What Does Jude 1:11 Mean in the King James?
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word translated “error” carries the motion of wandering: the pursuit of reward is already a loss of direction before it reaches ruin.
THE MEANING
This verse names a pattern alive now: a person chooses a path, lets reward pull that path into wandering, and hardens into opposition. The apparent gain does not secure the course; its end is already loss. Cain, Balaam, and Core become three names for movement from chosen direction to paid drift to resistance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a profitable path is therefore a sound one: reward can accompany a course already carrying a person toward ruin.
THE ROOT
πλάνη
planē
GROWS FROM
πλαν-
plan-
To wander, stray, or lead astray.
The Greek word carries motion: error is a course wandering away from direction. Jude uses this same word family for “wandering stars” in verse 13, giving the drift a visible image.
ALSO GROWS
planáō: To wander; to lead astray.
πλανάω
The verb makes the movement in “error” explicit: it is a course going off path.
planētēs: Wanderer; wandering star.
πλανήτης
Jude uses this same word family for “wandering stars,” joining error to motion without a fixed course.
ἀντιλογία
antilogia
GROWS FROM
ἀντί + λόγος (anti + logos)
Opposition or contradiction expressed in words; logos means word or account.
“Gainsaying” can sound like simply saying no, but antilogia names contradiction and opposition. The verse moves from wandering into an active stance against what is spoken.
ALSO GROWS
logos: Word; account; message.
λόγος
This is the word element within antilogia, bringing speech and account into the opposition.
antilegō: To speak against; to contradict.
ἀντιλέγω
This related verb makes the opposing speech inside “gainsaying” concrete.
μισθός
misthos
GROWS FROM
μισθ-
misth-
Wage, hire, or payment.
The word points to wages, making payment explicit in Balaam’s pattern. The verse places a wandering course beside its compensation: reward can become the hook that draws a person off course.
ALSO GROWS
misthoō: To hire; to pay wages.
μισθόω
The related verb turns reward into a transaction, clarifying the pull of payment.
misthōtos: Hired worker; hireling.
μισθωτός
This related word shows the same root in a person whose work is tied to wages.
THE PATTERN
When reward governs direction, apparent gain can carry a person away from the way and toward loss.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?THE THREAD
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.“Contradiction” here and “gainsaying” in Jude translate the same Greek word, ἀντιλογία (antilogia). Hebrews shows that opposition as something endured; Jude shows the ruinous direction it takes when opposition governs the path.
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