Jude 1:15-21

1:15 to execute judgment on ¹  all, and to convict every person ²  of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds ³  that they have committed, ⁴  and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ⁵  1:16 These people are grumblers and ⁶  fault-finders who go ⁷  wherever their desires lead them, ⁸  and they give bombastic speeches, ⁹  enchanting folks ¹⁰  for their own gain. ¹¹ 

Exhortation to the Faithful

1:17 But you, dear friends – recall the predictions ¹²  foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹³  1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come ¹⁴  scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁵  1:19 These people are divisive, ¹⁶  worldly, ¹⁷  devoid of the Spirit. ¹⁸  1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁹  1:21 maintain ²⁰  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ²¹  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ²² 

Psalms 33:16-17

33:16 No king is delivered by his vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great might.

33:17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory; ²³ 

despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.

Psalms 147:10-11

147:10 He is not enamored with the strength of a horse,

nor is he impressed by the warrior’s strong legs. ²⁴ 

147:11 The Lord takes delight in his faithful followers, ²⁵ 

and in those who wait for his loyal love.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

Wisdom Cannot Protect against Seemingly Chance Events

9:11 Again, ²⁶  I observed this on the earth: ²⁷ 

the race is not always ²⁸  won by the swiftest,

the battle is not always won by the strongest;

prosperity ²⁹  does not always belong to those who are the wisest,

wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning,

nor does success ³⁰  always come to those with the most knowledge –

for time and chance may overcome ³¹  them all.

Isaiah 30:16-17

30:16 You say, ‘No, we will flee on horses,’

so you will indeed flee.

You say, ‘We will ride on fast horses,’

so your pursuers will be fast.

30:17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; ³² 

at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, ³³ 

until the remaining few are as isolated ³⁴ 

as a flagpole on a mountaintop

or a signal flag on a hill.”

Amos 2:14-15

2:14 Fast runners will find no place to hide; ³⁵ 

strong men will have no strength left; ³⁶ 

warriors will not be able to save their lives.

2:15 Archers ³⁷  will not hold their ground; ³⁸ 

fast runners will not save their lives,

nor will those who ride horses. ³⁹ 

Amos 9:1-3

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ⁴⁰  standing by the altar ⁴¹  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ⁴²  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ⁴³ 

and I will kill the survivors ⁴⁴  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ⁴⁵ 

no one will be able to escape. ⁴⁶ 

9:2 Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, ⁴⁷ 

my hand would pull them up from there.

Even if they could climb up to heaven,

I would drag them down from there.

9:3 Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel,

I would hunt them down and take them from there.

Even if they tried to hide from me ⁴⁸  at the bottom of the sea,

from there ⁴⁹  I would command the Sea Serpent ⁵⁰  to bite them.

[1:15]  ¹ tn Grk “against” (κατά [kata] + genitive). English usage is satisfied with “on” at this point, but the parallel is lost in the translation to some degree, for the end of v. 15 says that this judgment is meted out on these sinners because they spoke against him (κατά + genitive).

[1:15]  ² tn Or “soul.”

[1:15]  ³ tn Grk “of all their works of ungodliness.” The adverb “thoroughly” is part of the following verb “have committed.” See note on verb “committed” later in this verse.

[1:15]  ⁴ tn The verb in Greek does not simply mean “have committed,” but “have committed in an ungodly way.” The verb ἀσεβέω (asebew) is cognate to the noun ἀσέβεια (asebeia, “ungodliness”). There is no easy way to express this in English, since English does not have a single word that means the same thing. Nevertheless, the tenor of v. 15 is plainly seen, regardless of the translation.

[1:15]  ⁵ sn An apparent quotation from 1 En. 1:9. There is some doubt as to whether Jude is actually quoting from the text of 1 Enoch; the text here in Jude differs in some respects from the extant text of this pseudepigraphic book. It is sometimes suggested that Jude may instead have been quoting from oral tradition which had roots older than the written text.

[1:16]  ⁶ tn “And” is not in Greek, but is supplied for the sake of English style.

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Or “going.” Though the participle is anarthrous, so also is the subject. Thus, the participle could be either adverbial or adjectival.

[1:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “(who go/going) according to their own lusts.”

[1:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “and their mouth speaks bombastic things.”

[1:16]  ¹⁰ sn Enchanting folks (Grk “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive.

[1:16]  ¹¹ tn Or “to their own advantage.”

[1:17]  ¹² tn Grk “words.” In conjunction with προεῖπον (proeipon), however, the meaning of the construction is that the apostles uttered prophecies.

[1:17]  ¹³ sn This verse parallels 2 Pet 3:2 both conceptually and in much of the verbiage. There is one important difference, however: In 2 Pet 3:2 the prophets and apostles speak; here, just the apostles speak. This makes good sense if Jude is using 2 Peter as his main source and is urging his readers to go back to the authoritative writings, both OT and now especially NT.

[1:18]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “be.”

[1:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “going according to their own desires of ungodliness.”

[1:19]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “these are the ones who cause divisions.”

[1:19]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “not having [the] Spirit.”

[1:20]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “keep.”

[1:21]  ²¹ tn Or “waiting for.”

[1:21]  ²² tn Grk “unto eternal life.”

[33:17]  ²³ tn Heb “a lie [is] the horse for victory.”

[147:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he does not desire the strength of the horse, he does not take delight in the legs of the man.” Here “the horse” refers to the war horse used by ancient Near Eastern chariot forces, and “the man” refers to the warrior whose muscular legs epitomize his strength.

[147:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[9:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I returned and.” In the Hebrew idiom, “to return and do” means “to do again.”

[9:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[9:11]  ²⁸ tn The term “always” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation (five times in this verse) for clarity.

[9:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “bread.”

[9:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “favor.”

[9:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “happen to.”

[30:17]  ³² tn Heb “One thousand from before [or “because of”] one battle cry.” גְּעָרָה (gÿ’arah) is often defined as “threat,” but in war contexts it likely refers to a shout or battle cry. See Ps 76:6.

[30:17]  ³³ tn Heb “from before [or “because of”] the battle cry of five you will flee.

[30:17]  ³⁴ tn Heb “until you are left” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and a place of refuge will perish from the swift.”

[2:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the strong will not increase his strength.”

[2:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the one who holds the bow.”

[2:15]  ³⁸ tn For the idiom of “holding [or “standing”] one’s ground” in battle, there is a similar phrase in Ezek 13:5; also related is the expression “to hold one’s own against” (or “to withstand”) in Judg 2:14; 2 Kgs 10:4; Dan 8:7 (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 97). Other options include “will not endure” or “will not survive.”

[2:15]  ³⁹ tn The last two lines read literally, “The one fast in his feet will not rescue [his life], and the rider of the horse will not rescue his life.” The phrase “his life” does double duty in the parallelism and should be understood in both lines.

[9:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ⁴¹ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ⁴² tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”

[9:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “into Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), that is, the land of the dead localized in Hebrew thought in the earth’s core or the grave. Cf. KJV “hell”; NCV, NLT “the place of the dead”; NIV “the depths of the grave.”

[9:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “from before my eyes.”

[9:3]  ⁴⁹ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:3]  ⁵⁰ sn If the article indicates a definite serpent, then the mythological Sea Serpent, symbolic of the world’s chaotic forces, is probably in view. See Job 26:13 and Isa 27:1 (where it is also called Leviathan). Elsewhere in the OT this serpent is depicted as opposing the Lord, but this text implies that even this powerful enemy of God is ultimately subject to his sovereign will.