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 hell2:4 Greek Tartarus and committed them to chains2:4 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 indulge2:10 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 slaves2:19 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."