Jude, 1

1. From Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James; to those who are called, to those who are dear to God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ,

1.

2. mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

2. May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

3. My dear friends, at a time when I was eagerly looking forward to writing to you about the salvation that we all share, I felt that I must write to you encouraging you to fight hard for the faith which has been once and for all entrusted to God's holy people.

3. Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

4. Certain people have infiltrated among you, who were long ago marked down for condemnation on this account; without any reverence they pervert the grace of our God to debauchery and deny all religion, rejecting our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

4. For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5. I should like to remind you -- though you have already learnt it once and for all -- that the Lord rescued the nation from Egypt, but afterwards he still destroyed the people who refused to believe him;

5. Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that he who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

6. and the angels who did not keep to the authority they had, but left their appointed sphere, he has kept in darkness in eternal bonds until the judgement of the great Day.

6. And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day;

7. Sodom and Gomorrah, too, and the neighbouring towns, who with the same sexual immorality pursued unnatural lusts, are put before us as an example since they are paying the penalty of eternal fire.

7. just as Sodom and Gomor'rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

8. Nevertheless, these people are doing the same: in their delusions they not only defile their bodies and disregard Authority, but abuse the Glories as well.

8. Yet in like manner these men in their dreamings defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones.

9. Not even the archangel Michael, when he was engaged in argument with the devil about the corpse of Moses, dared to denounce him in the language of abuse; all he said was, 'May the Lord rebuke you.'

9. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."

10. But these people abuse anything they do not understand; and the only things they do understand -- merely by nature like unreasoning animals -- will turn out to be fatal to them.

10. But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irrational animals do, they are destroyed.

11. Alas for them, because they have followed Cain; they have thrown themselves into the same delusion as Balaam for a reward; they have been ruined by the same rebellion as Korah -and share the same fate.

11. Woe to them! For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perish in Korah's rebellion.

12. They are a dangerous hazard at your community meals, coming for the food and quite shamelessly only looking after themselves. They are like the clouds blown about by the winds and bringing no rain, or like autumn trees, barren and uprooted and so twice dead;

12. These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they boldly carouse together, looking after themselves; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;

13. like wild sea waves with their own shame for foam; or like wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness is stored up for ever.

13. wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever.

14. It was with them in mind that Enoch, the seventh patriarch from Adam, made his prophecy when he said, 'I tell you, the Lord will come with his holy ones in their tens of thousands,

14. It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads,

15. to pronounce judgement on all humanity and to sentence the godless for all the godless things they have done, and for all the defiant things said against him by godless sinners.'

15. to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

16. They are mischief-makers, grumblers governed only by their own desires, with mouths full of boastful talk, ready to flatter others for gain.

16. These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own passions, loud-mouthed boasters, flattering people to gain advantage.

17. But remember, my dear friends, what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.

17. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

18. 'At the final point of time', they told you, 'there will be mockers who follow nothing but their own godless desires.'

18. they said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions."

19. It is they who cause division, who live according to nature and do not possess the Spirit.

19. It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

20. But you, my dear friends, must build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit;

20. But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;

21. keep yourselves within the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life.

21. keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22. To some you must be compassionate because they are wavering;

22. And convince some, who doubt;

23. others you must save by snatching them from the fire; to others again you must be compassionate but wary, hating even the tunic stained by their bodies.

23. save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

24. To him who can keep you from falling and bring you safe to his glorious presence, innocent and joyful,

24. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing,

25. to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, authority and power, before all ages, now and for ever. Amen.

25. to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.