1On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside. 2Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach. 3He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow. 4As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them. 5Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. 6When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away. 7Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them. 8Others fell on good soil and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. 9He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. 12For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. 13Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. 14In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,
‘By hearing you will hear,
and will in no way understand;
Seeing you will see,
and will in no way perceive;
15for this people’s heart has grown callous,
their ears are dull of hearing,
and they have closed their eyes;
or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and would turn again,
and I would heal them.’
16“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. 17For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.
18“Hear, then, the parable of the farmer. 19When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. 20What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it; 21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”
24He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away. 26But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also. 27The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’
28“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
29“But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
31He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field, 32which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”
33He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”
34Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them, 35that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
36Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”
37He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38the field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. 39The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do iniquity, 42and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
44“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some fish of every kind, 48which, when it was filled, fishermen drew up on the beach. They sat down and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49So it will be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous, 50and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 51Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”
They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
52He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”
53When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there. 54Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?” 57They were offended by him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.” 58He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
As is typical with Pauline letters, the epistle of Jude is named by its author, Jude, a common practice of first-century Greek letters. That Jude identifies himself as “a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James" (vs. 1) is interesting. First, it is possible that Jude simply calls himself a brother of James, on the one hand, and a “bondservant of Christ,” which literally means “slave” on the other. This humble expression of service and loyalty removes any focus on Jude’s identity as a half-brother of Jesus. Thus, Jude’s focus is on Jesus, his Lord, and not on himself or his sibling relationship with the Savior.
Moreover, to establish further the likelihood that Jude wrote this letter, there are only six persons in the NT named Jude. Scholars have concluded that only two of these individuals may qualify to be the author of the letter. One, spoken of in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13, we read was most likely the brother of the Thaddaeus spoken of in the gospel of Matthew, 10:3. Our second candidate is the brother of James, the half-brother of Jesus, named in Matt 13:55. Finally, we have the opinion of Clement of Alexandria, who refers to Jude as being the half-brother of Jesus.
As for the dating of this small epistle, a precise or even rough date is difficult. Jude mentions no known historical event within which to date our epistle. Thus, any date ranging from A.D. 65 to 80 is possible. Some speculate that it might have been written prior to A.D. 70 since Jude does not mention the destruction of Jerusalem. The same is true of John’s apocalypse. However, the fact that Jude seems to address a solely Jewish audience, evident from his Jewish history and the Book of Enoch, seems to rule out a sizable group of Gentiles being a part of this particular church. Therefore, if that is the case, then Jude may have been written early.
Jude’s recipients are "those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Christ" (vs. 1). Although these could be Christians anywhere at any time, Jude also referred to his audience as "beloved" three times, evidencing a close relationship with them. He also used Hebrew history and Jewish pseudepigrapha (the Book of Enoch), pointing to a Jewish-Christian audience. Beyond this designation, it is impossible to be more precise regarding Jude's audience.
This small epistle is one of the most powerful letters in the NT in its unqualified manner of calling out heretics. Jude does not hold back. He teaches that their days are few and numbered, and a pending doom is coming. The message is one of standing against false teachers and their heresies. He identifies them, their errors, and warns of their impending doom, while encouraging his audience to deeper holiness.
Most interestingly, given divine inspiration, Jude writes that he had planned to write on salvation, but apparently got a report of false teachers infiltrating the congregation and threatening to lead them astray. He wanted to blunt these false teachers and encourage his readers not to fall into their evil ways.
Jude also encourages this body of believers to build themselves up in the most holy faith, always praying in the Holy Spirit, all the while keeping themselves in the love of God and in prayer looking for the mercies that are only available and attainable in the Messiah, who is able to keep them from stumbling forever more.