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. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, [and] called:

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

2. Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

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, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto 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 there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our 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. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

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 which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto 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. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance 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. Likewise also these [filthy] dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

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. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

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 speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

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 unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

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 spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds [they are] without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

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. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness 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. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

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 upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard [speeches] 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 murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling [words], having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

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

17. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before 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. How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

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

19. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not 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 ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

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, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

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

22. And of some have compassion, making a difference:

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. And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; 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 unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

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 wise God our Saviour, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.