Jude 1:11

1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, ¹  and because of greed ²  have abandoned themselves ³  to ⁴  Balaam’s error; hence, ⁵  they will certainly perish ⁶  in Korah’s rebellion.

Jude 1:2

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ⁷ 

Jude 1:21

1:21 maintain ⁸  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ⁹  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ¹⁰ 

Jude 1:19

1:19 These people are divisive, ¹¹  worldly, ¹²  devoid of the Spirit. ¹³ 

Jude 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Jude, ¹⁴  a slave ¹⁵  of Jesus Christ and brother of James, ¹⁶  to those who are called, wrapped in the love of ¹⁷  God the Father and kept for ¹⁸  Jesus Christ.

Jude 1:16

1:16 These people are grumblers and ¹⁹  fault-finders who go ²⁰  wherever their desires lead them, ²¹  and they give bombastic speeches, ²²  enchanting folks ²³  for their own gain. ²⁴ 

Jude 1:4

1:4 For certain men ²⁵  have secretly slipped in among you ²⁶  – men who long ago ²⁷  were marked out ²⁸  for the condemnation I am about to describe ²⁹  – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil ³⁰  and who deny our only Master ³¹  and Lord, ³²  Jesus Christ.

[1:11]  ¹ tn Or “they have gone the way of Cain.”

[1:11]  ² tn Grk “for wages.”

[1:11]  ³ tn The verb ἐκχέω (ekcew) normally means “pour out.” Here, in the passive, it occasionally has a reflexive idea, as BDAG 312 s.v. 3. suggests (with extra-biblical examples).

[1:11]  ⁴ tn Or “in.”

[1:11]  ⁵ tn Grk “and.” See note on “perish” later in this verse.

[1:11]  ⁶ tn The three verbs in this verse are all aorist indicative (“have gone down,” “have abandoned,” “have perished”). Although the first and second could be considered constative or ingressive, the last is almost surely proleptic (referring to the certainty of their future judgment). Although it may seem odd that a proleptic aorist is so casually connected to other aorists with a different syntactical force, it is not unparalleled (cf. Rom 8:30).

[1:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

[1:21]  ¹³ tn Or “keep.”

[1:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “waiting for.”

[1:21]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “unto eternal life.”

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

[1:19]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Grk “not having [the] Spirit.”

[1:1]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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.

[1:16]  ³¹ tn “And” is not in Greek, but is supplied for the sake of English style.

[1:16]  ³² tn Or “going.” Though the participle is anarthrous, so also is the subject. Thus, the participle could be either adverbial or adjectival.

[1:16]  ³³ tn Grk “(who go/going) according to their own lusts.”

[1:16]  ³⁴ tn Grk “and their mouth speaks bombastic things.”

[1:16]  ³⁵ sn Enchanting folks (Grk “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive.

[1:16]  ³⁶ tn Or “to their own advantage.”

[1:4]  ³⁷ 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.

[1:4]  ³⁸ tn “Among you” is not in the Greek text, but is obviously implied.

[1:4]  ³⁹ tn Or “in the past.” The adverb πάλαι (palai) can refer to either, though the meaning “long ago” is more common.

[1:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “written about.”

[1:4]  ⁴¹ 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.

[1:4]  ⁴² 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).

[1:4]  ⁴³ 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 (Ì^72,78 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.

[1:4]  ⁴⁴ 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