1 ButmDeut. 13:1; See Matt. 7:15 false prophets also arose among the people,nActs 20:30; 2 Cor. 11:13; 1 Tim. 4:1; [Matt. 24:11] just as there will be false teachers among you, who willoJude 4; [Matt. 10:33; Gal. 2:4] secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Masterp1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23; Gal. 3:13; 4:5; Rev. 5:9; [Ex. 15:16; 1 Pet. 1:18; Rev. 14:3, 4] who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truthqRom. 2:24 will be blasphemed. 3 Andr[2 Cor. 12:17, 18; 1 Tim. 6:5; Titus 1:11] in their greed they will exploit yousRom. 16:18; Col. 2:4 with false words.t[Deut. 32:35; Phil. 3:19] Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spareuJude 6 angels when they sinned, butv[Rev. 20:2, 3, 10] cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darknesswMatt. 25:41 to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, butxSee 1 Pet. 3:20 preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he broughtych. 3:6; Job 22:16 a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if byzSee Gen. 19:24 turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction,a[Num. 26:10] making them an example ofbJude 15 what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 andcGen. 19:16 if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day,dPs. 119:136, 158; [Ezek. 9:4] he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 thene1 Cor. 10:13; Rev. 3:10 the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,1Or temptations and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especiallyfJude 16, 18 those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion andgJude 8; [Ex. 22:28] despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremblegJude 8; [Ex. 22:28] as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 hJude 9 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 iJude 10 But these, like irrational animals,j[Jer. 12:3; Phil. 3:19] creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong askver. 15 the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasurel[Rom. 13:13; 1 Thess. 5:7]; See James 5:5 to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, whilem[1 Cor. 11:21] they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery,n[1 Pet. 4:1] insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have heartsover. 3; [1 Tim. 4:7] trained in greed.p[Eph. 2:3] Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way,qEzek. 14:11 they have gone astray. They have followedrNum. 22:5, 7; Deut. 23:4; Neh. 13:2; Jude 11; Rev. 2:14 the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who lovedsver. 13 gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression;tNum. 22:21, 23, 28 a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
17 uJude 12 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.vJude 13 For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For,wJude 16 speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barelyxver. 20; ch. 1:4 escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise themyGal. 5:13; See James 1:25 freedom,zJohn 8:34; Rom. 6:16 but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if,aver. 18 after they have escaped the defilements of the worldbSee ch. 1:2 through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome,cMatt. 12:45 the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 Ford[Ezek. 18:24; Luke 12:47; Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26, 27; James 4:17] it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back fromeRom. 7:12 the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “ThefProv. 26:11 dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire. ”