1From Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. To those who are called, made holy by God the Father, and kept safe for Jesus Christ:
2May you have abundant mercy, peace, and love.
3Dear friends, I was very eager to write to you about our shared salvation. However, I felt I had to write instead to encourage you to earnestly fight for the faith that was given to God's holy people once and for all.
4Some people have secretly slipped in among you. They are the ones described in ancient writings as being condemned. These ungodly people twist the grace of our God into an excuse for immoral behavior and deny our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5Even though you already know this, I want to remind you that after the Lord saved a people out of Egypt, he later destroyed those who did not believe.
6God has kept certain angels in eternal chains under darkness for judgment on the great day, because they did not stay within their own position of authority but abandoned their proper home.
7Similarly, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities gave themselves over to sexual immorality and unnatural lust, just like these people. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8Yet, in the same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority, and insult glorious beings.
9However, when the archangel Michael argued with the devil about Moses' body, he did not dare to accuse him with insulting language, but simply said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
10But these people insult what they don’t understand. And what they do understand naturally, like unthinking animals, leads to their own destruction.
11How terrible for them! They have followed the path of Cain, greedily rushed into Balaam’s error for money, and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
12These people are dangerous hidden reefs during your love feasts, eagerly feasting with you while caring only for themselves. They are like clouds without water, blown along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead and uprooted;
13they are wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars for whom the darkest gloom has been reserved forever.
14Enoch, the seventh descendant from Adam, also prophesied about these people, saying, “Look! The Lord is coming with thousands of his holy ones
15to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly for all the ungodly things they have done and for all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
16These people grumble and complain, following their own evil desires. They boast about themselves and flatter others to gain an advantage.
17But you, dear friends, remember the words that the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ spoke before.
18They told you, “In the last times there will be mockers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”
19These are the people who cause divisions, who are worldly and do not have the Spirit.
20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
21Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22Show mercy to some who are doubting,
23save others by snatching them from the fire; to others, show mercy with caution, hating even the clothes stained by their sinful flesh.
24Now to God, who can keep you from falling and present you faultless and full of joy in his glorious presence,
25to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, power and authority, both now and forever. Amen.