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.

Revelation 2:14

2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, ⁷  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block ⁸  before the people ⁹  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ¹⁰ 

[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).

[2:14]  ⁷ sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.

[2:14]  ⁸ tn That is, a cause for sinning. An alternate translation is “who instructed Balak to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols…”

[2:14]  ⁹ tn Grk “sons,” but the expression υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ (Juioi Israhl) is an idiom for the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (see L&N 11.58).

[2:14]  ¹⁰ tn Due to the actual events in the OT (Num 22-24; 31:16), πορνεῦσαι (porneusai) is taken to mean “sexual immorality.” BDAG 854 s.v. πορνεύω 1 states, “engage in illicit sex, to fornicate, to whore…W. φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα ‘eat meat offered to idols’ Rv 2:14, 20.”