1 Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and the brother of James, to those who have been called, who are dear to God the Father and have been kept through union with Jesus Christ;
3 Dear friends, I was just on the point of writing to you about our common salvation, when it became necessary for me to write and appeal to you to come to the defense of the faith that has once for all been intrusted to God's people.
4 For some people have sneaked in among us??heir doom was foretold long ago??odless persons, who turn the mercy of our God into an excuse for immorality, and disown our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I want to remind you, though you know it all already, that he who brought the people safely out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed the ones who did not believe,
6 and the angels who neglected their responsibilities and abandoned their homes he has put in everlasting chains to be kept in darkness for the judgment of the great Day,
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns which like them indulged in immorality and unnatural vice stand as a warning, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 In that same way these dreamers defile the body, make light of authority, and deride majesty.
9 The archangel Michael himself, when he had the dispute with the devil about Moses' body, did not venture to condemn him for blasphemy; he only said, "May the Lord rebuke you!"
10 But these people deride anything they do not understand, and the things they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, they use for their own destruction.
11 Alas for them, for they follow Cain's path, they plunge into Balaam's error for gain, and they perish in rebelliousness like Korah's.
12 They are stains on your religious meals, where they carouse together, boldly attending to no one but themselves; rainless clouds driven before the wind; leafless trees without fruit, doubly dead, and uprooted;
13 wild sea waves foaming up their own shame; wandering stars doomed forever to utter darkness.
14 Of them also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, when he said, "See! The Lord comes with his holy myriads
15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the godless of all the godless deeds they have done, and of all the harsh things that godless sinners have said against him."
16 These men are grumblers, dissatisfied with life. They go where their passions lead, their talk is arrogant and they cultivate people in the hope of gain.
17 But you, dear friends, must remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
18 for they said to you, "In the last times there will be mockers who will go where their own godless passions lead."
19 These are the men who create division; they are animal and devoid of the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, must build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith and pray in the holy Spirit,
21 and keep in the love of God, and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to bring you to eternal life.
22 Those whom you pity in their uncertainty,
23 save, snatching them out of the fire, and look on others with pity mixed with fear, loathing even the clothes their animal nature has stained.