29:4 But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said 1 to him, “Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don’t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become 2 our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men? 3
1 tn Heb “and the leaders of the Philistines said.”
2 tn Heb “so that he might not become.”
3 tn Or perhaps, “our men.” On this use of the demonstrative pronoun see Joüon 2:532 §143.e.
4 tn Grk “and save.”
5 tn Grk “and have mercy.”
6 tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.
7 sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.
8 tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.