Yudas 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.

Yudas 1:18

1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come ⁷  scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” ⁸ 

Yudas 1:16

1:16 These people are grumblers and ⁹  fault-finders who go ¹⁰  wherever their desires lead them, ¹¹  and they give bombastic speeches, ¹²  enchanting folks ¹³  for their own gain. ¹⁴ 

Yudas 1:13

1:13 wild sea waves, ¹⁵  spewing out the foam of ¹⁶  their shame; ¹⁷  wayward stars ¹⁸  for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness ¹⁹  have been reserved.

Yudas 1:25

1:25 to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

Yudas 1:7

1:7 So also ²⁰  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ²¹  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ²²  in a way similar to ²³  these angels, ²⁴  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Yudas 1:23

1:23 save ²⁵  others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy ²⁶  on others, coupled with a fear of God, ²⁷  hating even the clothes stained ²⁸  by the flesh. ²⁹ 

[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).

[1:18]  ⁷ tn Grk “be.”

[1:18]  ⁸ tn Grk “going according to their own desires of ungodliness.”

[1:18]  sn Jude cites 2 Pet 3:3, changing a few of the words among other things, cleaning up the syntax, conforming it to Hellenistic style.

[1:16]  ⁹ tn “And” is not in Greek, but is supplied for the sake of English style.

[1:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “going.” Though the participle is anarthrous, so also is the subject. Thus, the participle could be either adverbial or adjectival.

[1:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “(who go/going) according to their own lusts.”

[1:16]  ¹² tn Grk “and their mouth speaks bombastic things.”

[1:16]  sn They give bombastic speeches. The idiom of opening one’s mouth in the NT often implied a public oration from a teacher or one in authority. Cf. Matt 5:2; Luke 4:22; Acts 1:16; 3:18; 10:34; Eph 6:19; Rev 13:5-6.

[1:16]  ¹³ sn Enchanting folks (Grk “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive.

[1:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “to their own advantage.”

[1:13]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “wild waves of the sea.”

[1:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “foaming, causing to foam.” The verb form is intensive and causative. BDAG 360 s.v. ἐπαφρίζω suggests the meaning “to cause to splash up like froth, cause to foam,” or, in this context, “waves casting up their own shameless deeds like (dirty) foam.”

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “shames, shameful things.” It is uncertain whether shameful deeds or shameful words are in view. Either way, the picture has taken a decided turn: Though waterless clouds and fruitless trees may promise good things, but deliver nothing, wild sea-waves are portents of filth spewed forth from the belly of the sea.

[1:13]  ¹⁸ sn The imagery of a star seems to fit the nautical theme that Jude is developing. Stars were of course the guides to sailors at night, just as teachers are responsible to lead the flock through a benighted world. But false teachers, as wayward stars, are not fixed and hence offer unreliable, even disastrous guidance. They are thus both the dangerous reefs on which the ships could be destroyed and the false guides, leading them into these rocks. There is a special irony that these lights will be snuffed out, reserved for the darkest depths of eternal darkness.

[1:13]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness for eternity.” See note on the word “utter” in v. 6.

[1:7]  ²⁰ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ²¹ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ²² tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ²³ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ²⁴ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[1:23]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and save.”

[1:23]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and have mercy.”

[1:23]  ²⁷ tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.

[1:23]  sn Joining a fear of God to mercy is an important balance when involved in disciplinary action. On the one hand, being merciful without fear can turn to unwarranted sympathy for the individual, absolving him of personal responsibility; but fearing God without showing mercy can turn into personal judgment and condemnation.

[1:23]  ²⁸ sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.

[1:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.