What Does Jude 1:9 Mean?
Yet Michael, the chief messenger, when contending with the Slanderer, argued about the body of Moses, did not dare to lift a judgment of reviling against him, but said, "Let the LORD rebuke you."
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.THE KEY
The Greek makes “contending” and “judgment” echo one root, while Michael leaves the rebuke to the Lord.
THE MEANING
This verse holds a real conflict over Moses’s body in view: Michael contends with the Slanderer, yet does not bring a slanderous judgment against him. He leaves the rebuke with the Lord. The conflict remains, but Michael does not take the final verdict into his own mouth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being right in a dispute gives you permission to condemn the other person: even Michael leaves rebuke to the Lord.
THE ROOT
διακρινόμενος
diakrinomenos
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
To separate or distinguish; by extension, to decide or judge.
Jude uses διακρινόμενος (diakrinomenos, contending) and then κρίσιν (krisin, judgment), words from the same κρίνω (krinō) family. Their echo links the dispute to the judgment Michael refuses to pronounce, even as he names the Lord as the one who rebukes.
ALSO GROWS
krisin: Judgment; the form used in Jude 1:9.
κρίσιν
Its root echoes in διακρινόμενος, joining the words for contending and judgment within the verse itself.
anakrinō: To examine, question, or investigate.
ἀνακρίνω
This branch shows that the same root can describe examination and discernment as well as judgment.
synkrinō: To compare or interpret.
συγκρίνω
This branch carries the sense of weighing things in relation to one another, widening the root’s range beyond a verbal dispute.
THE PATTERN
When conflict calls forth retaliation, scripture places vengeance with the LORD and refuses to make accusation the instrument of judgment.
The LORD will fight for you, and you will hold your tongue.Do not say, I will repay the evil; stretch yourself taut toward the LORD, and he will bring you out.Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give room to wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will give back, says the LORD.THE THREAD
Who, when he was insulted, hurled no insult back; when he suffered, he threatened not; but handed himself over to the one who judges by alignment.Peter’s “judgeth” is κρίνοντι (krinonti, judging), from the same κρίνω (krinō) family echoed by Jude’s διακρινόμενος (diakrinomenos, contending) and κρίσιν (krisin, judgment). Both verses hold the conflict in view while placing judgment with God.
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