What a strange little letter! Wikipedia has a brief description of the book here. This letter, recognized as authoritative from the first and second centuries, is a brief warning against false teaching, followed by a summary of the work of the Savior-Messiah.
Jude 1-2, Greeting
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
If Jude is the brother of James, the author of the epistle of James, then he is also the brother of Jesus.
Jude 3-4, There are wolves among you
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
This letter is motivated by people who have slipped into the local congregation and are attempting to turn the congregation away from Jesus. While Paul had to deal with "Judaizers", those insisting that Christians follow a strict form of Judaism, the concern here may be about people on the other end of the religious spectrum, those who claimed that grace and freedom give license. It is possible that some of these teachers would have followed a form of gnosticism prevalent in the first and second centuries.
Jude 5-7, Punishment for deceivers
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
Some early manuscripts give Jesus (in place of "the Lord") as the one who delivered his people out of Egypt.
Some discussion of the Old Testament passages on the fall of Satan and his angels are here and here.
Jude 8-11, The depravity of these false teachers
In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
The dispute of Michael with the devil is an ancient Jewish legend, not found in the Old Testament passages. This letter leans on Jewish stories about the fall of Satan and disputes between God and Satan (eg. Zechariah 3: 1-2, Job 1: 6-8.) Fallen angels are seen as tempting humans into debauchery and immorality, appearing to bring pleasure but seducing human beings into pain and suffering.
Jude 12-16, And their emptiness
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
To those living in the desert, rain is a good thing. "Clouds without rain" is then an image of something which appears to bring refreshment but does not deliver. (Have you ever experienced a hot summer day in Texas and watch dark clouds form on the horizon? If, just as you are getting hopeful, the clouds disappear and the wind dies down, then you understand this metaphor!)
The quote about Enoch is from the apocryphal Book of Enoch, apparently read by Jews of the first century.
Jude 17-19, The last days
But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
The quote, "In the last times..." is close to I Timothy 4:1 and almost identical to II Peter 3:3. It is likely that Jude is quoting from Peter's letter.
Jude 20-23, How we should act
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
After a series of warnings, the letter turns to encouragement. Stay in God's love, help others.
Jude 24-25, Jesus, Savior
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
The letter ends with a doxology, a praise chorus on the eternal power of Jesus, the Savior of humankind Who can present us to God with great joy!
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