Jude 3–23

The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People

³Dear friends,^g although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share,^h I felt compelled to write and urge you to contendⁱ for the faith^j that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.^{k 4}For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about^b long ago have secretly slipped in among you.^l They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.^m

⁵Though you already know all this,ⁿ I want to remind you^o that the Lord^c at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.^{p 6}And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.^{q 7}In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah^r and the surrounding towns^s gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.^t

⁸In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.^{u 9}But even the archangel^v Michael,^w when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses,^x did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”^{dy 10}Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.^z

¹¹Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;^a they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;^b they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.^c

¹²These people are blemishes at your love feasts,^d eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.^e They are clouds without rain,^f blown along by the wind;^g autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted^h—twice dead. ¹³They are wild waves of the sea,ⁱ foaming up their shame;^j wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.^k

¹⁴Enoch,^l the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming^m with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones^{n 15}to judge^o everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”^{ep 16}These people are grumblers^q and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires;^r they boast^s about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A Call to Persevere

¹⁷But, dear friends, remember what the apostles^t of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.^{u 18}They said to you, “In the last times^v there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”^{w 19}These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.^x

²⁰But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up^y in your most holy faith^z and praying in the Holy Spirit,^{a 21}keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait^b for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.^c

²²Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³save others by snatching them from the fire;^d to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.^fe