Bible Strands
Jude 1:12
These 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jude addresses believers regarding false teachers infiltrating their communal gatherings. He writes to identify individuals who exploit shared meals while pursuing selfish interests.
The words — σπιλὶδες (spilides) translates literally to hidden reefs, describing the concealed danger these individuals pose during fellowship. ἀγάπαις (agapai) refers specifically to the love feasts where the accused participants engaged in self-serving behavior.
The thread — The imagery of waterless clouds and uprooted trees reappears in 2 Peter 2:17 and echoes the warning in Matthew 15:13 regarding plants not planted by the Father.
Why it lands — The text states that these individuals feast shamelessly while shepherding only themselves, appearing as clouds without water and fruitless trees twice dead. Readers must identify and separate from those who use communal fellowship to advance personal agendas rather than serve others.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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;
Cross-references
- Matthew 15:13 But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.
- 2 Peter 2:17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- Ezekiel 34:8 ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,
- Proverbs 25:14 Like clouds and wind without rain is the man who boasts of gifts never given.
- Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- Philippians 3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
- Luke 21:34 But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.
- John 15:4 Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.
- 1 Corinthians 11:20 Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.
- 2 Peter 2:13 The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.