Deuteronomy 28:15-68

Curses as Reversal of Blessings

28:15 “But if you ignore ¹  the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: ²  28:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 28:17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 28:18 Your children ³  will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. ⁴ 

Curses by Disease and Drought

28:20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you ⁵  in everything you undertake ⁶  until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. ⁷  28:21 The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases ⁸  until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. 28:22 He ⁹  will afflict you with weakness, ¹⁰  fever, inflammation, infection, ¹¹  sword, ¹²  blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 28:23 The ¹³  sky ¹⁴  above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 28:24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

Curses by Defeat and Deportation

28:25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror ¹⁵  to all the kingdoms of the earth. 28:26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. 28:27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. 28:28 The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind. ¹⁶  28:29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; ¹⁷  you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. 28:30 You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape ¹⁸  her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. 28:31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you. 28:32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it. ¹⁹  28:33 As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. 28:34 You will go insane from seeing all this. 28:35 The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils – from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 28:36 The Lord will force you and your king ²⁰  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there. 28:37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.

The Curse of Reversed Status

28:38 “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. 28:39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. 28:40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe. ²¹  28:41 You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity. 28:42 Whirring locusts ²²  will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil. 28:43 The foreigners ²³  who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower. 28:44 They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!

28:45 All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given ²⁴  you. 28:46 These curses ²⁵  will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants. ²⁶ 

The Curse of Military Siege

28:47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty ²⁷  you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They ²⁸  will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you. 28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ²⁹  as the eagle flies, ³⁰  a nation whose language you will not understand, 28:50 a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young. 28:51 They ³¹  will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, ³²  or lambs of your flocks ³³  until they have destroyed you. 28:52 They will besiege all of your villages ³⁴  until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you. 28:53 You will then eat your own offspring, ³⁵  the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege ³⁶  by which your enemies will constrict you. 28:54 The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children. 28:55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict ³⁷  you in your villages. 28:56 Likewise, the most ³⁸  tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, ³⁹  will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 28:57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth ⁴⁰  and her newborn children ⁴¹  (since she has nothing else), ⁴²  because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.

The Curse of Covenant Termination

28:58 “If you refuse to obey ⁴³  all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 28:59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses. 28:60 He will infect you with all the diseases of Egypt ⁴⁴  that you dreaded, and they will persistently afflict you. ⁴⁵  28:61 Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments, ⁴⁶  until you have perished. 28:62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, ⁴⁷  because you will have disobeyed ⁴⁸  the Lord your God. 28:63 This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he ⁴⁹  will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess. 28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone. 28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair. 28:66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next. ⁵⁰  28:67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ because of the things you will fear and the things you will see. 28:68 Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

Deuteronomy 29:24-28

29:24 Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger ⁵¹  all about?” 29:25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 29:26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship. ⁵²  29:27 That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses ⁵³  written in this scroll. 29:28 So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.”

Deuteronomy 31:17

31:17 At that time ⁵⁴  my anger will erupt against them ⁵⁵  and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome ⁵⁶  them ⁵⁷  so that they ⁵⁸  will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters ⁵⁹  overcome us ⁶⁰  because our ⁶¹  God is not among us ⁶² ?’

Deuteronomy 32:30

32:30 How can one man chase a thousand of them, ⁶³ 

and two pursue ten thousand;

unless their Rock had delivered them up, ⁶⁴ 

and the Lord had handed them over?

Jude 1:14

1:14 Now Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, ⁶⁵  even prophesied of them, ⁶⁶  saying, “Look! The Lord is coming ⁶⁷  with thousands and thousands ⁶⁸  of his holy ones,

Jude 1:2

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ⁶⁹ 

Jude 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Jude, ⁷⁰  a slave ⁷¹  of Jesus Christ and brother of James, ⁷²  to those who are called, wrapped in the love of ⁷³  God the Father and kept for ⁷⁴  Jesus Christ.

Jude 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Jude, ⁷⁵  a slave ⁷⁶  of Jesus Christ and brother of James, ⁷⁷  to those who are called, wrapped in the love of ⁷⁸  God the Father and kept for ⁷⁹  Jesus Christ.

Jude 1:6-9

1:6 You also know that ⁸⁰  the angels who did not keep within their proper domain ⁸¹  but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept ⁸²  in eternal chains ⁸³  in utter ⁸⁴  darkness, locked up ⁸⁵  for the judgment of the great Day. 1:7 So also ⁸⁶  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ⁸⁷  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ⁸⁸  in a way similar to ⁸⁹  these angels, ⁹⁰  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

1:8 Yet these men, ⁹¹  as a result of their dreams, ⁹²  defile the flesh, reject authority, ⁹³  and insult ⁹⁴  the glorious ones. ⁹⁵  1:9 But even ⁹⁶  when Michael the archangel ⁹⁷  was arguing with the devil and debating with him ⁹⁸  concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”

Jude 1:2

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ⁹⁹ 

Jude 1:19-22

1:19 These people are divisive, ¹⁰⁰  worldly, ¹⁰¹  devoid of the Spirit. ¹⁰²  1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁰³  1:21 maintain ¹⁰⁴  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ¹⁰⁵  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ¹⁰⁶  1:22 And have mercy on those who waver;

Psalms 106:40

106:40 So the Lord was angry with his people ¹⁰⁷ 

and despised the people who belong to him. ¹⁰⁸ 

[28:15]  ¹ tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”

[28:15]  ² tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”

[28:18]  ³ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:19]  ⁴ sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.

[28:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”

[28:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”

[28:20]  ⁷ tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.

[28:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”

[28:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “The Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:22]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”).

[28:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.”

[28:22]  ¹² tn Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:23]  ¹³ tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”

[28:23]  ¹⁴ tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[28:25]  ¹⁵ tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”).

[28:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “heart” (so KJV, NASB).

[28:29]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”

[28:30]  ¹⁸ tc For MT reading שָׁגַל (shagal, “ravish; violate”), the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate presume the less violent שָׁכַב (shakhav, “lie with”). The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of the MT.

[28:32]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; NCV “there will be nothing you can do.”

[28:36]  ²⁰ tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”

[28:40]  ²¹ tn Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.

[28:42]  ²² tn The Hebrew term denotes some sort of buzzing or whirring insect; some have understood this to be a type of locust (KJV, NIV, CEV), but other insects have also been suggested: “buzzing insects” (NAB); “the cricket” (NASB); “the cicada” (NRSV).

[28:43]  ²³ tn Heb “the foreigner.” This is a collective singular and has therefore been translated as plural; this includes the pronouns in the following verse, which are also singular in the Hebrew text.

[28:45]  ²⁴ tn Heb “commanded”; NAB, NIV, TEV “he gave you.”

[28:46]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:46]  ²⁶ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[28:48]  ²⁷ tn Heb “lack of everything.”

[28:48]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).

[28:49]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

[28:49]  ³⁰ tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

[28:51]  ³¹ tn Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52).

[28:51]  ³² tn Heb “increase of herds.”

[28:51]  ³³ tn Heb “growth of flocks.”

[28:52]  ³⁴ tn Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57.

[28:53]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NRSV); NASB “the offspring of your own body.”

[28:53]  ³⁶ tn Heb “siege and stress.”

[28:55]  ³⁷ tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”

[28:56]  ³⁸ tc The LXX adds σφόδρα (sfodra, “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54.

[28:56]  ³⁹ tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”

[28:57]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”

[28:57]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”

[28:57]  ⁴² tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.”

[28:58]  ⁴³ tn Heb “If you are not careful to do.”

[28:60]  ⁴⁴ sn These are the plagues the Lord inflicted on the Egyptians prior to the exodus which, though they did not fall upon the Israelites, must have caused great terror (cf. Exod 15:26).

[28:60]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “will cling to you” (so NIV); NLT “will claim you.”

[28:61]  ⁴⁶ tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) can refer either (1) to the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, (2) to the book of Deuteronomy or even (3) only to this curse section of the covenant text. “Scroll” better reflects the actual document, since “book” conveys the notion of a bound book with pages to the modern English reader. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the book of this law”; NIV, NLT “this Book of the Law”; TEV “this book of God’s laws and teachings.”

[28:62]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[28:62]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “have not listened to the voice of.”

[28:63]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:66]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “you will not be confident in your life.” The phrase “from one day to the next” is implied by the following verse.

[29:24]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “this great burning of anger”; KJV “the heat of this great anger.”

[29:26]  ⁵² tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.”

[29:27]  ⁵³ tn Heb “the entire curse.”

[31:17]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.

[31:17]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”

[31:17]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “evils.”

[31:17]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.

[31:17]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “my.”

[31:17]  ⁶² tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.

[32:30]  ⁶³ tn The words “man” and “of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “sold them” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[1:14]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “the seventh from Adam.”

[1:14]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “against them.” The dative τούτοις (toutois) is a dativus incommodi (dative of disadvantage).

[1:14]  ⁶⁷ tn Grk “has come,” a proleptic aorist.

[1:14]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “ten thousands.” The word μυριάς (muria"), from which the English myriad is derived, means “ten thousand.” In the plural it means “ten thousands.” This would mean, minimally, 20,000 (a multiple of ten thousand). At the same time, the term was often used in apocalyptic literature to represent simply a rather large number, without any attempt to be specific.

[1:2]  ⁶⁹ tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

[1:1]  ⁷⁰ tn Grk “Judas,” traditionally “Jude” in English versions to distinguish him from the one who betrayed Jesus. The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁷¹ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). At the same time, perhaps “servant” is apt in that the δοῦλος of Jesus Christ took on that role voluntarily, unlike a slave. The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ⁷² sn Although Jude was half-brother of Jesus, he humbly associates himself with James, his full brother. By first calling himself a slave of Jesus Christ, it is evident that he wants no one to place stock in his physical connections. At the same time, he must identify himself further: Since Jude was a common name in the 1st century (two of Jesus’ disciples were so named, including his betrayer), more information was needed, that is to say, brother of James.

[1:1]  ⁷³ tn Grk “loved in.” The perfect passive participle suggests that the audience’s relationship to God is not recent; the preposition ἐν (en) before πατρί (patri) could be taken as sphere or instrument (agency is unlikely, however). Another possible translation would be “dear to God.”

[1:1]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “by.” Datives of agency are quite rare in the NT (and other ancient Greek), almost always found with a perfect verb. Although this text qualifies, in light of the well-worn idiom of τηρέω (threw) in eschatological contexts, in which God or Christ keeps the believer safe until the parousia (cf. 1 Thess 5:23; 1 Pet 1:4; Rev 3:10; other terms meaning “to guard,” “to keep” are also found in similar eschatological contexts [cf. 2 Thess 3:3; 2 Tim 1:12; 1 Pet 1:5; Jude 24]), it is probably better to understand this verse as having such an eschatological tinge. It is at the same time possible that Jude’s language was intentionally ambiguous, implying both ideas (“kept by Jesus Christ [so that they might be] kept for Jesus Christ”). Elsewhere he displays a certain fondness for wordplays; this may be a hint of things to come.

[1:1]  ⁷⁵ tn Grk “Judas,” traditionally “Jude” in English versions to distinguish him from the one who betrayed Jesus. The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁷⁶ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). At the same time, perhaps “servant” is apt in that the δοῦλος of Jesus Christ took on that role voluntarily, unlike a slave. The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ⁷⁷ sn Although Jude was half-brother of Jesus, he humbly associates himself with James, his full brother. By first calling himself a slave of Jesus Christ, it is evident that he wants no one to place stock in his physical connections. At the same time, he must identify himself further: Since Jude was a common name in the 1st century (two of Jesus’ disciples were so named, including his betrayer), more information was needed, that is to say, brother of James.

[1:1]  ⁷⁸ tn Grk “loved in.” The perfect passive participle suggests that the audience’s relationship to God is not recent; the preposition ἐν (en) before πατρί (patri) could be taken as sphere or instrument (agency is unlikely, however). Another possible translation would be “dear to God.”

[1:1]  ⁷⁹ tn Or “by.” Datives of agency are quite rare in the NT (and other ancient Greek), almost always found with a perfect verb. Although this text qualifies, in light of the well-worn idiom of τηρέω (threw) in eschatological contexts, in which God or Christ keeps the believer safe until the parousia (cf. 1 Thess 5:23; 1 Pet 1:4; Rev 3:10; other terms meaning “to guard,” “to keep” are also found in similar eschatological contexts [cf. 2 Thess 3:3; 2 Tim 1:12; 1 Pet 1:5; Jude 24]), it is probably better to understand this verse as having such an eschatological tinge. It is at the same time possible that Jude’s language was intentionally ambiguous, implying both ideas (“kept by Jesus Christ [so that they might be] kept for Jesus Christ”). Elsewhere he displays a certain fondness for wordplays; this may be a hint of things to come.

[1:6]  ⁸⁰ tn Grk “and.” Verse 6 is a continuation of the same sentence begun in v. 5. Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:6]  ⁸¹ tn Grk “who did not keep their own domain.”

[1:6]  ⁸² sn There is an interesting play on words used in this verse. Because the angels did not keep their proper place, Jesus has kept them chained up in another place. The same verb keep is used in v. 1 to describe believers’ status before God and Christ.

[1:6]  ⁸³ sn In 2 Pet 2:4 a less common word for chains is used.

[1:6]  ⁸⁴ tn The word ζόφος (zofos, “utter, deepest darkness”) is used only five times in the NT: two in 2 Peter, two in Jude, and one in Hebrews. Jude 6 parallels 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 13 parallels 2 Pet 2:17.

[1:6]  ⁸⁵ tn The words “locked up” are not in Greek, but is expressed in English as a resumptive point after the double prepositional phrase (“in eternal chains in utter darkness”).

[1:7]  ⁸⁶ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ⁸⁷ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ⁸⁸ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ⁸⁹ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ⁹⁰ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[1:8]  ⁹¹ tn The reference is now to the false teachers.

[1:8]  ⁹² 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.

[1:8]  ⁹³ 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.”

[1:8]  ⁹⁴ 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.”

[1:8]  ⁹⁵ 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).

[1:9]  ⁹⁶ tn The word “even” is not in Greek; it is implied by the height of the contrast.

[1:9]  ⁹⁷ sn According to Jewish intertestamental literature (such as 1 En. 20), Michael was one of seven archangels.

[1:9]  ⁹⁸ tn The sentence structure is a bit different in Greek. Literally it reads: “But Michael the archangel, when arguing with the devil and disputing.”

[1:2]  ⁹⁹ tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

[1:19]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Grk “these are the ones who cause divisions.”

[1:19]  ¹⁰¹ tn Or “natural,” that is, living on the level of instincts, not on a spiritual level (the same word occurs in 1 Cor 2:14 as a description of nonbelievers).

[1:19]  ¹⁰² tn Grk “not having [the] Spirit.”

[1:20]  ¹⁰³ tn The participles in v. 20 have been variously interpreted. Some treat them imperativally or as attendant circumstance to the imperative in v. 21 (“maintain”): “build yourselves up…pray.” But they do not follow the normal contours of either the imperatival or attendant circumstance participles, rendering this unlikely. A better option is to treat them as the means by which the readers are to maintain themselves in the love of God. This both makes eminently good sense and fits the structural patterns of instrumental participles elsewhere.

[1:21]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Or “keep.”

[1:21]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Or “waiting for.”

[1:21]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Grk “unto eternal life.”

[106:40]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord burned against his people.”

[106:40]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “his inheritance.”