Passage

Jude 1.9

Book: Jude · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. 8. Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities.

9. But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed. 11. Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. (Jude 1:7-11, ASV)

WEB

7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. 8. Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.

9. But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”

But these speak evil of whatever things they don’t know. They are destroyed in these things that they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason. 11. Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion. (Jude 1:7-11, WEB)

KJV

7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. ^{strange: Gr. other} 8. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

9. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. (Jude 1:7-11, KJV)

YLT

7. as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like manner to these, having given themselves to whoredom, and gone after other flesh, have been set before, an example, of fire age-during, justice suffering. 8. In like manner, nevertheless, those dreaming also the flesh indeed do defile, and lordship they put away, and dignities they speak evil of,

9. yet Michael, the chief messenger, when, with the devil contending, he was disputing about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring up an evil-speaking judgment, but said, 'The Lord rebuke thee!'

and these, as many things indeed as they have not known, they speak evil of; and as many things as naturally (as the irrational beasts) they understand, in these they are corrupted; 11. woe to them! because in the way of Cain they did go on, and to the deceit of Balaam for reward they did rush, and in the gainsaying of Korah they did perish. (Jude 1:7-11, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Jude, "a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James" (Jude 1), traditionally identified with Judas the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3)
Audience: "them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ" (Jude 1), an unnamed community, probably with a strong Jewish-Christian background given the letter's use of Jewish tradition
Location: unknown; the letter names neither its place of writing nor its destination
Time period: uncertain; most date it between c. AD 50 and 90. Much of its material is closely paralleled in 2 Peter 2
Literary context: Jude's description of the intruders who "set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities" (v. 8). Verse 9 contrasts their arrogance with the restraint of the archangel; verse 10 returns to them.

Theological reading

The dispute over Moses' body. "Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses." The Old Testament says only that God buried Moses in Moab "but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day" (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). The dispute itself comes from Jewish tradition. Origen (On First Principles 3.2.1) says it is found in a book called the Ascension of Moses. A Latin work usually identified with it, the Testament of Moses, survives, but its ending is lost, so the scene cannot now be checked against it.

The Lord rebuke thee. Michael "durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." The words echo Zechariah 3:2, where the angel of Jehovah answers Satan, the accuser of Joshua the high priest: "Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan." Even the archangel refers judgment to God and does not presume to pronounce it on his own authority.

The point of the example. Jude uses the scene against false teachers who "rail at dignities" (v. 8) and "rail at whatsoever things they know not" (v. 10). If the chief of the angels showed restraint toward the devil himself, people who speak contemptuously of spiritual powers show arrogance.

Citing a non-canonical book. Jude also quotes 1 Enoch (vv. 14-15). Using a tradition to illustrate a point does not make the source Scripture; Paul quotes the Greek poet Aratus in Acts 17:28 and Epimenides in Titus 1:12. Jude draws on what his readers knew, and his own argument rests on the authority of God, to whom Michael appealed.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G1228 - diabolos, diabolos, Strong's G1228
G2920 - krisis, krisis, Strong's G2920
G4983 - soma, soma, Strong's G4983
G2962 - kyrios, kyrios, Strong's G2962

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Jehovah's Witnesses vs the Christian God, via Jude 9

Concepts:

People:

Ellen G. White, via Jude 9
Jude the Brother of Jesus, via Jude 9

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.