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False Prophets and Teachers

1 But *Deut. 13:1;See Matt. 7:15false prophets also arose among the people, *Acts 20:30;2 Cor. 11:13;1 Tim. 4:1;[Matt. 24:11] just as there will be false teachers among you, who will *Jude 4;[Matt. 10:33;Gal. 2:4] secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master *1 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 truth *Rom. 2:24will be blasphemed. 3 And *[2 Cor. 12:17,18;1 Tim. 6:5;Titus 1:11] in their greed they will exploit you *Rom. 16:18;Col. 2:4with false words. *[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 spare *Jude 6angels when they sinned, but *[Rev. 20:2,3,10] cast them into hell*2:4 Greek Tartarus and committed them to chains*2:4 Some manuscripts pits of gloomy darkness *Matt. 25:41to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but *See 1 Pet. 3:20preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought *ch. 3:6;Job 22:16a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by *See Gen. 19:24turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, *[Num. 26:10] making them an example of *Jude 15what is going to happen to the ungodly;*2:6 Some manuscripts an example to those who were to be ungodly7 and *Gen. 19:16if 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, *Ps. 119:136,158;[Ezek. 9:4]he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then *1 Cor. 10:13;Rev. 3:10the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,*2:9 Or temptations and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially *Jude 16,18those who indulge*2:10 Greek who go after the flesh in the lust of defiling passion and *Jude 8;[Ex. 22:28]despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble *Jude 8;[Ex. 22:28]as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 *Jude 9whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 *Jude 10But these, like irrational animals, *[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 as *ver. 15the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure *[Rom. 13:13;1 Thess. 5:7]; See James 5:5to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,*2:13 Some manuscripts love feasts while *[1 Cor. 11:21]they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery,*2:14 Or eyes full of an adulteress*[1 Pet. 4:1] insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts *ver. 3;[1 Tim. 4:7] trained in greed. *[Eph. 2:3]Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, *Ezek. 14:11they have gone astray. They have followed *Num. 22:5,7;Deut. 23:4;Neh. 13:2;Jude 11;Rev. 2:14the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved *ver. 13gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; *Num. 22:21,23,28a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

17 *Jude 12These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. *Jude 13For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, *Jude 16speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely *ver. 20;ch. 1:4escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them *Gal. 5:13;See James 1:25freedom, *John 8:34;Rom. 6:16but they themselves are slaves*2:19 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, *ver. 18after they have escaped the defilements of the world *See ch. 1:2through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, *Matt. 12:45the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For *[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 from *Rom. 7:12the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The *Prov. 26:11dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."