The Letter from
JUDE

¹From Jude, servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James--
To those who have been called by God, who live in the love of God the Father and the protection of Jesus Christ:
²May mercy, peace, and love be yours in full measure.

False Teachers

³My dear friends, I was doing my best to write to you about the salvation we share in common, when I felt the need of writing at once to encourage you to fight on for the faith which once and for all God has given to his people. ⁴For some godless people have slipped in unnoticed among us, persons who distort the message about the grace of our God in order to excuse their immoral ways, and who reject Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord. Long ago the Scriptures predicted the condemnation they have received.
⁵For even though you know all this, I want to remind you of how the Lord once rescued the people of Israel from Egypt, but afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶Remember the angels who did not stay within the limits of their proper authority, but abandoned their own dwelling place: they are bound with eternal chains in the darkness below, where God is keeping them for that great Day on which they will be condemned. ⁷Remember Sodom and Gomorrah, and the nearby towns, whose people acted as those angels did and indulged in sexual immorality and perversion: they suffer the punishment of eternal fire as a plain warning to all.
⁸In the same way also, these people have visions which make them sin against their own bodies; they despise God's authority and insult the glorious beings above. ⁹Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" ¹⁰But these people attack with insults anything they do not understand; and those things that they know by instinct, like wild animals, are the very things that destroy them. ¹¹How terrible for them! They have followed the way that Cain took. For the sake of money they have given themselves over to the error that Balaam committed. They have rebelled as Korah rebelled, and like him they are destroyed. ¹²With their shameless carousing they are like dirty spots in your fellowship meals. They take care only of themselves. They are like clouds carried along by the wind, but bringing no rain. They are like trees that bear no fruit, even in autumn, trees that have been pulled up by the roots and are completely dead. ¹³They are like wild waves of the sea, with their shameful deeds showing up like foam. They are like wandering stars, for whom God has reserved a place forever in the deepest darkness.
¹⁴It was Enoch, the seventh direct descendant from Adam, who long ago prophesied this about them: "The Lord will come with many thousands of his holy angels ¹⁵to bring judgment on all, to condemn them all for the godless deeds they have performed and for all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against him!"
¹⁶These people are always grumbling and blaming others; they follow their own evil desires; they brag about themselves and flatter others in order to get their own way.

Warnings and Instructions

¹⁷But remember, my friends, what you were told in the past by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸They said to you, "When the last days come, people will appear who will make fun of you, people who follow their own godless desires." ¹⁹These are the people who cause divisions, who are controlled by their natural desires, who do not have the Spirit. ²⁰But you, my friends, keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, ²¹and keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life.
²²Show mercy toward those who have doubts; ²³save others by snatching them out of the fire; and to others show mercy mixed with fear, but hate their very clothes, stained by their sinful lusts.

Prayer of Praise

²⁴To him who is able to keep you from falling and to bring you faultless and joyful before his glorious presence-- ²⁵to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, from all ages past, and now, and forever and ever! Amen.

Ezra Learns of Intermarriages with Non-Jews

Ezra 9 After all this had been done, some of the leaders of the people of Israel came and told me that the people, the priests, and the Levites had not kept themselves separate from the people in the neighboring countries of Ammon, Moab, and Egypt or from the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Amorites. They were doing the same disgusting things which these people did. ²Jewish men were marrying foreign women, and so God's holy people had become contaminated. The leaders and officials were the chief offenders. ³When I heard this, I tore my clothes in despair, tore my hair and my beard, and sat down crushed with grief. ⁴I sat there grieving until the time for the evening sacrifice to be offered, and people began to gather around me--all those who were frightened because of what the God of Israel had said about the sins of those who had returned from exile.
⁵When the time came for the evening sacrifice, I got up from where I had been grieving, and still wearing my torn clothes, I knelt in prayer and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God. ⁶I said, "O God, I am too ashamed to raise my head in your presence. Our sins pile up higher than our heads; they reach as high as the heavens. ⁷From the days of our ancestors until now, we, your people, have sinned greatly. Because of our sins we, our kings, and our priests have fallen into the hands of foreign kings, and we have been slaughtered, robbed, and carried away as prisoners. We have been totally disgraced, as we still are today. ⁸Now for a short time, O LORD our God, you have been gracious to us and have let some of us escape from slavery and live in safety in this holy place. You have let us escape from slavery and have given us new life. ⁹We were slaves, but you did not leave us in slavery. You made the emperors of Persia favor us and permit us to go on living and to rebuild your Temple, which was in ruins, and to find safety here in Judah and Jerusalem.
¹⁰"But now, O God, what can we say after all that has happened? We have again disobeyed the commands ¹¹that you gave us through your servants, the prophets. They told us that the land we were going to occupy was an impure land because the people who lived in it filled it from one end to the other with disgusting, filthy actions. ¹²They told us that we were never to intermarry with those people and never to help them prosper or succeed if we wanted to enjoy the land and pass it on to our descendants forever. ¹³Even after everything that has happened to us in punishment for our sins and wrongs, we know that you, our God, have punished us less than we deserve and have allowed us to survive. ¹⁴Then how can we ignore your commandments again and intermarry with these wicked people? If we do, you will be so angry that you will destroy us completely and let no one survive. ¹⁵LORD God of Israel, you are just, but you have let us survive. We confess our guilt to you; we have no right to come into your presence."

The Plan for Ending Mixed Marriages

Ezra 10 While Ezra was bowing in prayer in front of the Temple, weeping and confessing these sins, a large group of Israelites--men, women, and children--gathered around him, weeping bitterly. ²Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the clan of Elam, said to Ezra, "We have broken faith with God by marrying foreign women, but even so there is still hope for Israel. ³Now we must make a solemn promise to our God that we will send these women and their children away. We will do what you and the others who honor God's commands advise us to do. We will do what God's Law demands. ⁴It is your responsibility to act. We are behind you, so go ahead and get it done."
⁵So Ezra began by making the leaders of the priests, of the Levites, and of the rest of the people take an oath that they would do what Shecaniah had proposed. ⁶Then he went from in front of the Temple into the living quarters of Jehohanan son of Eliashib, and spent the night there grieving over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. He did not eat or drink anything.
⁷A message was sent throughout Jerusalem and Judah that all those who had returned from exile were to meet in Jerusalem ⁸by order of the leaders of the people. If any failed to come within three days, all their property would be confiscated, and they would lose their right to be members of the community. ⁹Within the three days, on the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the men living in the territory of Judah and Benjamin came to Jerusalem and assembled in the Temple square. It was raining hard, and because of the weather and the importance of the meeting everyone was trembling.
¹⁰Ezra the priest stood up and spoke to them. He said, "You have been faithless and have brought guilt on Israel by marrying foreign women. ¹¹Now then, confess your sins to the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do what pleases him. Separate yourselves from the foreigners living in our land and get rid of your foreign wives."
¹²The people shouted in answer, "We will do whatever you say." ¹³But they added, "The crowd is too big, and it's raining hard. We can't stand here in the open like this. This isn't something that can be done in one or two days, because so many of us are involved in this sin. ¹⁴Let our officials stay in Jerusalem and take charge of the matter. Then let anyone who has a foreign wife come at a set time, together with the leaders and the judges of his city. In this way God's anger over this situation will be turned away." ¹⁵No one was opposed to the plan except Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, who had the support of Meshullam and of Shabbethai, a Levite.
¹⁶The returned exiles accepted the plan, so Ezra the priest appointed men from among the heads of the clans and recorded their names. On the first day of the tenth month they began their investigation, ¹⁷and within the next three months they investigated all the cases of men with foreign wives.

The Men Who Had Foreign Wives

¹⁸This is the list of the men who had foreign wives:

Priests, listed by clans:
Clan of Joshua and his brothers, sons of Jehozadak: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. ¹⁹They promised to divorce their wives, and they offered a ram as a sacrifice for their sins.
²⁰Clan of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah
²¹Clan of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah
²²Clan of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah

²³Levites:
Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer

²⁴Musicians:
Eliashib

Temple guards:
Shallum, Telem, and Uri

²⁵Others:
Clan of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah
²⁶Clan of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah
²⁷Clan of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza
²⁸Clan of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai
²⁹Clan of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth
³⁰Clan of Pahath Moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh
^31-32Clan of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah
³³Clan of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei
^34-37Clan of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu
^38-42Clan of Binnui: Shimei, Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph
⁴³Clan of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah
⁴⁴All these men had foreign wives. They divorced them and sent them and their children away.

A Song of Praise

Psalm 95 Come, let us praise the LORD!
Let us sing for joy to God, who protects us!
²Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs of praise.
³For the LORD is a mighty God,
a mighty king over all the gods.
⁴He rules over the whole earth,
from the deepest caves to the highest hills.
⁵He rules over the sea, which he made;
the land also, which he himself formed.

⁶Come, let us bow down and worship him;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
⁷He is our God;
we are the people he cares for,
the flock for which he provides.

Listen today to what he says:
⁸"Don't be stubborn, as your ancestors were at Meribah,
as they were that day in the desert at Massah.
⁹There they put me to the test and tried me,
although they had seen what I did for them.
¹⁰For forty years I was disgusted with those people.
I said, 'How disloyal they are!
They refuse to obey my commands.'
¹¹I was angry and made a solemn promise:
'You will never enter the land
where I would have given you rest.'"