save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
Parallel translations
- WEB and some save, snatching them out of the fire with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
- KJV And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
- BSB save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
- NKJV but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
- NLT Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
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
Some must be urgently rescued from judgment, while others are to be shown mercy mixed with fear, hating even sin's contamination.
Overview
Jude continues his counsel on rescuing others, calling believers to snatch some from the fire of impending judgment with urgency. Toward those more deeply entangled, mercy is shown with caution, hating even the garment stained by their sin, an image warning against being drawn into the very corruption one seeks to oppose. The balance of compassion and holy vigilance reflects the gospel's heart to save sinners while taking sin seriously.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 1 Tim 4:16Pay attention to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
- 1 Cor 15:33Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”
- Rev 3:4Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
- 2 Cor 7:10–12For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
- 2 Th 3:14If any man doesn’t obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed.
- Rom 11:14if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.
- Zech 3:2–5Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”
- Rev 3:18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.
- Isa 64:6For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
- 1 Cor 5:3–5For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing.
- Lam 4:14They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, So that men can’t touch their garments.
- 1 Cor 5:9–11I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners;
- Amos 4:11“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- Lev 13:47–59“The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it is a woolen garment, or a linen garment;
- Lev 14:47He who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes; and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
- 1 Cor 3:15If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
- Lev 15:17Every garment, and every skin, whereon the semen is, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening.
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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 1:23 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.