Jude 1

₁My name is Jude. I am a servant of Jesus Christ and I am a brother of James. I write this letter to you because God has chosen you to belong to Him. You know that God the Father loves you and that Jesus Christ is protecting you. ₂We pray that God will be very good to you, that He will give you his peace and that you will see how much He loves you.

₃My friends, I wanted to write to you about the love of God that saves us all. But it is important for me to write immediately and ask you to keep on working so that people can hear the Good_News. God gave this Good_News to people who belong to Him. ₄I am writing these things to you now because some bad people have secretly come to you. They have changed the message of God's grace. They say that people may sin and do the bad things that they want to do. They say that Jesus Christ is not our only Master and Lord. Long ago, the Old_Testament said that those people are sinners and God will judge them.

₅You already know these things, but I want to tell them to you again. Long ago the Lord saved the Israelites from the land of Egypt. But later on some of them did not believe in Him and God destroyed them. ₆Do you remember the angels who did not stay in heaven and did not do what God told them to do? The Lord has tied them with chains forever and they will have to stay in the dark place until the day comes when God will punish them when He judges everyone. ₇Do you remember what happened to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns near them? Those people lived immorally. They also wanted to have sex with the angels. This is why those cities are an example to us. It shows us how God punishes those sinners in the fire that burns forever.

₈These false_teachers do the same bad things as those sinners from the Old_Testament. They dream and see things and then they sin and make their bodies impure. They do not listen to the Lord and they say bad things about the angels and strong living_beings that live in heaven. ₉Not even Michael, the most important angel, accused the devil or said bad things to him when they argued about the body of Moses. Michael did not judge the devil. He just told him: ‘The Lord will punish you.’

₁₀But these people do not serve the Lord. They say bad things about everyone and everything that they don't understand. And the few things that they do understand, they understand like wild animals that can not think, and it is those things that will destroy them. ₁₁Those false_teachers will really suffer. They have done the same sin as Cain. They are like Balaam who tempted the Israelites to sin. He did it to get money. Those false_teachers do the same. They rebel_against the Lord like Korah, but the Lord will destroy them.

₁₂These false_teachers are dangerous when they come together with the believers when you eat your love-feasts. They are dangerous because they think only of themselves when they eat and drink with you and they are not ashamed of it. These false_teachers are like clouds that bring no rain, and the wind blows them away. They are like fruit trees that have no fruit. They are dead like trees that people have pulled out of the ground. They are dead, and there is no life in them. ₁₃Their sin is like the dirty foam on the waves of the sea in a storm. They are like stars that are lost. That is why God has prepared a place for them in the dark place.

₁₄Enoch was the 7th forefather after Adam. He talked about these false_teachers when he said: ‘Listen, the Lord will come with his thousands and thousands of holy angels. ₁₅He will judge everyone. The Lord will come to punish all the sinners who did not want to serve Him. He will punish them for all the wrong things they did and all the bad things they said against the Lord.’

₁₆These people always complain and look for faults in other people. They always do the bad things that they want to do. When they talk, they boast about themselves. The only reason that they say good things about other people is to get what they want.

₁₇My friends, you must remember the words that the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you. ₁₈They said: ‘In the last days of this world there will be people who will make fun of God and of you while they do the bad things that they want to do.’

₁₉These people who always mock you say things that make believers become enemies of each other. They live like people of this world because they do not have the Holy_Spirit in their hearts.

₂₀But friends, you must continue to help and encourage each other. You must build each other up like people build a house. The Good_News that comes from God must be the foundation. You must listen to the Holy_Spirit when you pray. ₂₁God loves you, and that is why you must look after each other. You must do this while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal_life. He will give it to you because He wants to be good to you. ₂₂You must be good to people who doubt and whose faith is not strong. ₂₃You must save other people before God judges them. Save them as you would save someone out of a fire. You must be good to other people, but you must be careful and you must hate the things that sinners do. You must even hate their clothes because their clothes are full of the sin that they do.

₂₄God is very strong. His power protects you so that you will not fall and sin. He will take away all your faults so that, when you stand before Him, the King, you will be very happy. ₂₅We belong to Jesus Christ our Lord. That is why we praise our God, our Saviour. He alone is God, He is the King, He is very strong and He has ruled from the time before He made the world. He rules now and forever and ever. Amen.