1:3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you 1 about our common salvation, I now feel compelled 2 instead to write to encourage 3 you to contend earnestly 4 for the faith 5 that was once for all 6 entrusted to the saints. 7 1:4 For certain men 8 have secretly slipped in among you 9 – men who long ago 10 were marked out 11 for the condemnation I am about to describe 12 – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil 13 and who deny our only Master 14 and Lord, 15 Jesus Christ.
1:5 Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts 16 once for all 17 ) that Jesus, 18 having saved the 19 people out of the land of Egypt, later 20 destroyed those who did not believe. 1:6 You also know that 21 the angels who did not keep within their proper domain 22 but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept 23 in eternal chains 24 in utter 25 darkness, locked up 26 for the judgment of the great Day. 1:7 So also 27 Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, 28 since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire 29 in a way similar to 30 these angels, 31 are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
1:8 Yet these men, 32 as a result of their dreams, 33 defile the flesh, reject authority, 34 and insult 35 the glorious ones. 36 1:9 But even 37 when Michael the archangel 38 was arguing with the devil and debating with him 39 concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” 1:10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. 40 1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, 41 and because of greed 42 have abandoned themselves 43 to 44 Balaam’s error; hence, 45 they will certainly perish 46 in Korah’s rebellion. 1:12 These men are 47 dangerous reefs 48 at your love feasts, 49 feasting without reverence, 50 feeding only themselves. 51 They are 52 waterless 53 clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit 54 – twice dead, 55 uprooted; 1:13 wild sea waves, 56 spewing out the foam of 57 their shame; 58 wayward stars 59 for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness 60 have been reserved.
1:14 Now Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, 61 even prophesied of them, 62 saying, “Look! The Lord is coming 63 with thousands and thousands 64 of his holy ones, 1:15 to execute judgment on 65 all, and to convict every person 66 of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds 67 that they have committed, 68 and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 69 1:16 These people are grumblers and 70 fault-finders who go 71 wherever their desires lead them, 72 and they give bombastic speeches, 73 enchanting folks 74 for their own gain. 75