Jude 1:2
What does Jude 1:2 mean?
A plain-English look at Jude 1:2 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Jude 1:2 means
Jude prays that mercy, peace, and love would be multiplied to his readers. Mercy answers their need in a fallen world and in the face of internal threats. Peace stabilizes their hearts amid confusion and contention. Love empowers them to stand firm without becoming hard, to correct without cruelty, and to endure without bitterness. The desire that these blessings be multiplied shows Jude’s confidence that God is able to supply abundantly, not sparingly. This prayer-wish does more than open a letter; it signals the spiritual resources required to face the deceptions and divisions Jude will confront, and to do so in a distinctly Christlike way.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949May mercy and peace and love be increased in you.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862kindness to you, and peace, and love, be multiplied!
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Mercy unto you and peace: and charity be fulfilled.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Mercy to you, and peace, and love be multiplied.
Context
After naming his audience’s secure status, Jude immediately asks God to increase the very graces they will need. The letter is about contending, but it is not about contending harshly. Verse 3 shifts to Jude’s change of plan, from writing about "our common salvation" to urging defense of the faith. Verse 4 names the infiltrators whose actions make this necessary. Thus, verse 2 sets the tone: true firmness flows from God’s mercy, peace, and love, which will remain essential when Jude later calls for discernment and rescue of the wavering (verses 22–23).
v.1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
v.2This passage
v.3Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Revelation 1:4
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne;
- 1 Peter 1:2
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
- Romans 1:7
to all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2 Peter 1:2
Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
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