3 Beloved, I decided that I must write you about our common salvation, feeling it necessary to appeal to you that you contend earnestly for the faith which was handed down to you from the saints. 4 Certain men have crept unnoticed into your midst. Their condemnation is certain because they have turned the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denied our only LORD and Master, Jesus Christ. 5 I want to remind you that even though the LORD saved the people out of Egypt, He later destroyed them for not believing. 6 And the angels who sinned against God and abandoned their first estate, He has reserved in everlasting bonds under darkness until the great Day of Judgment.

7 Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, are examples of eternal punishment by fire to those who indulged in gross immorality and go after strange flesh. 8 In the same way, these men left the purpose for which God created them, rejecting His authority and speaking evil of heavenly beings. 9 And when Michael the archangel contended with the devil over the body of Moses, He did not speak against him but said, the LORD rebuke you. 10 The men of Sodom and Gomorrah reviled the things they did not understand. They preferred to follow their instinct like unreasoning animals and this way of thinking destroyed them. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain. Like Balaam they make their choices for the sake of gain and perish in the rebellion of Korah. 12 Having no fear of God, these men are hidden reefs when they feast with you. They care only for themselves and they are clouds without rain, carried along by the winds. They are like trees without fruit, twice dead and uprooted. 13 As the waves of the sea, they cast up their own shame like foam on the shore. They are wandering stars and for them the black darkness has been reserved forever. 14 It was of such men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied saying, "Behold, the LORD comes with ten thousand of His saints," 15 "to execute judgment upon all, and convict the ungodly of their evil deeds and of the ungodly things they have said against God." 16 We are talking about those who grumble, find fault, follow after their own lusts, speak arrogantly, and flatter for the sake of gain.

17 But you, beloved, should remember the words spoken to you by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 when they said to you, "In the end time there will be mockers who follow their own lusts." 19 They will cause divisions, be worldly minded, and be devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, are building yourselves up by your holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keeping yourself in the love of God, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 Some need compassion when they doubt. 23 And some will save others, snatching them from the fire, while hating the sins of the flesh that have polluted them.

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling, to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

Jude has one chapter