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Jude 1

KJV · Chapter 1/1

1Jude, 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:

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

3Beloved, 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.

4For 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.

5I 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.

6And 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.

7Even 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.

8Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

9Yet 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.

10But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

11Woe 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.

12These 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;

13Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

14And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

15To 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.

16These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

17But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

18How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

19These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

20But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

21Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22And of some have compassion, making a difference:

23And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jude urges Christians to contend earnestly for the faith in the face of infiltrators who twist the grace of God into a license for immorality, citing historical examples of judgment such as Sodom and Gomorrah and Korah's rebellion. He closes with one of the best-known doxologies in the New Testament, exalting God's power to keep the faithful from stumbling.

Explanation

Jude, identified as the brother of James (and therefore also a half-brother of Jesus), writes with urgency in the face of false teachers who were distorting the message of grace to justify immorality, a real problem threatening the early Christian communities. He draws on striking references from the Old Testament and Jewish tradition — the fallen angels, Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam, and Korah's rebellion against Moses — as historical warnings of what happens when God's authority and holiness are despised. The letter is notable for directly quoting a work called 1 Enoch, a book respected in Jewish circles of the time but not part of the biblical canon, showing how biblical authors sometimes drew on cultural references familiar to their audience. The practical application for today is to remain watchful against teaching that uses God's grace as an excuse for destructive behavior, while trusting in God's power to keep the faithful to the end.

Fun facts

  • Jude 1:14-15 directly quotes the apocryphal book of 1 Enoch as though it were a genuine prophecy, making it one of the only instances in the New Testament where a text outside the traditional Jewish canon is quoted by name, something theologians have debated for centuries.
  • The dispute between the archangel Michael and the devil over the body of Moses (verse 9) does not appear anywhere else in the Bible; it reflects an extrabiblical Jewish tradition that Jude also weaves into his argument.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Jude 1:1Sets the scene for the letter: Jude, brother of James, writes a short, hard-hitting letter warning against false teachers who had slipped into the church, addressed to Christians who are ‘called,’ sanctified, and kept by God.
  2. Jude 1:2A simple opening greeting, gathering mercy, peace, and love, before the letter shifts into the harsher tone that dominates the rest of it.
  3. Jude 1:3Jude explains that he had intended to write about salvation in general, but changed his plan on learning of an urgent problem: he asks readers to ‘earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,’ as the King James wording puts it, against those who were distorting it.
  4. Jude 1:4Explains the reason for the urgency: ungodly people had slipped into the community, using God's grace as an excuse to live without moral limits, and denying the authority of Jesus Christ.
  5. Jude 1:5Begins a list of biblical examples of judgment: even the people God saved out of Egypt were destroyed afterward for unbelief — a warning that belonging to God's people does not shield anyone from judgment for disobedience.
  6. Jude 1:6The reference to angels ‘which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation’ describes a Jewish tradition about heavenly beings who rebelled, which some scholars connect to a specific reading of Genesis 6 about the ‘sons of God’ and the ‘daughters of men’ — a passage the Bible itself never explains in detail, and which has produced very different interpretations.
  7. Jude 1:7Sodom and Gomorrah, cities destroyed according to Genesis 19, serve here as a historical example of judgment on behavior considered immoral, cited as a warning to the letter's readers.
  8. Jude 1:8After citing the previous examples (the fallen angels, Sodom), Jude applies the comparison to the false teachers: they too defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of higher spiritual beings.
  9. Jude 1:9The episode of the archangel Michael disputing with the devil over ‘the body of Moses’ is not recorded in any book of the Bible — it is a reference to a Jewish tradition circulating outside the biblical canon, possibly tied to a text called the Assumption of Moses. The letter cites this tradition freely, without treating it as Scripture, much as writers today might cite a well-known legend to make a point.
  10. Jude 1:10Contrasts the arrogance of these false teachers with the humility of the archangel Michael in the previous verse: they speak evil of things they do not even understand, and in the things they do understand by instinct, they behave like irrational animals, only corrupting themselves.
  11. Jude 1:11The reference packs three Old Testament examples into a single verse: the ‘way of Cain,’ who killed his brother, in Genesis 4; the ‘error of Balaam’ for reward, the prophet who let himself be driven by payment, in Numbers; and the ‘gainsaying of Core’ (Korah), who rebelled against Moses's leadership, in Numbers 16 — three different forms of rebellion against God used as a warning.
  12. Jude 1:12Uses harsh images from nature to describe these false teachers: spots at the church's love feasts, clouds without water that promise rain but never deliver, fruitless and rootless trees, practically dead twice over.
  13. Jude 1:13The images continue: raging waves of the sea that only foam out their own shame, and wandering stars — a reference to celestial bodies with no fixed path — for whom blackness of darkness is reserved forever.
  14. Jude 1:14The claim that ‘Enoch, the seventh from Adam’ prophesied about this judgment comes, quite precisely, from a book called 1 Enoch, which is not part of the Hebrew biblical canon or of most Christian traditions — it is one of the rare cases in the New Testament where a text outside the Bible is quoted directly as prophecy, something that has sparked discussion among scholars about how to treat this citation.
  15. Jude 1:15Continues the quotation from the book of Enoch begun in the previous verse: it describes the final judgment coming on all the ungodly, both for their deeds and for the harsh words spoken against God.
  16. Jude 1:16Lists more traits of these false teachers: they complain about their own situation, follow their own desires, speak with arrogance, and flatter important people purely out of self-interest.
  17. Jude 1:17Shifts tone, asking readers to remember the warnings the apostles of Jesus themselves had already given about this kind of people.
  18. Jude 1:18Recalls the content of that apostolic warning: in the last times, mockers would appear, living according to their own ungodly desires — exactly what Jude is describing.
  19. Jude 1:19Describes the practical effect of these false teachers on the community: they cause divisions, live on a merely natural level with no real spiritual life, and, according to the text, do not even have the Spirit of God.
  20. Jude 1:20Shifts from warning to positive instruction: asks readers to build themselves up in their own faith and pray guided by the Holy Spirit, in contrast to the Spirit-less false teachers.
  21. Jude 1:21Continues the positive instruction: stay within the love of God, patiently waiting for the mercy of Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
  22. Jude 1:22Calls for special care toward those in the community who are doubting: have compassion on them instead of simply rejecting them.
  23. Jude 1:23The instruction to save some by ‘pulling them out of the fire,’ but carefully, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh, describes a balance between rescuing someone drifting from the faith and not being contaminated by that person's own practices in the process.
  24. Jude 1:24Begins the closing doxology, one of the most beautiful in the New Testament: only God has the power to keep believers from stumbling, and to present them faultless, full of joy, before His own glory.
  25. Jude 1:25Closes the letter, and this entire verse-by-verse collection of explanations, with a solemn doxology: glory, majesty, dominion, and power to the only God, Savior through Jesus Christ, before all time, now and forever.

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