These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.
Parallel translations
- WEB These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- KJV These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- NKJV These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
- NASB These are the ones who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, like shepherds caring only for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;
- NLT When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The false teachers are hidden dangers at the church's love feasts, selfish shepherds, and fruitless, lifeless things.
Overview
Jude piles up vivid images to expose the emptiness and peril of these men. They are like submerged reefs that wreck the fellowship meals, shepherds who feed only themselves, waterless clouds that promise but give nothing, and autumn trees barren when fruit is due, twice dead and uprooted. Each picture underscores that they offer no spiritual nourishment and stand under God's judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 32
- Matt 15:13But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.
- 2 Pet 2:17–20These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- Ezek 34:8‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,
- Eph 4:14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- Phil 3:19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
- Prov 25:14Like clouds and wind without rain is the man who boasts of gifts never given.
- 1 Cor 11:20–22Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.
- John 15:4–6Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.
- Luke 21:34But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.
- 2 Pet 2:13–14The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.
- Ezek 34:10This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand from them My flock and remove them from tending the flock, so that they can no longer feed themselves. For I will deliver My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.’
- Ezek 34:2“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?
- Luke 8:6Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the seedlings withered because they had no moisture.
- Isa 56:10–12Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
- Luke 12:45But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.
- Mark 11:20–21As they were walking back in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from its roots.
- Matt 13:6But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
- 1 Th 5:6–7So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober.
- Heb 6:4–8It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
- Matt 21:19–20Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.
- Mark 4:6But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
- Ps 1:3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
- Hos 6:4What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.
- Jas 5:5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.
- 1 Tim 5:6But she who lives for pleasure is dead even while she is still alive.
- Luke 16:19Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
- Ps 78:29–31So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved.
- 2 Chr 7:20then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.
- Luke 12:19–20Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- Ezek 17:9So you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Will it flourish? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it shrivels? All its foliage will wither! It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by its roots.
- Ezek 34:18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?
- Ps 37:2For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
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Christ at the center
Christ is the one who keeps his people from stumbling and presents them blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy — the object of contending faith.
How Jude 1:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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