Nevertheless, these dreamers likewise defile their flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme glorious ones.(A) Yet Michael(B) the archangel,(C) when he was disputing with the Devil(D) in a debate about Moses’(E) body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these people blaspheme anything they don’t understand. What they know by instinct like unreasoning animals—they destroy themselves with these things. 11 Woe to them! For they have traveled in the way of Cain,(F) have abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam(G) for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.(H)

The Apostates’ Doom

12 These are the ones who are like dangerous reefs[a] at your love feasts.(I) They feast with you, nurturing only themselves without fear. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds;(J) trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead, pulled out by the roots;

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Footnotes

  1. Jude 1:12 Or like spots

In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.(A) But even the archangel(B) Michael,(C) when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses,(D) did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”[a](E) 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.(F)

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

12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts,(J) eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.(K) They are clouds without rain,(L) blown along by the wind;(M) autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted(N)—twice dead.

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Footnotes

  1. Jude 1:9 Jude is alluding to the Jewish Testament of Moses (approximately the first century a.d.).