Deuteronomy 34:5

34:5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said.

Jude 1:8

1:8 Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones.

Psalms 115:17

115:17 The dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death.

Psalms 115:2

115:2 Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

Psalms 4:7-8

4:7 You make me happier

than those who have abundant grain and wine.

4:8 I will lie down and sleep peacefully,

for you, Lord, make me safe and secure. 10 

Revelation 14:13

14:13 Then 11  I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this:

‘Blessed are the dead,

those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their hard work, 12  because their deeds will follow them.” 13 


tn The reference is now to the false teachers.

tn Grk “dreaming.” The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι (enupniazomenoi, “dreaming”) is adverbial to the pronoun οὗτοι (|outoi, “these”), though the particular relationship is not clear. It could mean, “while dreaming,” “by dreaming,” or “because of dreaming.” This translation has adopted the last option as Jude’s meaning, partially for syntactical reasons (the causal participle usually precedes the main verb) and partially for contextual reasons (these false teachers must derive their authority from some source, and the dreams provide the most obvious base). The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι was sometimes used of apocalyptic visions, both of true and false prophets. This seems to be the meaning here.

tn Most likely, the authority of the Lord is in view. This verse, then, echoes the indictment of v. 4: “they deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

tn The construction with the three verbs (“defile, “reject,” and “insult”) involves the particles μέν, δέ, δέ (men, de, de). A more literal (and pedantic) translation would be: “on the one hand, they defile the flesh, on the other hand, they reject authority, and on another hand, they insult the glorious ones.”

sn The glorious ones refers to angelic beings rather than mere human beings, just as in 2 Pet 2:10 (on which this passage apparently depends). Whether the angelic beings are good or evil, however, is difficult to tell (hence, the translation is left ambiguous). However, both in 2 Pet 2:11 and here, in Jude 9, the wicked angels seem to be in view (for not even Michael insults them).

tn Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).

tn Heb “you place joy in my heart.” Another option is to understand the perfect verbal form as indicating certitude, “you will make me happier.”

tn Heb “from (i.e., more than) the time (when) their grain and their wine are abundant.”

tn Heb “in peace at the same time I will lie down and sleep.”

10 tn Heb “for you, Lord, solitarily, securely make me dwell.” The translation understands לְבָדָד (lÿvadad) as modifying the verb; the Lord keeps enemies away from the psalmist so that he is safe and secure. Another option is to take לְבָדָד with what precedes and translate, “you alone, Lord, make me secure.”

11 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

12 tn Or “from their trouble” (L&N 22.7).

13 tn Grk “their deeds will follow with them.”