Jude

A few years ago, I started a project in which I intended to create a translation of the New Testament based on the Greek text edited by Robinson and Pierpont. I self-published a translation of the book of Revelation and translated some of the other New Testament Epistles. For various reasons, this project came to a halt. Over time I also became convinced that the 1904 Antoniades edtion of the Greek New Testament approved by the Patriarch of Constantinople is better representation of a true ecclesiastical text. There is an on-line version of this text that can be read here. I believe it is important to view the church primarily as the preserver of the Holy Scriptures and not the corrupter. If we view the church primarily as corrupter of Holy Scripture then we are led on the quest for the historical text and ultimately on the quest for the historical Jesus.

I just completed the Book of Jude which was more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Jude assumes a knowledge of some extra-Biblical literature and how you understand that literature makes a difference in how Jude is translated. I believe my translation of Jude is a little more mature than some of my previous work. I hope to revise my previous translations both for style and to bring them in harmony with the 1904 Antoniades edition of the New Testament. I compared my translation to several popular English translations to try to achieve a translation that most clearly communicates the meaning of the Greek and that makes for good English. I made use of several commentaries. Richard Bauckham's was the most helpful. I consulted some more recent commentaries by Gene Green and Peter Davids but they basically repeated Bauckham on the difficult passages and didn't seem to add much to the discussion. I consulted several lexicons but BDAG was the most helpful. So, here is my translation. I would greatly appreciate constructive criticism.

JUDE

Jude, Jesus Christ's slave, and brother of James, To those who are invited, sanctified in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: ² Mercy and peace and love be multiplied to y o u.

³ Beloved, while making every effort to write to y o u concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to y o u, strongly urging y o u to contend earnestly for the faith which was once and for all handed down to the saints. ⁴ For certain people slipped in stealthily, who long ago were written about as designated for this judgment, impious people, who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵ But I want to remind y o u, though y o u have been informed of all things once and for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, on the second occasion destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And angels who did not keep their first place, but deserted their own dwelling, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness until the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in the same way as these, having indulged in illicit sexual relations and gone after other flesh, are set forth as an example, undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. ⁸ But in the same way too, these people, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh and reject Lordship and slander the glorious ones. ⁹ But when Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring an accusation of slander against him, but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!" ¹⁰ But these people slander whatever they do not understand, while by the things they do understand, instinctively, like unreasoning animals, in these things they are destroyed. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain, they plunged into Balaam's error for profit, and through the controversy of Korah they perished.

¹² These people are hidden rocks in the sea in your love-feasts, feasting with y o u without reverence, shepherding only themselves; waterless clouds, blown along by the winds; late autumn trees not bearing fruit, twice dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, causing their shameful things to splash up like foam; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of the darkness has been kept forever. ¹⁴ It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with tens of thousands of His saints, ¹⁵ to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the impious among them of all their impious works which they committed impiously, and of all the hard things which impious sinners spoke against Him." ¹⁶ These people are grumblers, complaining about their lot, walking according to their desires; and their mouth utters puffed-up words, showing partiality for the sake of an advantage. ¹⁷ But y o u, beloved, remember the sayings which were proclaimed beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ They were telling y o u that in the last time there will be mockers walking according to their own desires for impieties. ¹⁹ These people are the ones causing divisions, who follow mere natural instincts, not having the Spirit. ²⁰ But y o u, beloved, building yourselves up on the foundation of y o ur most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to life eternal. ²² And have mercy on those who are uncertain; ²³ but others save with fear, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the tunic that has been soiled by the flesh.

²⁴ Now to the One who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present them without blemish in the presence of His glory with piercing exultation, ²⁵ To the only wise God our Savior, is glory and majesty, power and control, both now and into all eternity. Amen.