Knights of Columbus Beaver Valley Chapter Electronic Books

The New Jerusalem Bible with Apocrypha
The Letter of Jude

A short letter warning against certain false teachers and their evil way of life, it also encourages its readers to entrust themselves to Christ's mercy and protection. The author claims to be Jude, brother of the Lord; he stands firmly within the Jewish tradition, using both OT and other Jewish writings to express and illustrate his message, but it is equally a fully Christian work. The Second Letter of Peter draws freely upon the letter, which probably stems from the end of the 1st century.

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Chapter 1

Address

^1:1From Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James; to those who are called, to those who are dear to God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ, ²mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The reason for this letter

³My dear friends, at a time when I was eagerly looking forward to writing to you about the salvation that we all share, I felt that I must write to you encouraging you to fight hard for the faith which has been once and for all entrusted to God's holy people. ⁴Certain people have infiltrated among you, who were long ago marked down for condemnation on this account; without any reverence they pervert the grace of our God to debauchery and deny all religion, rejecting our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

The false teachers: the certainty of punishment

⁵I should like to remind you-though you have already learnt it once and for all-that the Lord rescued the nation from Egypt, but afterwards he still destroyed the people who refused to believe him; ⁶and the angels who did not keep to the authority they had, but left their appointed sphere, ^{*[Gn 6:1-2, elaborated in The Book of Enoch.]} he has kept in darkness in eternal bonds until the judgement of the great Day. ⁷Sodom and Gomorrah, too, and the neighbouring towns, who with the same sexual immorality pursued unnatural lusts, ^{*[Gn 19:1-11, elaborated in The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs.]} are put before us as an example since they are paying the penalty of eternal fire.

Their violent language

⁸Nevertheless, these people are doing the same: in their delusions they not only defile their bodies and disregard Authority, but abuse the Glories as well. ⁹Not even the archangel Michael, when he was engaged in argument with the devil about the corpse of Moses, ^{*[See the apocryphal "Assumption of Moses."]} dared to denounce him in the language of abuse; all he said was, 'May the Lord rebuke you.' ^{*[Zc 3:2] 10}But these people abuse anything they do not understand; and the only things they do understand-merely by nature like unreasoning animals-will turn out to be fatal to them.

Their vicious behaviour

¹¹Alas for them, because they have followed Cain; ^{*[Gn 4:8]} they have thrown themselves into the same delusion as Balaam ^{*[Nb 22:2.]} for a reward; they have been ruined by the same rebellion as Korah ^{*[Nb 16.]} -and share the same fate. ¹²They are a dangerous hazard at your community meals, coming for the food and quite shamelessly only looking after themselves. They are like the clouds blown about by the winds and bringing no rain, or like autumn trees, barren and uprooted and so twice dead; ¹³like wild sea waves with their own shame for foam; or like wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness is stored up for ever. ¹⁴It was with them in mind that Enoch, the seventh patriarch from Adam, made his prophecy when he said, 'I tell you, the Lord will come with his holy ones in their tens of thousands, ¹⁵to pronounce judgement on all humanity and to sentence the godless for all the godless things they have done, and for all the defiant things said against him by godless sinners.' ^{*[Enoch 1:9.] 16}They are mischief-makers, grumblers governed only by their own desires, with mouths full of boastful talk, ^{*[Lv 19:15.]} ready to flatter others for gain.

A warning

¹⁷But remember, my dear friends, what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸'At the final point of time', they told you, 'there will be mockers who follow nothing but their own godless desires.' ¹⁹It is they who cause division, who live according to nature and do not possess the Spirit.

The duties of love

²⁰But you, my dear friends, must build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit; ²¹keep yourselves within the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life. ²²To some you must be compassionate because they are wavering; ²³others you must save by snatching them from the fire; to others again you must be compassionate but wary, hating even the tunic stained by their bodies.

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Chapter Doxology

²⁴To him who can keep you from falling and bring you safe to his glorious presence, innocent and joyful, ²⁵to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, authority and power, before all ages, now and for ever. Amen.

The Beaver Valley Chapter of the Knights of Columbus graciously thanks Duquesne University and Father Sean Hogan, C.S.Sp. for sponsoring our Knights of Columbus Beaver Valley Chapter web page.