Jude

New King James Version

Greeting to the Called

¹Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and ^(A)brother of James,

To those who are ^(B)called, ^[a]sanctified by God the Father, and ^(C)preserved in Jesus Christ:

²Mercy, ^(D)peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Contend for the Faith

³Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you ^(E)concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting ^(F)you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord ^[b]God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old and New Apostates

⁵But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that ^(G)the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And the angels who did not keep their ^[c]proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷as ^(H)Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the ^[d]vengeance of eternal fire.

⁸^(I)Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and ^(J)speak evil of ^[e]dignitaries. ⁹Yet Michael the archangel, in ^[f]contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ^(K)“The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰^(L)But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹Woe to them! For they have gone in the way ^(M)of Cain, ^(N)have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished ^(O)in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

¹²These are ^[g]spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried ^[h]about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ¹³^(P)raging waves of the sea, ^(Q)foaming up their own shame; wandering stars ^(R)for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

¹⁴Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, ¹⁵to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the ^(S)harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Apostates Predicted

¹⁶These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they ^(T)mouth great swelling words, ^(U)flattering people to gain advantage. ¹⁷^(V)But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸how they told you that ^(W)there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹These are ^[i]sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Maintain Your Life with God

²⁰But you, beloved, ^(X)building yourselves up on your most holy faith, ^(Y)praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God, ^(Z)looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

²²And on some have compassion, ^[j]making a distinction; ²³but ^(AA)others save ^[k]with fear, ^(AB)pulling them out of the ^[l]fire, hating even ^(AC)the garment defiled by the flesh.

Glory to God

²⁴^(AD)Now to Him who is able to keep ^[m]you from stumbling,
And ^(AE)to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
²⁵To ^[n]God our Savior,
^[o]Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and ^[p]power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Footnotes

Jude 1:1 NU beloved
Jude 1:4 NU omits God
Jude 1:6 own
Jude 1:7 punishment
Jude 1:8 glorious ones, lit. glories
Jude 1:9 arguing
Jude 1:12 stains, or hidden reefs
Jude 1:12 NU, M along
Jude 1:19 soulish or worldly
Jude 1:22 NU who are doubting (or making distinctions)
Jude 1:23 NU omits with fear
Jude 1:23 NU adds and on some have mercy with fear
Jude 1:24 M them
Jude 1:25 NU the only God our
Jude 1:25 NU Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Be glory
Jude 1:25 NU adds Before all time,

Proverbs 5-6

New King James Version

The Peril of Adultery

5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
^[a]Lend your ear to my understanding,
²That you may ^[b]preserve discretion,
And your lips ^(A)may keep knowledge.
³^(B)For the lips of ^[c]an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouth is ^(C)smoother than oil;
⁴But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵Her feet go down to death,
^(D)Her steps lay hold of ^[d]hell.
⁶Lest you ponder her path of life—
Her ways are unstable;
You do not know them.

⁷Therefore hear me now, my children,
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸Remove your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house,
⁹Lest you give your ^[e]honor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
¹⁰Lest aliens be filled with your ^[f]wealth,
And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
¹¹And you mourn at last,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,
¹²And say:
“How I have hated instruction,
And my heart despised correction!
¹³I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
¹⁴I was on the verge of total ruin,
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,
And running water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
^[g]Streams of water in the streets?
¹⁷Let them be only your own,
And not for strangers with you.
¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with ^(E)the wife of your youth.
¹⁹^(F)As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be ^[h]enraptured with her love.
²⁰For why should you, my son, be enraptured by ^(G)an immoral woman,
And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

²¹^(H)For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He ^[i]ponders all his paths.
²²^(I)His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
²³^(J)He shall die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Dangerous Promises

6 My son, ^(K)if you become ^[j]surety for your friend,
If you have ^[k]shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
²You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.
³So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;
For you have come into the hand of your friend:
Go and humble yourself;
Plead with your friend.
⁴^(L)Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids.
⁵Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
And like a bird from the hand of the ^[l]fowler.

The Folly of Indolence

⁶^(M)Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
⁷Which, having no ^[m]captain,
Overseer or ruler,
⁸Provides her ^[n]supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
⁹^(N)How long will you ^[o]slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
¹¹^(O)So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.

The Wicked Man

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man,
Walks with a perverse mouth;
¹³^(P)He winks with his eyes,
He ^[p]shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
¹⁴Perversity is in his heart,
^(Q)He devises evil continually,
^(R)He sows discord.
¹⁵Therefore his calamity shall come ^(S)suddenly;
Suddenly he shall ^(T)be broken ^(U)without remedy.

¹⁶These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to ^[q]Him:
¹⁷^(V)A^[r] proud look,
^(W)A lying tongue,
^(X)Hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸^(Y)A heart that devises wicked plans,
^(Z)Feet that are swift in running to evil,
¹⁹^(AA)A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who ^(AB)sows discord among brethren.

Beware of Adultery

²⁰^(AC)My son, keep your father’s command,
And do not forsake the law of your mother.
²¹^(AD)Bind them continually upon your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
²²^(AE)When you roam, ^[s]they will lead you;
When you sleep, ^(AF)they will keep you;
And when you awake, they will speak with you.
²³^(AG)For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light;
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
²⁴^(AH)To keep you from the evil woman,
From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
²⁵^(AI)Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
²⁶For ^(AJ)by means of a harlot
A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
^(AK)And ^[t]an adulteress will ^(AL)prey upon his precious life.
²⁷Can a man take fire to his bosom,
And his clothes not be burned?
²⁸Can one walk on hot coals,
And his feet not be seared?
²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.

³⁰People do not despise a thief
If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.
³¹Yet when he is found, ^(AM)he must restore sevenfold;
He may have to give up all the substance of his house.
³²Whoever commits adultery with a woman ^(AN)lacks understanding;
He who does so destroys his own soul.
³³Wounds and dishonor he will get,
And his reproach will not be wiped away.
³⁴For ^(AO)jealousy is a husband’s fury;
Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
³⁵He will ^[u]accept no recompense,
Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.