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But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
Jude 1:20 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
  • KJV But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
  • BSB But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
  • NASB But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
  • NLT But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,

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

In contrast, believers are to build themselves up in their most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

Overview

Jude now gives positive instruction for perseverance. Believers grow by being established in the apostolic faith and by praying in dependence on the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit the false teachers lack. This active, Spirit-empowered devotion is the antidote to the corrupting influence Jude has described and the means of remaining faithful.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 27

  • Eph 6:18with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints:
  • Rom 8:26–27In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.
  • 1 Cor 14:15What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
  • Col 2:7rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
  • 1 Th 5:11Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.
  • 1 Cor 14:4–5He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly.
  • Rom 8:15For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
  • Acts 9:31So the assemblies throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
  • Gal 4:6And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”
  • 1 Cor 14:26What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up.
  • Eph 4:29Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
  • Eph 4:16from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.
  • Jas 2:22You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;
  • 1 Jn 5:4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.
  • Eph 4:12for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;
  • Titus 1:1Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,
  • Zech 12:10I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.
  • 1 Cor 10:23“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are profitable. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things build up.
  • Rom 15:2Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up.
  • Acts 26:18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
  • Acts 15:9He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
  • 1 Cor 1:8who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Rev 13:10If anyone is to go into captivity, he will go into captivity. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, he must be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.
  • Jude 1:3Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
  • 1 Tim 1:4and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause disputes, rather than God’s stewardship, which is in faith —
  • 2 Pet 1:1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
  • 2 Tim 1:5having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you; which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jude videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jude 1:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JudeMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 1:20 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.