Jude 1:13
“Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Jude completes the picture: these men are wild sea waves foaming up their shame, and wandering stars destined for utter darkness.
What Does Jude 1:13 Mean?
Jude finishes his series of images with two more drawn from creation. These men are raging waves of the sea, restless and untamed, foaming out their own shame the way the surf throws up debris on the shore. What they produce from within is not glory but disgrace, cast up for all to see.
Then they are wandering stars, lights that keep no fixed course and so can guide no one home. For such bodies, Jude says, the blackness of darkness is reserved forever. The contrast could not be greater: stars were made to give light, yet these give none and end in the dark. Jude grieves over wasted glory. He sets the picture before his readers so they will fix their course instead on the unchanging light of Christ, who never wanders and always leads to safety.