Chronological
1 Simeon[a] Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to the ones having received an equally-precious faith with us by-means-of [b] the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in[c] the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
Because of All That God Has Given Us, Diligently Add To Your Faith These God-Like Qualities
3 Because-of His divine power having granted[d] us all things pertaining-to life and godliness through the knowledge of the One having called us by [e] His own glory and virtue[f], 4 through which qualities[g] He has granted us the precious and greatest things-promised in order that through these[h] you might become sharers of the divine nature[i], having escaped-from the corruption in the world by evil desire; 5 and indeed for this very reason you having applied all diligence— in[j] your faith supply[k] virtue; and in your virtue, knowledge; 6 and in your knowledge, self-control; and in your self-control, endurance; and in your endurance, godliness; 7 and in your godliness, brotherly-love; and in your brotherly-love, love.
These Qualities Make You Useful And Fruitful
8 For these qualities being-present in you and increasing make[l] you neither useless[m] nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For the one in whom these qualities are not present is blind, being shortsighted[n], having forgotten[o] the purification of his former sins.
So Be Diligent To Make Your Calling And Election Firm
10 Therefore brothers, be more diligent to be making your calling and election[p] firm[q]. For while doing these things you will by no means ever stumble. 11 For in this manner the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.
I Will Always Be Reminding You of These Things As Long As I Live
12 Therefore, I will-certainly[r] always be reminding you about these things, even though you are ones knowing and having been established in the truth being present with you. 13 And I regard it right for as long as I am in this [bodily] tent to be arousing you with a reminder, 14 knowing that the putting-off of my [bodily] tent is imminent, just as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ made-clear to me. 15 And I will also be diligent that at-any-time after my departure[s], you may have the ability to produce the memory of these things.
For We Were Eyewitnesses of Christ’s Majesty And Glory
16 For we made-known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ— not having followed-after cleverly-devised myths, but having been made[t] eyewitnesses of the majesty of that One. 17 For He having received from God the Father the honor and glory of such a voice[u] having been carried[v] to Him by the Majestic Glory— “This is My Son, My Beloved, in Whom I was[w] well-pleased”— 18 we ourselves also heard this voice having been carried out of heaven, being with Him on the holy mountain.
And We Have God’s Prophetic Word More Firm
19 And we have the prophetic[x] word as more-firm[y], to which you are doing well to be paying-attention as to a lamp shining in a dismal[z] place, until which time the day dawns and the morning-star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first— that no prophecy of Scripture comes[aa] from one’s own[ab] interpretation[ac]. 21 For no prophecy was ever carried[ad] by the will of a human, but people being carried by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
And There Will Be False Teachers Among You, Exploiting You
2 But false-prophets also came among the people, as there will also be false-teachers among you who will secretly-bring-in heresies of [ae] destruction— even denying the Master having bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 And many will follow-after their sensualities[af], because of whom the way of the truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in greed they will exploit[ag] you with fabricated words, for whom the judgment from-long-ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
God Will Reserve Them For Punishment And Protect The Righteous
4 For if God did not spare angels having sinned but handed-them-over to chains of gloom, having cast-them-into-hell, being reserved for[ah] judgment; 5 and He did not spare the ancient world but protected the eighth[ai] one, Noah, a proclaimer of righteousness, having brought a flood upon the world of ungodly ones; 6 and He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, having reduced-them-to-ashes by an overthrow, having made them an example of things coming to ungodly ones; 7 and He delivered Lot, a righteous one being oppressed[aj] by the conduct of the lawless[ak] ones in connection with sensuality (8 for by sight and hearing the righteous one dwelling among them day[al] after day was tormenting his righteous soul with their lawless[am] works)— 9 then the Lord knows-how to deliver godly ones from a trial[an] and reserve unrighteous ones for the day of judgment while being punished, 10 and especially the ones proceeding after the flesh in[ao] a lust[ap] for[aq] defilement, and despising[ar] authority[as].
They Are Self-Willed Slaves of Corruption Speaking Against The Things of God
Daring[at], self-willed ones— they do not tremble while blaspheming glories[au], 11 where[av] angels being greater in strength and power do not bring a blasphemous judgment against them from the Lord. 12 But these ones are like unreasoning animals having been born as creatures-of-instinct[aw] for capture and destruction. While blaspheming in[ax] things which they are ignorant, they will also be destroyed in their[ay] destruction[az], 13 being wronged as the wages of wrong-doing. Regarding the reveling during the day to be a pleasure, they are spots and blemishes reveling in their deceptions while feasting-with you, 14 having eyes full of an adulteress[ba] and restless[bb] of sin, enticing[bc] unstable souls, having a heart trained in[bd] greed. Children of [be] a curse!— 15 leaving-behind the straight way, they went-astray, having followed-after the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wrong-doing. 16 But he had a rebuke of his own law-violation: a speechless donkey having uttered in the voice of a human restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These ones are waterless springs, and mists being driven by a storm, for whom the gloom of the darkness has been reserved. 18 For while uttering pompous[bf] words of [bg] futility[bh], they entice by the desires of the flesh, by[bi] sensualities, the ones barely[bj] escaping-from the ones living in error, 19 promising them freedom, themselves being slaves of corruption. For by what one has been defeated, by this he has been enslaved.
Their Slavery Now Is Worse Than Ever
20 For if— having escaped-from the defilements of the world by the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and again having been entangled by these things— they[bk] are defeated, then the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known, to turn-back from the holy commandment having been delivered to them. 22 The thing of the true proverb has happened to them— “The dog having returned to its own vomit”, and, “The sow having washed herself returns to a wallowing of the mire”.
Beloved, Remember That People Will Come Mocking Christ’s Future Coming
3 Beloved, I am now writing this second letter to you, in which letters I am arousing your pure mind with a reminder 2 to remember the words having been spoken-beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior from your apostles, 3 knowing this first— that mockers will come with mocking in the last days, proceeding in accordance with their own desires, 4 and saying “Where is the promise[bl] of His coming? For from which day the fathers[bm] fell-asleep, everything is continuing in-this-manner[bn] from the beginning of creation”.
But God Has Destroyed The Ungodly Before, And He Will Do So Again
5 For this escapes-notice-of those who are willing[bo]— that by the word of God there were heavens from-long-ago, and an earth having existence out of water and by water, 6 through which[bp] the world at that time was destroyed[bq], having been flooded with water. 7 And by the same word the present heavens and earth have been stored-up for fire, being reserved for the day of the judgment and destruction of ungodly people.
He Is Being Patient Now, But The Day of Destruction Will Come Like a Thief
8 But do not let this one thing be escaping your notice, beloved— that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. 9 The Lord is not being slow about[br] the promise as some regard slowness, but He is being patient toward you, not wishing[bs] any to perish, but all to make-room[bt] for repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief— during which the heavens will pass-away with-a-roar, and the elements will be destroyed while burning, and the earth and the works in it will be found[bu]. 11 All these things thus being destroyed, what-kind-of people ought you to be in holy behaviors and acts of godliness, 12 looking-for and hastening[bv] the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed, being set-on-fire, and the elements are melted while burning. 13 But in accordance with His promise we are looking-for new heavens and a new earth, in which[bw] righteousness dwells.
So Be Diligent To Be Unspotted And Unblemished In This Day of Salvation
14 Therefore beloved, while looking-for these things, be diligent to be found unspotted[bx] and unblemished[by] by[bz] Him, in peace. 15 And be regarding the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according-to[ca] the wisdom having been given to him, 16 as also he writes in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these things, in which letters are some things hard-to-understand which the untaught and unstable twist[cb]— as also the other[cc] Scriptures— to their own destruction.
Beloved, Be Guarding Yourselves And Growing In Christ
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing-this-beforehand, be guarding yourselves in order that you may not fall-from your own steadfastness, having been carried-away-by[cd] the error of the lawless ones. 18 And be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now, and to the day of eternity. Amen.
1 Jude[a], a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to the called ones having been loved by[b] God the Father and kept[c] by[d] Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
Beloved, Fight For The Faith Against Those Seeking To Change Grace Into License
3 Beloved, while making every effort to be writing to you concerning our common salvation, I had the necessity to write to you exhorting you to be contending[e] for the faith having been delivered once-for-all to the saints. 4 For certain persons sneaked-in[f]— the ones formerly[g] having been portrayed[h] for this judgment, ungodly ones— changing[i] the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Remember: The Lord Punished The Unbelieving And The Immoral
5 Now I want to remind you— you knowing[j] all things— that the Lord[k], having once[l] saved[m] the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed the ones not having believed. 6 And He has kept[n] angels— the ones not having kept their own domain[o], but having left-behind[p] their own dwelling[q]— in eternal bonds[r] under gloom for the judgment of the great day. 7 Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in like manner to these[s]— having indulged-in-sexual-immorality and gone after other flesh— are set-forth as an example, undergoing the penalty[t] of eternal fire.
Yet These People Defile The Flesh And Reject God’s Authority. Woe To Them
8 Yet in the same way also these dreaming ones are defiling the flesh and rejecting authority[u] and blaspheming[v] glories[w]! 9 Now Michael the archangel[x], when he was speaking concerning the body of Moses while disputing with the devil, did not dare to bring[y] a judgment of blasphemy, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you”. 10 But these ones— whatever things they do not understand, they blaspheme; and whatever things they know instinctually like unreasoning animals, by these they are being destroyed. 11 Woe to them, because they went in the way of Cain, and they poured-forth[z] in the error of Balaam for wages, and they perished[aa] in the rebellion of Korah.
Enoch Prophesied God Would Execute Judgment Against These Ungodly Stains
12 These ones are the ones who are spots[ab] in your love-feasts, feasting-with[ac] you fearlessly, tending[ad] themselves; waterless clouds being carried-along by winds; fruitless autumn trees having died twice, having been uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea foaming-up their shames; wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever. 14 But indeed Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied with regard to these ones, saying, “Behold— the Lord came with His holy myriads 15 to execute judgment against all, and to convict every soul concerning all their works of [ae] ungodliness which they did-godlessly, and concerning all the harsh things which ungodly sinners spoke against Him”.
Remember That The Apostles Prophesied of These Mockers Pursuing Their Ungodly Desires
16 These ones are grumblers[af], faultfinders, proceeding in accordance with their own desires. And their mouth speaks pompous words, marveling-at[ag] faces for the sake of advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words having been spoken-beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ— 18 that they were saying to you that “In the last time there will be mockers proceeding in accordance with their own desires of [ah] ungodliness”.
But You, Beloved, Keep Yourselves In The Love of God
19 These ones are the ones causing-divisions[ai]— natural ones, not having the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, while building-up yourselves on[aj] your most holy faith, while praying in[ak] the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God while waiting-for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. 22 And be having-mercy-on[al] some doubting[am] ones. 23 And be saving[an] others, snatching them out of the fire. And be having-mercy-on others with fear while hating even the tunic[ao] having been stained by the flesh.
24 Now to the One being able to keep[ap] you from-stumbling[aq] and to make you stand in the presence of His glory without-blemish with gladness[ar], 25 to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before[as] every age, and now, and for[at] all ages, amen.
Disciples' Literal New Testament: Serving Modern Disciples by More Fully Reflecting the Writing Style of the Ancient Disciples, Copyright © 2011 Michael J. Magill. All Rights Reserved. Published by Reyma Publishing