1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those who are made holy by God the Father, and kept safe in Jesus Christ, and called:
2May mercy, peace and love be given to you in full measure.
3Dear friends, I was working hard to write to you about the salvation we share. But I found I had to write and urge you to fight hard for the faith that was given once and for all to God's holy people.
4For some men have slipped in among you without being noticed. Long ago it was written down that they would be condemned. They are ungodly men. They turn the grace of our God into a licence for filthy living, and they deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5So I want to remind you of something you once knew. The Lord saved the people out of the land of Egypt, but afterwards he destroyed those who did not believe.
6And the angels who did not keep the place that was theirs, but left their own home, he has kept in everlasting chains under darkness, waiting for the judgment of the great day.
7In the same way Sodom and Gomorrha, and the towns around them, gave themselves up to sexual sin and went after strange flesh. They are set out as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
8In the same way these filthy dreamers make their bodies unclean, refuse to respect authority, and say evil things about glorious beings.
9Yet Michael the archangel, when he argued with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring an insulting accusation against him. He only said, "The Lord rebuke you."
10But these men say evil things about whatever they do not understand. And whatever they do understand by instinct, like animals without reason, in these things they ruin themselves.
11How terrible for them. For they have gone the way of Cain. For money they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam. They have been destroyed in the rebellion of Core.
12These men are stains at your love feasts, eating with you and feeding only themselves, with no fear. They are clouds without water, blown along by the winds. They are trees with withered fruit, fruitless, twice dead, pulled up by the roots.
13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame. They are wandering stars, for whom the blackest darkness has been kept for ever.
14Enoch too, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men. He said, "Look, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones,"
15"to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly among them of all the ungodly deeds they have done in their ungodly way, and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
16These men grumble and find fault. They follow their own evil desires. Their mouths speak big, boastful words. They flatter people to gain something from them.
17But, dear friends, remember the words that were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
18They told you that in the last time there would be mockers, who would follow their own ungodly desires.
19These are the men who divide people, who follow their own natural appetites, and who do not have the Spirit.
20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up on your most holy faith, and pray in the Holy Spirit.
21Keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
22Show compassion to some, making a difference between them.
23Save others with fear, pulling them out of the fire. Hate even the clothing that has been stained by the flesh.
24Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to bring you without fault before his glorious presence with great joy,
25to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.