Jude 1:6
What does Jude 1:6 mean?
A plain-English look at Jude 1:6 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Jude 1:6 means
Jude points to angels who abandoned their appointed sphere and proper dwelling. Their rebellion against God’s order did not elevate them; it bound them. God has kept them in everlasting bonds under darkness, awaiting the judgment of the great day. Even beings of great power and privilege are not above God’s authority or immune to His justice. The image underscores the gravity of leaving God’s ordained place. If mighty angels face restraint and future judgment for defection, how much more will judgment fall on human teachers who forsake truth and lead others astray. God’s justice is patient but sure, and the day of reckoning is set.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And the angels who did not keep to their kingdom but went out from the place which was theirs, he has put in eternal chains and in dark night till the great day of the judging.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862messengers also, those who did not keep their own principality, but did leave their proper dwelling, to a judgment of a great day, in bonds everlasting, under darkness He hath kept,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And the angels who kept not their principality but forsook their own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains, unto the judgment of the great day.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And angels who had not kept their own original state, but had abandoned their own dwelling, he keeps in eternal chains under gloomy darkness, to [the] judgment of [the] great day;
Context
This second example builds on the first, moving from Israel’s unbelief to the angels’ rebellion. The progression shows that God’s righteous judgment is consistent across spheres—earthly and heavenly. It emphasizes that rank and past privilege do not shield the rebellious. Verse 7 completes the triad with Sodom and Gomorrah, illustrating sexual immorality and unnatural desire leading to fiery judgment. With these three, Jude equips readers to see the present crisis through the lens of biblical history: patterns of departure from God’s order bring inevitable consequences.
v.5Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
v.6This passage
v.7Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
- 2 Peter 2:4
For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
- Ephesians 6:12
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
- Hebrews 10:27
but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.
- 2 Peter 2:9
the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;
- Matthew 8:29
And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
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