9-11 The Archangel Michael, who went to the mat with the Devil as they fought over the body of Moses, wouldn’t have dared level him with a blasphemous curse, but said simply, “No you don’t. God will take care of you!” But these people sneer at anything they can’t understand, and by doing whatever they feel like doing—living by animal instinct only—they participate in their own destruction. I’m fed up with them! They’ve gone down Cain’s road; they’ve been sucked into Balaam’s error by greed; they’re canceled out in Korah’s rebellion.

12-13 These people are eyesores at your love feasts as you worship and eat together. They’re giving you a black eye—carousing shamelessly, grabbing anything that isn’t nailed down. They’re—

Puffs of smoke pushed by gusts of wind;
    late autumn trees stripped clean of leaf and fruit,
Doubly dead, pulled up by the roots;
    wild ocean waves leaving nothing on the beach
    but the foam of their shame;
Lost stars in outer space
    on their way to the black hole.

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11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;(A) they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;(B) they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.(C)

12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts,(D) eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.(E) They are clouds without rain,(F) blown along by the wind;(G) autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted(H)—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea,(I) foaming up their shame;(J) wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.(K)

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