Jude

¹Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those called to the faith, beloved by God the Father, and kept in Christ Jesus.

²May mercy, peace, and love abound in you. ³Most beloved, I had wanted to write to you about the salvation we all share, but now I feel I must urge you to fight for the faith God has given to the saints once and for all.

⁴Some individuals have slipped into your midst, godless people who were, long ago, marked down for condemnation. They make use of the grace of our God as a license for immorality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵Although you may be aware of it, I wish to remind you that the Lord saved his people from the land of Egypt but later delivered to death those who did not believe. ⁶He did the same with the angels who did not keep their rank but abandoned their dwelling places. God enclosed them in eternal prisons, in the pit of darkness, until the great day of judgment. ⁷Sodom and Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities that prostituted themselves and were lured into unnatural unions, are also a warning of the punishment of eternal fire. ⁸Despite all this, these people now do the same: in their ravings, they debase their bodies, scorn the celestial authorities, blaspheme against the angels.

⁹When the archangel Michael fought against the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he did not dare insult him but simply said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰Not so these people, they insult and scorn what they cannot understand; what they know by instinct, like animals, they use for their corruption. ¹¹Woe to them! They follow the footsteps of Cain and, like Balaam, go astray because of money: they will finally perish like the rebellious Korah. ¹²When you celebrate your love feasts, they spoil everything, coming only for the food and shamelessly seeing to their own needs. They are like clouds carried along by the wind, which never bring rain, like trees without fruit at the end of autumn, twice dead when uprooted. ¹³The scum of their vices is splashed like foam on the rough waves of the sea; they are like shooting stars, which the thick darkness engulfs forever. ¹⁴The patriarch Enoch, the seventh after Adam, said these words about them: The Lord comes with thousands of angels ¹⁵to judge everyone and call the wicked to account for all the evil deeds they committed; he will punish all the injurious words, the impious sinners uttered against him. ¹⁶All these are discontented, who curse their lot and follow their passions. Their mouth is full of arrogant words, and they flatter people for their own interests.

¹⁷But, most beloved, remember what the apostles of Christ Jesus our Lord announced to you. ¹⁸They said to you, “At the end of time, there will be scoffers, led by their own godless desires.” ¹⁹Actually, these people are those who cause divisions; they are worldly people and do not have the Holy Spirit.

²⁰But, dearly beloved, build your life on the foundation of your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. ²¹Remain firm in the love of God, welcoming the mercy of Jesus Christ our Lord, which leads to eternal life.

²²Try to convince those who doubt; ²³others you will save, snatching them from condemnation. Treat others with compassion and prudence, shunning even the clothes touching their bodies.

²⁴To the one God, who can keep you from all sin and bring you, happy and without blemish before his own glory, ²⁵to the one God who saves us through Jesus Christ our Lord, to him be glory, honor, might, and power, from past ages, now and forever. Amen.