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1 Epistle of JUDAS 0 -the VW-edition name as properly derived from the Greek (Ioudass) Judas, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of Jacob, to those who are called, set apart by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:
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Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
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Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning the common salvation, it was necessary for me to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
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For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were set forth to this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny the only Lord God, even our Lord Jesus Christ.
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But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
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And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the Great Day;
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as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after other flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
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Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise rulership, and speak evil of dignitaries.
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Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a blasphemous condemnation, but said, The Lord rebuke you.
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But these speak evil of things they do not know; and whatever they understand naturally, like animals without reason, in these things they corrupt themselves.
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Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have rushed out in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
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These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you, serving themselves without fear. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
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raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
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Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with innumerable hosts of His saints,
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to 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 harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
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These are murmurers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and their mouths speak great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.
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But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:
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how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.
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These are they who set themselves apart, sensual persons, not having the Spirit.
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But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
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keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
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And on some have compassion, making a distinction;
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but others rescue with fear, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
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Now to Him who has the power to keep you from stumbling, and to present you without blemish before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
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to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
