Contend Earnestly for the Faith

1[†]Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and brother of [†]James,

To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

3Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the [†]saints. 4For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand [†]marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5Now I want to remind you, though you know all things, that [†]Jesus, having once saved a people out of the land of Egypt, [†]subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having indulged in the same way as these in gross sexual immorality and having gone after [†]strange flesh, are exhibited as an [†]example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

8Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and blaspheme [†]glorious ones. 9But Michael the archangel, when he, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10But these men blaspheme the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are [†]destroyed. 11Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have poured themselves into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12These are the men who are [†]hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, [†]doubly dead, uprooted; 13wild waves of the sea, casting up their own [†]shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the [†]black darkness has been reserved forever.

14But Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied about these men, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with [†]many thousands of His holy ones, 15to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks arrogantly, [†]flattering people for the sake of their own benefit.

Keep Yourselves in the Love of God

17But you, beloved, must remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 19These are the ones who cause divisions, [†]worldly-minded, not having the Spirit. 20But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22And on some, who are doubting, have mercy; 23and for others, save, snatching them out of the fire; and on others have mercy with fear, hating even the tunic polluted by the flesh.

24Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all time and now and [†]forever. Amen.