Yudas 1:17-18

Exhortation to the Faithful

1:17 But you, dear friends – recall the predictions ¹  foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²  1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come ³  scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” ⁴ 

Yudas 1:24

Final Blessing

1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, ⁵  and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, ⁶  without blemish ⁷  before his glorious presence, ⁸ 

Yudas 1:2

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ⁹ 

1 Samuel 5:1

The Ark Causes Trouble for the Philistines

5:1 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

Yeremia 43:12-13

43:12 He will set fire ¹⁰  to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their gods or carry them off as captives. ¹¹  He will pick Egypt clean like a shepherd picks the lice from his clothing. ¹²  He will leave there unharmed. ¹³  43:13 He will demolish the sacred pillars in the temple of the sun ¹⁴  in Egypt and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.”’”

Yeremia 48:7

48:7 “Moab, you trust in the things you do and in your riches.

So you too will be conquered.

Your god Chemosh ¹⁵  will go into exile ¹⁶ 

along with his priests and his officials.

[1:17]  ¹ tn Grk “words.” In conjunction with προεῖπον (proeipon), however, the meaning of the construction is that the apostles uttered prophecies.

[1:17]  ² sn This verse parallels 2 Pet 3:2 both conceptually and in much of the verbiage. There is one important difference, however: In 2 Pet 3:2 the prophets and apostles speak; here, just the apostles speak. This makes good sense if Jude is using 2 Peter as his main source and is urging his readers to go back to the authoritative writings, both OT and now especially NT.

[1:18]  ³ tn Grk “be.”

[1:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “going according to their own desires of ungodliness.”

[1:18]  sn Jude cites 2 Pet 3:3, changing a few of the words among other things, cleaning up the syntax, conforming it to Hellenistic style.

[1:24]  ⁵ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ⁶ tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”

[1:24]  ⁷ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ⁸ tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”

[1:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

[43:12]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions. The Hebrew text reads: “I will set fire to.” While it would be possible to explain the first person subject here in the same way as in the two verbs in v. 12b, the corruption of the Hebrew text is easy to explain here as a metathesis of two letters, י (yod) and ת (tav). The Hebrew reads הִצַּתִּי (hitsatti) and the versions presuppose הִצִּית (hitsit).

[43:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “burn them or carry them off as captives.” Some of the commentaries and English versions make a distinction between the objects of the verbs, i.e., burn the temples and carry off the gods. However, the burning down of the temples is referred to later in v. 13.

[43:12]  sn It was typical in the ancient Near East for the images of the gods of vanquished nations to be carried off and displayed in triumphal procession on the return from battle to show the superiority of the victor’s gods over those of the vanquished (cf., e.g., Isa 46:1-2).

[43:12]  ¹² tn Or “he will take over Egypt as easily as a shepherd wraps his cloak around him.” The translation follows the interpretation of HALOT 769 s.v. II ָעטָה Qal, the Greek translation, and a number of the modern commentaries (e.g., J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 671). The only other passage where that translation is suggested for this verb is Isa 22:17 according to HAL. The alternate translation follows the more normal meaning of עָטָה (’atah; cf. BDB 741 s.v. I עָטָה Qal which explains “so completely will it be in his power”). The fact that the subject is “a shepherd” lends more credence to the former view though there may be a deliberate double meaning playing on the homonyms (cf. W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:302).

[43:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “in peace/wholeness/well-being/safety [shalom].”

[43:13]  ¹⁴ sn It is generally agreed that the temple of the sun was located in Heliopolis, which is elsewhere referred to as On (cf. Gen 41:45). It was the center for the worship of Amon-Re, the Egyptian sun god, and was famous for its obelisks (conical shaped pillars) dedicated to that god. It was located about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of modern-day Cairo.

[48:7]  ¹⁵ sn Chemosh was the national god of Moab (see also Numb 21:29). Child sacrifice appears to have been a part of his worship (2 Kgs 3:27). Solomon built a high place in Jerusalem for him (1 Kgs 11:7), and he appears to have been worshiped in Israel until Josiah tore that high place down (2 Kgs 23:13).

[48:7]  ¹⁶ sn The practice of carrying off the gods of captive nations has already been mentioned in the study note on 43:12. See also Isa 46:1-2 noted there.