Jude 1 · Verse 13

Jude 1:13

Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Jude 1:13, King James Version

Jude 1:13 in other translations

BSB	They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
WEB	wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
ASV	wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved for ever.
YLT	wild waves of a sea, foaming out their own shames; stars going astray, to whom the gloom of the darkness to the age hath been kept.
DARBY	raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shames; wandering stars, to whom has been reserved the gloom of darkness for eternity.
BBE	Violent waves of the sea, streaming with their shame, wandering stars for whom the darkest night is kept in store for ever.
Webster	Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

What does Jude 1:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

13. Raging--wild. Jude has in mind Is 57:20. shame--plural in Greek, "shames" (compare Php 3:19). wandering stars--instead of moving on in a regular orbit, as lights to the world, bursting forth on the world like erratic comets, or rather, meteors of fire, with a strange glare, and then doomed to fall back again into the blackness of gloom.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 13. Raging waves of the sea. Comp. 2Pet 2:18. They are like the wild and restless waves of the ocean. The image here seems to be, that they were noisy and bold in their professions, and were as wild and ungovernable in their passions as the billows of the sea.

Foaming out their own shame. The waves are lashed into foam, and break and dash on the shore. They seem to produce nothing but foam, and to proclaim their own shame, that after all their wild roaring and agitation they should effect no more. So with these noisy and vaunting teachers. What they impart is as unsubstantial and valueless as the foam of the ocean waves, and the result is in fact a proclamation of their own shame, Men with so loud professions should produce much more.

Wandering stars. The word rendered wandering (πλανηται) is that from which we have derived the word planet. It properly means one who wanders about; a wanderer; and was given by the ancients to planets because they seemed to wander about the heavens, now forward and now backward among the other stars, without any fixed law.--Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 6. Cicero, however, who saw that they were governed by certain established laws, says that the name seemed to be given to them without reason.--De Nat. Deo. ii. 20. So far as the words used are concerned, the reference may be either to the planets, properly so called, or to comets, or to ignes fatui, or meteors. The proper idea is that of stars that have no regular motions, or that do not move in fixed and regular orbits. The laws of the planetary motions were not then understood, and their movements seemed to be irregular and capricious; and hence, if the reference is to them, they might be regarded as not an unapt illustration of these teachers. The sense seems to be, that the aid which we derive from the stars, as in navigation, is in the fact that they are regular in their places and movements, and thus the mariner can determine his position. If they had no regular places and movements, they would be useless to the seaman. So with false religious teachers. No dependence can be placed on them. It is not uncommon to compare a religious teacher to a star, Rev 1:16, 2:1. Comp. Rev 22:16.

To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Not to the stars, but to the teachers. The language here is the same as in 2Pet 2:17. 2Pet 2:17

(f) "waves" Isa 57:20 (g) "wandering" Rev 8:10,11

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame - The same metaphor as in Isa 57:20 : The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. These are like the sea in a storm, where the swells are like mountains; the breakers lash the shore, and sound like thunder; and the great deep, stirred up from its very bottom, rolls its muddy, putrid sediment, and deposits it upon the beach. Such were those proud and arrogant boasters, those headstrong, unruly, and ferocious men, who swept into their own vortex the souls of the simple, and left nothing behind them that was not indicative of their folly, their turbulence, and their impurity. Wandering stars - Αστερες πλανηται· Not what we call planets; for although these differ from what are called the fixed stars, which never change their place, while the planets have their revolution round the sun; yet, properly speaking, there is no irregularity in their motions: for their appearance of advancing, stationary, and retrograde, are only in reference to an observer on the earth, viewing them in different parts of their orbits; for as to themselves, they ever continue a steady course through all their revolutions. But these are uncertain, anomalous meteors, ignes fatui, wills-o'-the-wisp; dancing about in the darkness which themselves have formed, and leading simple souls astray, who have ceased to walk in the light, and have no other guides but those oscillating and devious meteors which, if you run after them, will flee before you, and if you run from them will follow you. The blackness of darkness - They are such as are going headlong into that outer darkness where there is wailing, and weeping, and gnashing of teeth. The whole of this description appears to have been borrowed from 2 Peter 2, where the reader is requested to see the notes.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jude 1:8-16

False teachers are dreamers; they greatly defile and grievously wound the soul. These teachers are of a disturbed mind and a seditious spirit; forgetting that the powers that be, are ordained of God, Ro 13:1. As to the contest about the body of Moses, it appears that Satan wished to make the place of his burial known to the Israelites, in order to tempt them to worship him, but he was prevented, and vented his rage…

Read the full comment on Jude 1:8-16 →

Jude 1:13 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

κύματαkumatawavesG2949

ἄγριαagriawildG66

θαλάσσηςthalassēsof [the] seaG2281

ἐπαφρίζονταepaphrizontafoaming outG1890

τὰςtas<the>G3588

ἑαυτῶνhe'autōntheir ownG1438

αἰσχύνας,aischunasshame,G152

ἀστέρεςasteresstarsG792

πλανῆταιplanētaiwanderingG4107

οἷςhoisto whomG3739

ὁhotheG3588

ζόφοςzophosgloomG2217

τοῦtou<the>G3588

σκότουςskotousof darknessG4655

εἰςeistoG1519

αἰῶναaiōnaageG165

τετήρηται.tetērētaihas been reserved.G5083

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jude 1:13

2 Peter 2:17
These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
Philippians 3:19
Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
Isaiah 57:20
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
Psalms 65:7
Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.
Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
2 Timothy 3:13
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Revelation 14:10-11
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Psalms 93:3-4
The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
Jeremiah 5:22-23
Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
Revelation 8:10-11
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
Revelation 21:8
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Raging.
Ps 65:7; 93:3,4; Isa 57:20; Jer 5:22,23
foaming.
Php 3:19; 2Ti 3:13
wandering.
Re 8:10,11
to whom.
2Pe 2:17; Re 14:10,11; 20:10; 21:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Jude 1:12
These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jude 1:13
Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Jude 1:14
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Read all of Jude 1

Jude 1:13 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Fieras ondas de la mar, que espuman sus mismas abominaciones; estrellas erráticas, á las cuales es reservada eternalmente la oscuridad de las tinieblas.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	vagues impétueuses de la mer, jetant l’écume de leurs infamies; étoiles errantes, à qui l’obscurité des ténèbres est réservée pour toujours.
German Elberfelder 1871	wilde Meereswogen, die ihre eigenen Schändlichkeiten ausschäumen; Irrsterne, denen das Dunkel der Finsternis in Ewigkeit aufbewahrt ist.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	fluctus feri maris, despumantes suas confusiones, sidera errantia: quibus procella tenebrarum servata est in æternum.