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16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

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16 By their fruit you will recognize them.(A) Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?(B)

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The Tree and Its Fruit

43 “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 44 A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. 45 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

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A Tree and Its Fruit(A)

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.(B) People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.(C)

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33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad.

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33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.(A)

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12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 3:12 Greek from salt.

12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?(A) Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

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20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

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20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

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10 But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction. 11 What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion.

12 When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you.[a] They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. 13 They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.

14 Enoch, who lived in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, “Listen! The Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones 15 to execute judgment on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”[b]

16 These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.

A Call to Remain Faithful

17 But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. 18 They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. 19 These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.

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Footnotes

  1. 12 Or they are contaminants among you; or they are stains.
  2. 14-15 The quotation comes from intertestamental literature: Enoch 1:9.

10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.(A)

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;(B) they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;(C) they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.(D)

12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts,(E) eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.(F) They are clouds without rain,(G) blown along by the wind;(H) autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted(I)—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea,(J) foaming up their shame;(K) wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.(L)

14 Enoch,(M) the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming(N) with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones(O) 15 to judge(P) everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”[a](Q) 16 These people are grumblers(R) and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires;(S) they boast(T) about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A Call to Persevere

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles(U) of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.(V) 18 They said to you, “In the last times(W) there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”(X) 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.(Y)

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Footnotes

  1. Jude 1:15 From the Jewish First Book of Enoch (approximately the first century b.c.)

10 He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority.

These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings[a] without so much as trembling. 11 But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord[b] a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.

12 These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. 13 Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception[c] even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. 14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. 15 They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor,[d] who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 16 But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.

17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:10 Greek at glorious ones, which are probably evil angels.
  2. 2:11 Other manuscripts read to the Lord; still others do not include this phrase at all.
  3. 2:13 Some manuscripts read in fellowship meals.
  4. 2:15 Some manuscripts read Bosor.

10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire(A) of the flesh[a] and despise authority.

Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings;(B) 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from[b] the Lord.(C) 12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.(D)

13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight.(E) They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.[c](F) 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce(G) the unstable;(H) they are experts in greed(I)—an accursed brood!(J) 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam(K) son of Bezer,[d] who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.(L)

17 These people are springs without water(M) and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.(N) 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words(O) and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping(P) from those who live in error.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Peter 2:10 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 18.
  2. 2 Peter 2:11 Many manuscripts beings in the presence of
  3. 2 Peter 2:13 Some manuscripts in their love feasts
  4. 2 Peter 2:15 Greek Bosor