Jude 22–23, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Jude 22–23
Show Mercy and Rescue without Sharing the Corruption
Mercy first for the people who are wavering
And of some have compassion, making a difference. The KJV follows a shorter form that begins with compassion while distinguishing cases. Many critical texts read three responses: mercy on the doubting, snatching others from fire, and mercy with fear. The wording is unusually unstable. Across the leading forms, endangered people receive mercy or rescue. They are not handed the infiltrators' condemnation.
Keep mercy toward the doubting. Dispute and wavering are not the same as the hard, flattering speech already judged. Jude will not let the church treat everyone nearby as the teacher who crept in.
Snatch from fire without putting on the stained garment
And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Fire-language is urgency, not a warrant for coercion, humiliation, kidnapping, or control of another person's conscience. The stained inner garment pictures corruption to be refused. The person is still the object of mercy.
Mercy with fear means helpers stay alert to the pull of the same conduct and to their own vulnerability. Hatred of the stain is not hatred of the endangered person. Rescue that repeats domination has not understood the verse.
How this should shape us
A person leaving a manipulative teacher may need patience, a ride to safety, or a long protected friendship. Show mercy to doubters. Do not make the survivor wear the manipulator's name, and do not play rescuer in a way that repeats control.
Teach it back
Explain Jude 22–23 in your own words. Include what came before, the section's movement, one important uncertainty, and one conclusion the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The passage has one of Jude's most difficult textual problems. Witnesses differ between two and three clauses and between mercy, correction, doubt, and dispute. Recent scholarship remains divided. The safe synthesis is differentiated mercy and rescue with moral caution, not certainty about the exact number or ordering of groups.
How certain? uncertainResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: The exact displayed KJV wording and immediate English context for Jude 22–23.
eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, source files dated 2026-08-19, Jude 1, verses within Jude 22–23; archive and normalized-corpus SHA-256 values are recorded in the library policy.
Supports: The critically edited Greek wording, clause relationships, and visible variation markers checked for the passage.
Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/Jude.txt, verses within Jude 22–23.
Supports: Material translation choices, syntax questions, and textual variants checked for this passage.
NET Bible, Jude 1, translator and textual notes attached to the verses in Jude 22–23.
Supports: Verse-level Greek, textual variants, older interpretive alternatives, and historical proposals tested against newer evidence.
Charles Bigg, The Epistle of St. Jude, commentary pp. 340–343; introduction pp. 306–322 where historical orientation is involved.
Supports: A cross-check of Greek forms and reasonable lexical range for reader-facing word notes.
STEP Bible Data repository, TAGNT and Greek lexical records, Jude 1, verses within Jude 22–23.
Supports: A modern whole-letter check on passage boundaries, argument, and major interpretive options.
Thomas R. Schreiner, Jude, heading 'A Call to Persevere,' verses within Jude 22–23; Introduction paragraphs 'Authorship,' 'Date,' and 'Recipients' where orientation claims are involved.
Supports: The current two-clause versus three-clause debate and the author's stated preference for a shorter text; detailed argument not used.
James B. Prothro, Triads, Groups, and the Text of Jude 22–23, bibliographic record, abstract, and author summary.
Supports: An accessible confirmation that translations differ between two-group and three-group readings.
STEP Bible translation notes, Jude 1:22–23, manuscript-group note.
Supports: A material alternative reconstruction of the Moses-body tradition and proposed connection with Jude 22–24, used only as evidence of disagreement.
Ryan E. Stokes, Not over Moses' Dead Body, publisher abstract.
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: The exact displayed KJV wording and immediate English context for Jude 22–23.
Exact location: eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, source files dated 2026-08-19, Jude 1, verses within Jude 22–23; archive and normalized-corpus SHA-256 values are recorded in the library policy.
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: The critically edited Greek wording, clause relationships, and visible variation markers checked for the passage.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/Jude.txt, verses within Jude 22–23.
Open the Jude Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Jude with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Material translation choices, syntax questions, and textual variants checked for this passage.
Exact location: NET Bible, Jude 1, translator and textual notes attached to the verses in Jude 22–23.
Open source ↗public domain critical commentary
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude
Charles Bigg
T&T Clark / Charles Scribner's Sons, 1902
Supports: Verse-level Greek, textual variants, older interpretive alternatives, and historical proposals tested against newer evidence.
Exact location: Charles Bigg, The Epistle of St. Jude, commentary pp. 340–343; introduction pp. 306–322 where historical orientation is involved.
Open source ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: A cross-check of Greek forms and reasonable lexical range for reader-facing word notes.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository, TAGNT and Greek lexical records, Jude 1, verses within Jude 22–23.
Open source ↗modern open commentary
Jude
Thomas R. Schreiner
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: A modern whole-letter check on passage boundaries, argument, and major interpretive options.
Exact location: Thomas R. Schreiner, Jude, heading 'A Call to Persevere,' verses within Jude 22–23; Introduction paragraphs 'Authorship,' 'Date,' and 'Recipients' where orientation claims are involved.
Open source ↗peer reviewed textual criticism abstract
Triads, Groups, and the Text of Jude 22–23
James B. Prothro
Novum Testamentum 66.3, 2024
Supports: The current two-clause versus three-clause debate and the author's stated preference for a shorter text; detailed argument not used.
Exact location: James B. Prothro, Triads, Groups, and the Text of Jude 22–23, bibliographic record, abstract, and author summary.
Open source ↗open translation note
STEP Bible translation notes — Jude 22–23
STEP Bible / Tyndale House
STEP Bible, current online edition
Supports: An accessible confirmation that translations differ between two-group and three-group readings.
Exact location: STEP Bible translation notes, Jude 1:22–23, manuscript-group note.
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract
Not over Moses' Dead Body: Jude 9, 22–24 and the Assumption of Moses in their Early Jewish Context
Ryan E. Stokes
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 40.2, 2017
Supports: A material alternative reconstruction of the Moses-body tradition and proposed connection with Jude 22–24, used only as evidence of disagreement.
Exact location: Ryan E. Stokes, Not over Moses' Dead Body, publisher abstract.
Open source ↗