 14). Inclusive reckoning is used here. Cf Gn 5:1-24.+1:14Lit with myriads. ME (see L-N, 60.8; UBSHS [Jud], 42). Cf ISV, NET, NIV, NLT.+1:15Or judgment.+1:15Lit every soul. Here is ψυχή ( psuchē) is used to refer to “a person as a living being” ( L-N, 9.20). Cf NET.+1:15Lit for all their ungodly deeds which they ungodlied. ME. Cf ISV, NRSV.+1:15Lit hard. ME (see L-N, 88.135; UBSHS [Jud], 44). Cf NJB and REB in ESS (Jud), 60.+1:16Cf Nu 14:1-35, 21:4-9; 2 Co 10:10.+1:16Lit going according to. ME (see BDAG, 853, sv πορεύω 3).+1:16Lit Their mouths speak.+1:16Lit marveling at faces. ME(I/F/OTB) (see BDAG, 444, sv θαυμάζω 1.b.α.; L-N, 33.365; NAC [1 and 2 Pt, Jud], 474; UBSHS [Jud], 46).+1:17Making the verbal information compressed in the genitive explicit in translation. Cf, eg, translation and notes at Rm 1:1 and Ga 1:1.+1:18Or In/at the last time.+1:18Lit going according to. ME (see BDAG, 853, sv πορεύω 3).+1:19Lit soulish. ME(I/F) (see UBSHS [Jud], 51). Cf CJB, TEV.+1:20Or one another.+1:20Or build yourselves up in.+1:21The meaning here is similar to 2 Pt 1:5-10 (cf translation and notes there and at Jude 1 above).+1:21Cf Mt 5:7; 2 Ti 1:18.+1:23Cf Zc 3:1-5.+1:23Lit be merciful in fear. ME (see NAC [1 and 2 Pt, Jud], 487; UBSHS [Jud], 57). Cf NET.+1:23Connotations of danger are implied here by “mercy coupled with fear” (see UBSHS [Jud], 56).+1:23Lit stained from the flesh. ME (see FBT Chart, C, H; UBSHS [Jud], 57). Cf ISV, NCV, NLT, TEV.+1:24Or from falling away, or from being overthrown/defeated, or from being lost, or from stumbling in sin. Lit from stumbling, or from falling. ME(OTB) (see translation and notes at 2 Pt 1:10).