THE BOOK OF JUDE - SIMPLIFIED

In today's world, it's crucial for those who believe in God to show Him just how much they trust Him and rely on Him!  This is simply my version of what Jude is saying.

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A long time ago, a man named Jude wrote a short letter. His name in Greek was Ioudas (Ἰούδας), which is the same name as Judah or even Judas, but this Jude was a good man. He was actually the brother of James, and that means he was also a brother of Yeshua—Jesus. Jude didn’t go around bragging about that, though. He just called himself a servant—the Greek word is doulos (δοῦλος), and it means someone who belongs to their master and wants to obey him with love.

He wrote his letter to people who were loved by God the Father and kept safe by Yeshua the Messiah. Jude said they were called—kletos (κλητοῖς)—which means chosen on purpose, like someone calling your name because they know who you are.

He started off with kindness, saying:

"I want you to have more and more mercy, peace, and love!"

But right after that, Jude said he had planned to write something sweet about the good things they shared in following Yeshua… but he couldn’t. Something urgent came up. Something dangerous.

He told them they had to fight—the word he used was epagonizomai (ἐπαγωνίζεσθαι), which means to struggle hard, like a wrestler not giving up—to protect the true faith that had been given once and for all to the people who follow God.

Because, Jude said, some sneaky people had slipped in without anyone noticing. These people were using God’s kindness as an excuse to do whatever wrong thing they wanted. The Greek word for that kind of sneaky behavior is pareisduno (παρεισδύω), which means to secretly creep in like a snake through the grass. These folks didn’t respect Yeshua. They acted like He wasn’t their Master at all.

Jude warned them: “Don’t forget what happened before.”

And now he reminded them of some serious things that had already happened...

God saved His people from Egypt—but later destroyed the ones who didn’t believe.

There were angels who didn’t stay in their place, who left where they belonged. The Greek word is archē (ἀρχή), which means their proper place or beginning. These angels had done something terribly wrong, and God locked them up in darkness until Judgment Day.

Then he reminded them about Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them. They had done bad, selfish things—Jude says they went after strange flesh—and were punished with fire. That fire was a picture of what happens when people won’t turn back to God.

Jude said these sneaky people were doing just like that—they were dreaming up selfish ideas, ignoring the truth, talking bad about holy things, and doing whatever their bodies wanted, even when it was wrong.

Even the archangel Michael, one of God’s strongest messengers, didn’t act like that. When he argued with the devil about the body of Moses, he didn’t call the devil names or say, “You’re going to get it.” He just said, “The Lord rebuke you!” In Greek, that’s epitimēsai soi Kyrios (ἐπιτιμήσαι σοι Κύριος), which means “Let the Master stop you!”

But these wicked people? They don’t even understand what they’re doing. They act like wild animals. They follow their feelings, not truth. And because of that, they destroy themselves.

Jude said, “Woe to them!” That’s like saying, “It’s going to go really bad for them.” He gave examples:

They were like Cain, who got jealous and killed his brother.

They were like Balaam, who got greedy and tried to curse God’s people for money.

They were like Korah, who didn’t want to follow God’s leaders and got swallowed up by the earth.

Jude said these people were dangerous during worship times—like clouds with no rain, floating by without helping anyone… or trees with no fruit, dead and yanked out of the ground. He said they were like wild sea waves, splashing their shame everywhere, and like wandering stars headed into deep darkness.

He even quoted Enoch, a man who lived before Noah. Enoch had said that the Lord would come with thousands of His holy ones to judge everyone and prove how guilty the wicked were for all the mean, wrong things they had said and done.

These people were always grumbling, never happy, following their own bad desires. They talked big and flattered people just to get what they wanted.

But Jude told the believers: “You were already warned.” The apostles of Yeshua said this would happen. They said people would come in the last days who would make fun of the truth and live in sinful ways.

Jude told them: Don’t be like them. These sneaky people cause trouble. They only follow their own feelings, not the Spirit of God.

Instead, he told them to build themselves up in the holy faith, to pray in the Holy Spirit, and to stay in God’s love while waiting for Yeshua to come back and show mercy.

He said to be kind to people who are confused—pull them out of the fire if you can, but be careful! Don’t get mixed up in their sin. Hate even the dirty clothes that remind you of it. The Greek word for that mercy is eleeō (ἐλεάτε)—it means to care about someone who’s in danger and try to help them.

And Jude ended his letter with something strong and beautiful:

"To the One who can keep you from falling and present you blameless, full of joy, in His presence—to the only God, our Savior, through Yeshua the Messiah—be glory, majesty, power, and authority, now and forever. Amen."

I hope this message blessed you. If so, please leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from you.

The image is AI generated on chatgpt. 

How did I get all this, someone asked: Well, here you go:

 

Everything in that Jude story came from digging deeply into the original Greek text of the book of Jude—verse by verse—using tools like:

• The Textus Receptus and Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (depending on verse variation)

• Definitions from Strong’s Concordance and Thayer’s Lexicon to understand how words were used in the first century

• The grammar structure of Koine Greek (which is what Jude was written in), because word order and tense give a lot of nuance

• And, of course, cross-referencing with Young’s Concordance when needed to double-check consistency

Then I turned the deep meanings of those words into everyday language without losing their core. For example:

• "Doulos" (δοῦλος) isn’t just a servant like a butler—it means someone who gives their whole self to a master, willingly.

• "Epagonizomai" (ἐπαγωνίζεσθαι) isn’t just “contend”—it’s like grappling in a fight, intense.

• "Pareisduno" (παρεισδύω) is a stealth word, like something creeping into your house while you sleep.

• Jude quoting Enoch? That’s from the Book of Enoch—an ancient Hebrew text that was respected in Jude’s time, especially by Jewish believers, even if it wasn’t part of the Torah. Jude 1:14 directly references it.

So I took the roots of the words and made sure each part of the story kept the power and warning Jude was shouting—without sounding scary or confusing to a kid.

It’s kind of like baking bread: I ground the grain, kneaded the dough, and gave you something warm and easy to eat—but it’s still made from the same flour the apostles used.