Exodus 23:33

23:33 They must not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare ¹  to you.”

Deuteronomy 7:4

7:4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.

Deuteronomy 7:16

Exhortation to Destroy Canaanite Paganism

7:16 You must destroy ²  all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship ³  their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Joshua 23:12-13

23:12 But if you ever turn away and make alliances with ⁴  these nations that remain near you, ⁵  and intermarry with them and establish friendly relations with them, ⁶  23:13 know for certain that the Lord our God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. They will trap and ensnare you; ⁷  they will be a whip that tears ⁸  your sides and thorns that blind ⁹  your eyes until you disappear ¹⁰  from this good land the Lord your God gave you.

Jude 1:21

1:21 maintain ¹¹  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ¹²  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ¹³ 

Jude 1:3

Condemnation of the False Teachers

1:3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you ¹⁴  about our common salvation, I now feel compelled ¹⁵  instead to write to encourage ¹⁶  you to contend earnestly ¹⁷  for the faith ¹⁸  that was once for all ¹⁹  entrusted to the saints. ²⁰ 

Psalms 106:34-36

106:34 They did not destroy the nations, ²¹ 

as the Lord had commanded them to do.

106:35 They mixed in with the nations

and learned their ways. ²² 

106:36 They worshiped ²³  their idols,

which became a snare to them. ²⁴ 

Ezekiel 28:24

28:24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ²⁵  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ²⁶  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

[23:33]  ¹ tn The idea of the “snare” is to lure them to judgment; God is apparently warning about contact with the Canaanites, either in worship or in business. They were very syncretistic, and so it would be dangerous to settle among them.

[7:16]  ² tn Heb “devour” (so NRSV); KJV, NAB, NASB “consume.” The verbal form (a perfect with vav consecutive) is understood here as having an imperatival or obligatory nuance (cf. the instructions and commands that follow). Another option is to take the statement as a continuation of the preceding conditional promises and translate “and you will destroy.”

[7:16]  ³ tn Or “serve” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[23:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and hug.”

[23:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “the remnant of the these nations, these nations that are with you.”

[23:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and go into them, and they into you.”

[23:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “be a trap and a snare to you.”

[23:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “in.”

[23:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “thorns in your eyes.”

[23:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or “perish.”

[1:21]  ¹¹ tn Or “keep.”

[1:21]  ¹² tn Or “waiting for.”

[1:21]  ¹³ tn Grk “unto eternal life.”

[1:3]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “while being quite diligent to write to you,” or “while making all haste to write to you.” Two issues are at stake: (1) whether σπουδή (spoudh) here means diligence, eagerness, or haste; (2) whether ποιούμενος γράφειν (poioumeno" grafein) is to be taken conatively (“I was about to write”) or progressively (“I was writing”). Without knowing more of the background, it is difficult to tell which option is to be preferred.

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “I had the necessity.” The term ἀνάγκη (anankh, “necessity”) often connotes urgency or distress. In this context, Jude is indicating that the more comprehensive treatment about the faith shared between himself and his readers was not nearly as urgent as the letter he found it now necessary to write.

[1:3]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “encouraging.” Παρακαλῶν (parakalwn) is most likely a telic participle. In keeping with other participles of purpose, it is present tense and occurs after the main verb.

[1:3]  ¹⁷ tn the verb ἐπαγωνίζομαι (epagwnizomai) is an intensive form of ἀγωνίζομαι (agwnizomai). As such, the notion of struggling, fighting, contending, etc. is heightened.

[1:3]  ¹⁸ tn Τῇ πίστει (th pistei) here is taken as a dative of advantage (“on behalf of the faith”). Though rare (see BDAG 820 s.v. 3), it is not unexampled and must have this meaning here.

[1:3]  ¹⁹ sn The adverb once for all (ἅπαξ, Japax) seems to indicate that the doctrinal convictions of the early church had been substantially codified. That is to say, Jude could appeal to written documents of the Christian faith in his arguments with the false teachers. Most likely, these documents were the letters of Paul and perhaps one or more gospels. First and Second Peter may also have been among the documents Jude has in mind (see also the note on the phrase entrusted to the saints in this verse).

[1:3]  ²⁰ sn I now feel compelled instead…saints. Apparently news of some crisis has reached Jude, prompting him to write a different letter than what he had originally planned. A plausible scenario (assuming authenticity of 2 Peter or at least that there are authentic Petrine snippets in it) is that after Peter’s death, Jude intended to write to the same Gentile readers that Peter had written to (essentially, Paul’s churches). Jude starts by affirming that the gospel the Gentiles had received from Paul was the same as the one the Jewish Christians had received from the other apostles (our common salvation). But in the midst of writing this letter, Jude felt that the present crisis deserved another, shorter piece. The crisis, as the letter reveals, is that the false teachers whom Peter prophesied have now infiltrated the church. The letter of Jude is thus an ad hoc letter, intended to confirm the truth of Peter’s letter and encourage the saints to ground their faith in the written documents of the nascent church, rather than listen to the twisted gospel of the false teachers. In large measure, the letter of Jude illustrates the necessity of clinging to the authority of scripture as opposed to those who claim to be prophets.

[106:34]  ²¹ tn That is, the nations of Canaan.

[106:35]  ²² tn Heb “their deeds.”

[106:36]  ²³ tn Or “served.”

[106:36]  ²⁴ sn Became a snare. See Exod 23:33; Judg 2:3.

[28:24]  ²⁵ sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.

[28:24]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”