Jude 3–11

Jude’s Purpose in Writing

³Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, ^gI found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith ^hthat was delivered ⁱto the saints once for all. ⁴For some men, who were designated for this judgment long ago, ^jhave come in by stealth; ^kthey are ungodly, ^lturning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying ^mJesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.

Apostates: Past and Present

⁵Now I want to remind you, though you know all these things: The Lord ⁿfirst ^osaved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe; ^p6and He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, the angels ^qwho did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling. ⁷In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah ^rand the cities around them committed sexual immorality and practiced perversions, ^sjust as angels did, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. ^t

⁸Nevertheless, these dreamers likewise defile their flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme glorious ones. ^u9Yet Michael ^vthe archangel, ^wwhen he was disputing with the Devil ^xin a debate about Moses’ ^ybody, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰But these people blaspheme anything they don’t understand. What they know by instinct like unreasoning animals—they destroy themselves with these things. ¹¹Woe to them! For they have traveled in the way of Cain, ^zhave abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam ^afor profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion. ^b