The article analyses three variation units and one singular reading from the text of Jude 4. Following the rationale of thoroughgoing eclecticism, it concentrates on internal evidence. The most problematic variation unit is δ∈oπóτην versus δ∈oπóτην θ∈óν. Transcriptional arguments can be advanced in favour of either of these variants. To resolve the conflicting transcriptional evidence, an ‘etymological narrative’ is provided to establish the Attic and Judaeo-Hellenic background of the word δ∈oπóτην as a metaphor applicable to the gods or to God. The etymological narrative and other intrinsic arguments suggest that δ∈oπóτην refers to God, and that therefore an eclectic preference for the variant δ∈oπóτην θ∈óν can be expressed