Jude
Chapter 1
1 Dear Brothers and Sisters in the faith who’ve been called and are really loved by God and taken care of by Christ Jesus:
Greetings from me Jude, a servant of Christ Jesus, and also James’ brother. [1]
2 I pray that God will always be compassionate and loving while watching over each of you so that your lives are calm under His protection!
God will punish evil people
3 My beloved Brothers and Sisters, for a long time I’ve wated to and planned to write a letter to you about the salvation that we have both received. But now I feel the urge to write to you about another matter. I want to urge you to fight to defend the true teachings about the faith that God has given to us who are His people whom He has purified. All of those teachings are true forever. And let’s not let anyone change our teachings! 4 For there are false teachers who are secretly coming into our midst. They’re people whom God designated long ago to be punished because of their wickedness, according to the prophecies of the prophets like I will explain below. They oppose God and misuse God’s kindness as an excuse to keep living according to their lusts. They refuse to follow Christ Jesus our Master and Lord.
5 Even though you already know this story, I want to remind you that even though God saved His people from the land of Egypt, yet after that those who didn’t believe were destroyed by Him. 6 And remember the angels whom the Lord brought down from their high positions. That was because they left their place of duty. For that reason God has imprisoned them in the very darkest place where they are kept bound with iron chains that will hold them forever. He’s holding them to be judged on that great Judgment Day. 7 Remember Sodom and Gomorrah too, and the cities around those two places. The residents of those cities behaved just like those angels because they gave totally themselves to adultery and were involved in all kinds of sexual sins. They’ll bear a punishment of fire that will burn forever, and that should be a warning for us.
8 It’s the same with those false teachers. They consider that their dreams are guidance from the Lord. And as a result they stain their bodies with sin, and they reject God’s guidance and insult spiritual authorities. 9 Even the chief angel Michael didn’t insult like that. When Michael argued with the devil about who would have the body of Moses, Michael didn’t brag about himself and accuse the devil by using insulting words but he just said, “May the Lord punish you.”
10 But those false teachers insult anything they don’t understand. And the things they can only understand the things that are learned instinctively, that is things that unintelligent animals know too. And it’s those very things that destroy them. 11 They are so unfortunate because they follow the road taken by Cain. [1] They are mislead because of being crazy for money like Balaam, [2] and they rebel like Korah [3] so that they’re destroyed.
12 They dare to take part in your love feast [2] even though they're selfish and stain your love feast. They’re like clouds that have no water that are blown away by the wind. They’re like trees that don’t produce fruit in the fruit-bearing season whose roots have been pulled out and eventually die. 13 Like dangerous waves that leave foam and dirt on the shore, their shameful deeds will be visible later on. They’re also like stars that have left their places in space and wander uncontrollably. They won’t escape God’s punishment in the darkest place which has been prepared for them for eternity.
14 Enoch, the seventh descendant of Adam, also prophesied about them, “Look, the Lord is coming with thousands of His people whom He has purified. 15 After that He’ll judge everyone, and He’ll especially punish all of the evil people who oppose Him with their wickedness. And He’ll punish them because of all of their wicked words with which those sinners have opposed God.”
16 Those false teachers always complain and like to find fault with people, yet they themselves always follow their own lusts. They brag about themselves and praise others to get profit for themselves.
Warning and advice
17 My beloved brothers and sisters, remember what the apostles of our Lord Christ Jesus told us earlier. 18 They said to you, “During the final age, scoffers will appear who oppose God and live according to their own lusts.” 19 They’re the ones who cause divisions between us. They don’t have the Holy Spirit and are controlled by their own desires.
20 But my beloved Brothers and Sisters, each of you should strengthen one another so that you continue to believe completely in the holy teachings you've received. Keep on praying with the help of the Holy Spirit. 21 Guard yourselves so that you keep intertwined in the connection of love with God because our Lord Christ Jesus really has compassion on us. And for that reason keep waiting for the time our Lord Christ Jesus will show His great love to us which will bring us to eternal life.
22 Show mercy and encourage our brothers and sisters who doubt. 23 And take quick action to save our brothers or sisters who sin, for it’s like pulling them out of the fire of hell. But when we have compassion and try to strengthen people like that we must continually remember to keep fearing and respecting God and hate their defiling behavior because of their evil bodily desires.
Praise to God
24-25 I pray that the one and only God will be always praised! He’s the powerful one, and He's able to guard each of you so that you don’t fall. He’s our Savior who makes us worthy to enter the presence of His glory where we will really rejoice because there won’t be any fault in us anymore. To Him be the glory, greatness, authority and power through our Lord Christ Jesus before time began, now and forever. Amen!