14:20 Worthy of praise is 6 the Most High God,
who delivered 7 your enemies into your hand.”
Abram gave Melchizedek 8 a tenth of everything.
1 tn Heb “he will confuse them (with) great confusion.” The verb used here means “shake, stir up” (see Ruth 1:19; 1 Sam 4:5; 1 Kgs 1:45; Ps 55:2); the accompanying cognate noun refers to confusion, unrest, havoc, or panic (1 Sam 5:9, 11; 14:20; 2 Chr 15:5; Prov 15:16; Isa 22:5; Ezek 7:7; 22:5; Amos 3:9; Zech 14:13).
2 tn Heb “you will destroy their name from under heaven” (cf. KJV); NRSV “blot out their name from under heaven.”
3 tn Heb “was left to him.” The final phrase “to him” is redundant in English and has been left untranslated.
4 tn Heb “give [over] your enemies.”
5 tn Heb “nakedness of a thing”; NLT “any shameful thing.” The expression עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers specifically to sexual organs and, by extension, to any function associated with them. There are some aspects of human life that are so personal and private that they ought not be publicly paraded. Cultically speaking, even God is offended by such impropriety (cf. Gen 9:22-23; Lev 18:6-12, 16-19; 20:11, 17-21). See B. Seevers, NIDOTTE 3:528-30.
6 tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.
7 sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.
8 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “Joshua.” The translation has replaced the proper name with the pronoun (“he”) because a repetition of the proper name here would be redundant according to English style.
10 tn Or “Draw near.”
11 tn Or “drew near.”
12 tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”
13 tn Heb “he”; the implied subject may be Israel, or Joshua (as the commanding general of the army).
14 tn Heb “he”; the implied subject may be Israel, or Joshua (as the commanding general of the army).
15 tn Heb “He”; the implied subject may be Israel, or Joshua (as the commanding general of the army).
16 tn Heb “he”; the implied subject may be Israel, or Joshua (as the commanding general of the army).
17 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
18 tn Heb “he”; the implied subject may be Israel, or Joshua (as the commanding general of the army).
19 tn Heb “at one time.”
20 tn Heb “gave them rest all around.”
21 tn Heb “according to all he swore to their fathers.”
22 tn Heb “not a man stood from before them from all their enemies.”
23 tn Grk “people.” However, if Jude is indeed arguing that Peter’s prophecy about false teachers has come true, these are most likely men in the original historical and cultural setting. See discussion of this point in the note on the phrase “these men” in 2 Pet 2:12.
24 tn “Among you” is not in the Greek text, but is obviously implied.
25 tn Or “in the past.” The adverb πάλαι (palai) can refer to either, though the meaning “long ago” is more common.
26 tn Grk “written about.”
27 tn Grk “for this condemnation.” τοῦτο (touto) is almost surely a kataphoric demonstrative pronoun, pointing to what follows in vv. 5-18. Otherwise, the condemnation is only implied (in v. 3b) or is merely a statement of their sinfulness (“ungodly” in v. 4b), not a judgment of it.
28 tn Grk “debauchery.” This is the same word Peter uses to predict what the false teachers will be like (2 Pet 2:2, 7, 18).
29 tc Most later witnesses (P Ψ Ï sy) have θεόν (qeon, “God”) after δεσπότην (despothn, “master”), which appears to be a motivated reading in that it explicitly links “Master” to “God” in keeping with the normal NT pattern (see Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24; 2 Tim 2:21; Rev 6:10). In patristic Greek, δεσπότης (despoth") was used especially of God (cf. BDAG 220 s.v. 1.b.). The earlier and better witnesses (Ì72,78 א A B C 0251 33 81 323 1241 1739 al co) lack θεόν; the shorter reading is thus preferred on both internal and external grounds.
30 tn The terms “Master and Lord” both refer to the same person. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. For more discussion see ExSyn 270-78. See also Titus 2:13 and 2 Pet 1:1