LETTER OF JUDE.

JUD

UDE, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are sanctified in God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: mercy be to you, and peace and

love be multiplied.

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3 Beloved, using all diligence to write to you of the common salvation, I thought it necessary to write to you, and exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. For some men have stealthily entered in, who were long ago appointed to this condemnation; ungodly men, who pervert the grace of our God, and use it for lascivious purposes, and deny our only Sovereign and Lord, Jesus Christ.

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But I wish to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people from the land of Egypt, then destroyed those who believed not. The angels also that kept not their own dominion, but left their proper habitation, he has reserved, in eternal chains under darkness, to the judgment of the great day. So Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities which were about them, in like manner giving themselves over to lewdness, and following after other flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. Yet, these dreamers also in like manner defile the flesh, despise government, and speak evil of dignitaries. But Michael the archangel, when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring a railing accusation, but said: The Lord

rebuke you. 10 But these speak evil of the things which they know not and those things which they know naturally, as animals without reason, in these they corrupt themselves. "Alas for them! for they have gone in the way of Cain: and, in the error of Balaam, they have rushed headlong after reward, and have perished in the rebellion of Korah.

12 These, while feasting with you, are spots in your love-feasts, feeding themselves without fear; they are clouds without water, driven along by winds; trees of autumn, without fruit, twice dead, torn up by the roots: 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame: wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever. 14 And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied with reference to these men, saying: Behold, the Lord comes with his holy myriads, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly works, which they have impiously committed, and of all the hard words which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are murmurers, fault-finders, walking according to their own desires; and their mouth speaks boastful words, while they admire persons for the sake of gain.

17 But do you, beloved, remember the words that were formerly spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 that they said to you, There should come, in the last days, scoffers walking according to their own ungodly desires. 19 These are they who separate themselves, animal, not having the Spirit.

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to eternal life. 22 And on some, have compassion, making a distinction: 23 and others, save by fear, snatching them from the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh,

21 Now to him that is able to keep you free from stumbling, and to present you blameless in the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only God our Savior, be glory and majesty, strength and authority, both now and throughout all the ages. Amen.

I. HE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, that he might show to his servants the things that must shortly come to pass; and he sent it by his angel, and made it known to his servant John, 2 who bore testimony to the word of God, and recorded the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever things he saw. Blessed is he that reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it; for the time is at hand.

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4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace be to you and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loves us, and who has washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be glory and might from age to age.

Amen.

Behold, he comes with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and those also who pierced him: and all the tribes of the land shall lament because of him. Even so. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

'I John, your brother and companion in the affliction, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the island

called Patmos, on account of the word of God, and on account of the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice like that of a trumpet, saying: What you see, write in a book, and send to the seven churches; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

12 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me: and having turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, 13 and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like the Son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to his feet, and girded about the breast with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white as white wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 and his feet were like fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace and his voice was like the voice of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword: and his face was as the sun when it shines in its strength.

17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; and he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not, I am the First and the Last, 18 and I am he that lives; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive from age to age: and I have the keys of hades and of death. 19 Write, therefore, the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and those which shall be hereafter; 20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches.

II. To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write: These things says he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, that