“The path of Cain, Balaam, and Korah”
Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah's rebellion. (Jude 1:11 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A list of three obscure Old Testament figures.
The cultural key
To a first-century Jewish audience these three names were not obscure but loaded, each a byword for a particular kind of evil. 'The way of Cain' recalls the man who hated and murdered his righteous brother out of envy, the archetype of ungodly hostility toward the faithful (Genesis 4). 'The error of Balaam' names the prophet who tried to sell his services for a fee and led Israel into immorality for pay, shorthand for mercenary, money-driven religion (Numbers 22-25). 'Korah's rebellion' points to the man who challenged the authority God had given Moses and Aaron and was swallowed by the earth, the classic case of rebelling against God-ordained leadership (Numbers 16). By stacking the three, Jude charges the false teachers with all of it at once: envious hostility, greed for gain, and rebellion against authority. A modern reader sees a name-list; the first reader heard three complete indictments.
Recovered meaning
Cain, Balaam, and Korah were each shorthand for a specific sin, envious hatred of the righteous, prophecy peddled for profit, and rebellion against God-given authority. Jude piles the three together to charge the false teachers with all three at once.