Jude 1:14

Jude 1:14, in plain English

Enoch, who was taken up to heaven in Genesis, prophesied about this very thing: the Lord will come with His holy ones to execute judgment.

Why it's here

Jude quotes an ancient Jewish text (the Book of Enoch) to show that even before the flood, God's judgment of the ungodly was prophesied. Enoch is significant because he's one of only two people in Genesis taken to heaven without dying—he walked with God and was taken. His prophecy about judgment carries weight. Jude is saying: this isn't a new threat; God has been warning about it since ancient times. The coming of the Lord with His army is the ultimate reality these false teachers are ignoring.

Who's speaking

Jude, citing Enoch's ancient prophecy.

Where it sits in the story

Enoch represents the faithful ones who walked with God in the earliest ages. His prophecy about final judgment frames everything Jude has said—God will have the last word.

The scholarly reading

Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied that the Lord comes with myriads of holy ones to execute judgment.

Language and setting

Jude invokes the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 1:9), a Jewish apocalyptic text not included in the Hebrew Bible but widely circulated in diaspora Judaism and early Christian communities. Enoch's positioning as the seventh from Adam (Genesis 5:24) gave him archetypal status as the righteous eschatological witness. The formula 'Behold, the Lord is coming' (idou elthon kyrios)—employing the prophetic disclosure formula—announces the parousia as imminent and inevitable. The 'myriads of holy ones' (en myriasi agiois autou) refers to the heavenly retinue accompanying the eschatological judge, establishing judgment as cosmic event.

Voice

Jude, citing ancient Jewish prophecy

Significance

The Enoch citation anchors the epistle's apocalyptic eschatology in pre-Mosaic antiquity, suggesting judgment has been the divine intention since creation's earliest days. Enoch's witness transcends Israel's covenantal history, grounding eschatological certainty in primordial revelation.

12These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.

13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones

15to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”

16These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.

Read all of Jude 1 — Jude intended to write about salvation. Instead, he writes about danger — false teachers who have crept in unnoticed. His response is urgent.