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Jude 8–10, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Jude 8–10
Arrogant Slander Contrasted with Michael's Restraint
Dreamers slander what they do not understand
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 'Likewise' applies the old judgments to the present infiltrators. Their pattern is defilement, rejection of authority, and abusive speech about 'glories.' Whether dominion and glories mean the Lord, good angels, or another authority is not settled. Jude's point does not wait on that map: arrogant speech is already the evidence.
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. They revile beyond their knowledge and are ruined through merely instinctive knowing. Confident insult is not discernment.
Michael leaves the rebuke with the Lord
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. Even in conflict with the devil, Michael refuses abusive judgment and appeals to the Lord's rebuke. The scene draws on Jewish tradition about Moses' burial and echoes Zechariah 3. Jude uses that material for this contrast inside this letter.
The allusion is Jude's source for a moral point. It is not a mandate that extra-canonical books govern the church, not a command to pray to Michael, and not a guaranteed spiritual technique. If an archangel would not rail, self-authorized denunciation of human opponents is even less justified.
How this should shape us
When you must name a destructive teacher, stay inside documented words and harm. Do not invent demonic biographies, do not perform 'The Lord rebuke thee' as a ritual, and do not treat an ordinary opponent as if they were the devil in Michael's dispute.
Teach it back
Explain Jude 8–10 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 precise referents of 'dominion' and 'glories' are disputed. The source behind Michael's dispute is also uncertain: a Moses assumption or burial tradition is probable, but its exact text and plot cannot be recovered. Those disputes do not weaken Jude's plain contrast between Michael's restraint and the intruders' ignorant slander.
How certain? uncertainResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: The exact displayed KJV wording and immediate English context for Jude 8–10.
eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, source files dated 2026-08-19, Jude 1, verses within Jude 8–10; 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 8–10.
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 8–10.
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. 330–332; 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 8–10.
Supports: A modern whole-letter check on passage boundaries, argument, and major interpretive options.
Thomas R. Schreiner, Jude, heading 'Judgment on False Teachers,' verses within Jude 8–10; Introduction paragraphs 'Authorship,' 'Date,' and 'Recipients' where orientation claims are involved.
Supports: The uncertain literary source of Jude 9, probable Moses-tradition connection, and the scene's rhetorical contrast.
Dorota Muszytowska, The Meaning of the Motif of Michael the Archangel's Dispute with the Devil, Abstract and §1 opening source discussion.
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 8–10.
Exact location: eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, source files dated 2026-08-19, Jude 1, verses within Jude 8–10; 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 8–10.
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 8–10.
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. 330–332; 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 8–10.
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 'Judgment on False Teachers,' verses within Jude 8–10; Introduction paragraphs 'Authorship,' 'Date,' and 'Recipients' where orientation claims are involved.
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access study
The Meaning of the Motif of Michael the Archangel's Dispute with the Devil (Jude 9): A Socio-Rhetorical Perspective
Dorota Muszytowska
The Biblical Annals 10.4, 2020
Supports: The uncertain literary source of Jude 9, probable Moses-tradition connection, and the scene's rhetorical contrast.
Exact location: Dorota Muszytowska, The Meaning of the Motif of Michael the Archangel's Dispute with the Devil, Abstract and §1 opening source discussion.
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 ↗