What Does Jude 1:7 Mean in the King James?
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
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
Jude sets these cities before you as a displayed example of judgment, and names its fire with the language of the age or ages.
THE MEANING
The verse places these cities before you as an example: their pursuit of what Jude calls “other flesh” and the judgment named with it remain a warning in the present. The Greek word rendered “eternal” also carries the language of the age or ages, holding enduring consequence and age-language together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a severe example is safely remote: Jude sets it before the reader as a warning now.
THE ROOT
ἑτέρας
heteras
GROWS FROM
ἑτερ-
heter-
other, different; another of a different kind
The Greek word names what is different or other, while “strange” can suggest something merely bizarre or unfamiliar. The phrase marks the flesh as other, leaving its precise boundary to the verse’s context.
ALSO GROWS
heteros: another; different
ἕτερος
This basic form shows the sense carried by “strange” here: other or different.
heterodidaskaleō: teach a different doctrine
ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω
This compound uses the same “different” word-family, showing how the root marks a departure or difference in kind.
αἰωνίου
aiōniou
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
age, an extended span or order of time
The English “eternal” carries the idea of enduring duration; the Greek also carries the language of the age or ages. Here that wording gives the fire an age-related weight without reducing the verse’s severity.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: age; an extended span or order of time
αἰών
This noun is the seed of the adjective used for the fire, making the word’s age-language visible.
aiōnios: age-related; pertaining to an age or ages, often rendered eternal or everlasting
αἰώνιος
This is the adjective in the verse, connecting the fire directly to the language of the ages.
δεῖγμα
deigma
GROWS FROM
δεικ-
deik-
show, point out
An example is something shown. Jude’s word belongs to the family of showing and pointing out, so the cities are presented as a visible case before the reader, not merely named as an idea.
ALSO GROWS
deiknymi: show; point out
δείκνυμι
This verb gives the root’s basic action and clarifies why an example is something displayed.
deigmatizō: expose publicly; make an example
δειγματίζω
This related word carries the sense of public display, sharpening the force of the cities being set forth as an example.
THE PATTERN
A displayed outcome turns a named community’s fate into a warning for the reader now.
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.THE THREAD
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.Jude’s αἰωνίου (aiōniou) and Matthew’s αἰώνιον (aiōnion) are forms of αἰώνιος (aiōnios), the same age-related word. Matthew places it beside both punishment and life, revealing the shared time-language across the two outcomes.
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