Jude 1:23-24

1:23 save ¹  others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy ²  on others, coupled with a fear of God, ³  hating even the clothes stained ⁴  by the flesh. ⁵ 

Final Blessing

1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, ⁶  and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, ⁷  without blemish ⁸  before his glorious presence, ⁹ 

Daniel 5:2-4

5:2 While under the influence ¹⁰  of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father ¹¹  had confiscated ¹²  from the temple in Jerusalem ¹³  – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. ¹⁴  5:3 So they brought the gold and silver ¹⁵  vessels that had been confiscated from the temple, the house of God ¹⁶  in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, together with his wives and concubines, drank from them. 5:4 As they drank wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Daniel 5:23

5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ¹⁷  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ¹⁸  your very breath and all your ways!

¹ tn Grk “and save.”

² tn Grk “and have mercy.”

³ 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.

⁴ sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.

⁷ tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”

⁸ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.

⁹ tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”

¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).

¹² tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.

¹³ tn Or “taken.”

¹⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁵ sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.

¹⁶ tc The present translation reads וְכַסְפָּא (vÿkhaspa’, “and the silver”) with Theodotion and the Vulgate. Cf. v. 2. The form was probably accidentally dropped from the Aramaic text by homoioteleuton.

¹⁷ tn Aram “the temple of the house of God.” The phrase seems rather awkward. The Vulgate lacks “of the house of God,” while Theodotion and the Syriac lack “the house.”

²¹ tn Aram “which.”

²² tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”