{Greek: Judas.}Jude, a {Greek: bondservant.}servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of {Or Jacob}James, {Or, to them that are beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ, being called}to them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.
Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old {Or, set forth}written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying {Or, the only Master, and our Lord Jesus Christ}our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that {Many very ancient authorities read Jesus.}the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, {Greek: the second time.}afterward destroyed them that believed not.
And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth {Or, as an example of eternal fire, suffering punishment}as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at {Greek: glories.}dignities.
But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they {Or, corrupted Compare 2 Peter 2:12 margin.}destroyed.
Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and {Or, cast themselves away through}ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
These are they who are {Or, spots}hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own {Greek: shames.}shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved for ever.
And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with {Greek: his holy myriads.}ten thousands of his holy ones,
to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling words), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage.
But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
that they said to you, In the last time there shall be mockers, walking after {Greek: their own lusts of ungodlinesses.}their own ungodly lusts.
These are they who make separations, {Or, natural Or, animal}sensual, having not the Spirit.
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
{The Greek: text in this passage (And…fire) is somewhat uncertain. Some ancient authorities read And some refute while they dispute with you. Compare 1 Timothy 5:20; Titus 1:9.}And on some have mercy, {Or, while they dispute with you}who are in doubt;
and some save, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding joy,
to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all time, and now, and {Greek: unto all the ages.}for evermore. Amen.
Querverweise zu Judas 4 Jud 4
but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed {Or, darnel}tares also among the wheat, and went away.
Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
To the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
He only is my rock and my salvation:He is my high tower; I shall not be greatly moved.
Forasmuch as we have heard that certain {Some ancient authorities omit who went out.}who went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls; to whom we gave no commandment;
What if God, {Or, although willing}willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction:
For the waves of death compassed me;The floods of {Hebrew: Belial.}ungodliness made me afraid:
God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?
They profess that they know God; but by their works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.
{Or, but it was because of}and that because of the false brethren privily brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
and, {Isaiah 8:14.}A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; {Greek: who.}for they {Or, stumble, being disobedient to the word}stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
{Or, Happy}Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,Nor standeth in the way of sinners,Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers:
For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another.
But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in {Or, sects of perdition}destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
which in {Or, his}its own times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of {Greek: them that reign as kings.}kings, and Lord of {Greek: them that rule as lords.}lords;
that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.
And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?
For the grace of God {Or, hath appeared to all men, bringing salvation}hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, even he that denieth the Father and the Son.
who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen.
For of these are they that creep into houses, and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by divers lusts,
and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, {Greek: a herald.}a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present {Or, age}world;
Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and {See marginal note on chapter 3:9}worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest.
But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in {Or, sects of perdition}destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly;
looking carefully {Or, whether}lest there be any man that {Or, falleth back from}falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled;
And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of.
but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been {Or, stored with fire}stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
{Or, whether}lest there be any fornication, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright.
as free, and not {Greek: having.}using your freedom for a cloak of {Or, malice 1 Corinthians 14:20.}wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at {Greek: glories.}dignities:
For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error;
promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of {Or, what}whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage.
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of {Many ancient authorities read our.}the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first.
For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, {Proverbs 26:11.}The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.