YUD 1:13 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 5–19: Jude gave illustrations to prove that the Lord would punish the fake Christians

In this section, Jude described the sins of the fake Christians in more detail. He also foretold that the Lord would punish them. He used a special Jewish styleAs mentioned in the Outline, this style was called “midrash.” Jewish rabbis sometimes used this text-application style of presentation. in these verses. He referred to different examples, often taken from the Bible. Then he applied these examples to the situation about which he was writing.

Jude organized this part of his letter as follows:

Example	Application
verses 5–7	verse 8Verse 8 is the application for the examples in 5–7 and could end that paragraph. Verse 8 also introduces 9–10 and could begin that paragraph. These Notes show the paragraph division between verse 7 and verse 8, as does almost every English version.
verse 9	verse 10
verse 11	verses 12–13
verses 14–15	verse 16
verses 17–18	verse 19

The main purpose of the section was to show that the Lord would certainly punish these fake Christians. Jude compared them with well-known individuals and groups mentioned in the Old Testament and in other Jewish writings. He also used things found in nature to describe their sinful ways. Through these examples, he explained that these fake Christians deserved the punishment which they would receive.

Paragraph 11–13

In this paragraph, Jude compared the fake Christians to three men from the Old Testament (verse 11). These three men were Cain, Balaam, and Korah. They were famous because they had sinned greatly. Jude used these three men to show that the Lord would condemn the fake Christians, because they had sinned like these three men had sinned. Jude also illustrated the wickedness of the fake Christians by comparing them to objects from nature (verses 12–13).

13

In 12d–e, Jude described these fake Christians as useless. Here in verse 13, he used illustrations to show that they were worse than just useless, they were harmful.

13a

They are wild waves of the sea,

They are like rough/wild ocean waves
These people are out of control. Like foaming ocean waves,
Like rough/wild waves of the sea

wild waves of the sea: Jude further described the fake Christians with the metaphor of wild waves in the sea. Like wild waves, they lived in an uncontrolled manner. They acted without concern for what is right.

In some languages this metaphor may not express the meaning clearly. If that is true in your language, here are other options:

Use a simile. For example:
They are like wild waves of the sea. (NLT)
Make explicit the similarity between the wild waves and these people.Some other ways to state how the fake Christians are similar to wild waves are:They act/behave wildly.-or-They are out of control. For example:
They are without control, like wild waves of the sea.

13b

foaming up their own shame;

that throw out foam; they foam with shameful actions.
they wildly spew out disgraceful deeds.
produce dirty foam, these people produce/do shameful things.

foaming up their own shame: Here Jude continued the metaphor that he used in 13a. Just as waves of the sea produce dirty foam, so these fake ChristiansJude may have had either of two pictures in his mind.(1) The foam produced by the waves remained on the surface of the sea.(2) The waves deposited the dirty foam on the beach.Either of these options may be correct. However, it is recommended that you follow the example of the English versions and not mention a “beach” or “the shore.” produce shameful actions.

If this metaphor is not clear, you may translate it as a simile. For example:

and like such waves produce dirty foam, what they do/produce is shameful.

General Comment on 13a–b

The metaphor that Jude used here is similar to the one in Isaiah 57:20: “the tossing sea…whose waves cast up mire and mud.”

If the sea and waves are unfamiliar to your readers, you may be able to state the meaning plainly, without the figure of “wild foaming waves.” For example:

^13aThey are wild, not caring about what is right. ^13bTheir actions are disgusting!

^13aTheir uncontrolled actions ^13bare shameful.

13c

wandering stars,

They are like certain stars that wander about in the sky.
They are unfit guides, like some stars which do not travel a regular/predictable course/path.
They are like certain stars that are useless to navigate by at night, because they move unpredictably. You^(plur) should not follow these people.

wandering stars: In past times, many people used the stars to determine their direction at night.It is likely that the wandering stars that Jude used in this metaphor were the planets. Compared to other stars, the planets seemed to wander across the sky, and so they were unreliable guides for navigation. If Jude’s readers understood the wandering stars to be the planets, they might also have seen a comparison to the Roman and Greek gods who shared names with the planets. Whole societies had been misled by believing in these false gods. They could do this because stars moved in a way that they could predict. The Greek expression that the BSB translates as wandering stars refers to other lights in the sky. Some scholars believe that this refers to the planets. Compared to the stars, these lights seemed to wander across the sky. This made them useless for indicating direction.

The fake Christians misled people. Like the wandering stars, they were not reliable as guides, and people should not follow (imitate) them.

If this metaphor is not clear, you may use a simile. You may also make explicit the similarity between the wandering stars and the fake Christians. For example:

They are unfit guides, like stars that wander unpredictably in the sky.

13d

for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

A place of deep darkness is waiting/reserved for them, where they must stay forever.
The Lord is keeping a place for them that is completely dark where they must stay forever.
The Lord intends to confine them in the complete darkness of hell for eternity.

In this part of the verse Jude indicated that the Lord was keeping a place of eternal darkness for the fake Christians. They would be sent there because they did not really believe in Jesus, and when they joined the church, they planned to do evil. This eternal darkness is one description of the place of eternal punishment, which other biblical writers have called “hell.”

for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever: Here Jude used irony to emphasize the punishment of the fake Christians. In 13c, he used the metaphor of “wandering stars.” The irony is that though Jude described the fake Christians as lights in the sky, they would have to stay in the blackest darkness forever.

for whom: The Greek pronoun that the BSB translates here as for whom can refer to either the fake Christians or the wandering stars. Either way, Jude was referring to the fake Christians, because the stars were a metaphor that he had used to describe them.

blackest darkness: The Bible sometimes refers to the place of eternal punishment as darkness (for example, Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30). The Greek word that the BSB translates as blackest is the same word that the BSB translates as darkness in 6c. It can also be translated as “gloom.” Other ways to translate this include:

the utter depths of…darkness (NET)

the deepest darkness (NRSV, GNT)

gloomy darkness (GW)

has been reserved: Jude frequently used the Greek verb, tēreō, which the BSB has translated as “kept” or “stay.” He used a form of tēreō in 1f, 6a, 6c, here in 13d (where the BSB uses the verb “reserved”), and “kept” in 21a. Though it was possible for Jude to use one verb in all these places, the meanings translated into natural English require the use of more than one English verb. If it is more natural in your language to use active verbs, you may need to say who it was who reserved the darkness.The NLT makes the verb active without saying who reserved the darkness. The NLT did this by referring to the darkness as the destination that the fake Christians were “heading” for, rather than as something waiting for them. It says: “They are…heading for everlasting gloom and darkness.” For example:

The Lord has reserved a place for them….

forever: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates here as forever can be translated literally as “for eternity.” Jude meant that the fake Christians would have to stay in the darkness forever.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

κύματα ἄγρια θαλάσσης

waves wild ˱of˲_˓the˒_sea

Jude speaks of the false teachers to describe their unrestrained and untamable behavior. He describes them as wild waves that thrash about in an uncontrollable manner. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this metaphor by translating this plainly or turn the metaphor into a simile. Alternate translation: [they act in an unrestrained manner] or [they are unrestrained like wild waves]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἐπαφρίζοντα τὰς ἑαυτῶν αἰσχύνας

foaming_out (Some words not found in SR-GNT: κύματα ἄγρια θαλάσσης ἐπαφρίζοντα τάς ἑαυτῶν αἰσχύνας ἀστέρες πλανῆται οἷς ὁ ζόφος τοῦ σκότους εἰς αἰῶνα τετήρηται)

Jude expands the wave metaphor of the previous phrase, speaking of the shameful deeds of the false teachers. As waves leave dirty foam on the shore that everyone can see, so the false teachers keep on acting shamefully in the sight of others. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this metaphor by translating this plainly or turn the metaphor into a simile. Alternate translation: [they make their shameful deeds visible to everyone] or [they show their shameful deeds like waves leave foam]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἀστέρες πλανῆται

stars wandering

The phrase wandering stars describes stars that have wandered away from their normal path of movement. Jude uses this expression to describe the false teachers as people who have stopped doing what pleases the Lord. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this metaphor plainly or with a simile. Alternate translation: [no longer living righteously] or [like stars that wander away from their proper path]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

οἷς ὁ ζόφος τοῦ σκότους εἰς αἰῶνα τετήρηται

˱to˲_whom the darkness ¬the ˱of˲_darkness to ˓the˒_age ˓has_been˒_kept

If your language does not use the passive form has been kept, you could express this with an active form, and you can state who did the action. Alternate translation: [for whom God has kept the gloom and darkness to eternity]

Note 5 topic: writing-pronouns

οἷς

˱to˲_whom

Here, whom refers to the false teachers that Jude called “wandering stars” in the previous phrase. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate explicitly that this refers to the false teachers. Alternate translation: [false teachers for whom]

ὁ ζόφος τοῦ σκότους

the darkness ¬the ˱of˲_darkness

Here, gloom of darkness could mean: (1) the gloom is characterized by darkness. Alternate translation: [the dark gloom] (2) the gloom is identical to the darkness. Alternate translation: [the gloom, which is darkness.]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ὁ ζόφος τοῦ σκότους

the darkness ¬the ˱of˲_darkness

Here Jude uses gloom and darkness to refer to hell. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this metaphor directly. Alternate translation: [for whom God has reserved the gloom of darkness of hell]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.

OET interlinear YUD (JUD) 1:13

SR Greek word order (including unused variant words in grey)

Section 5–19: Jude gave illustrations to prove that the Lord would punish the fake Christians

Paragraph 11–13

13

13a

13b

General Comment on 13a–b

13c

13d

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)