The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch; Hebrew: סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ, ''Sēfer Ḥănōḵ''; , ) is an ancient Jewish apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to the

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...

Enoch Enoch ( ; ''Henṓkh'') is a biblical figure and Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared (biblical figure), Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible. The text of t ...

who was the father of Methuselah and the great-grandfather of

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

..Barker, Margaret. (2005) 998 ''The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and Its Influence on Christianity''. London: SPCK; Sheffield Phoenix Press. The Book of Enoch contains unique material on the origins of demons and Nephilim, why some angels fell from heaven, an explanation of why the Genesis flood was morally necessary, and a prophetic exposition of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah. Three books are traditionally attributed to Enoch, including the distinct works 2 Enoch and

3 Enoch The Third Book of Enoch (), also known as The Book of the Palaces, The Book of Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest and The Elevation of Metatron, and abbreviated as 3 Enoch) is a Jewish apocrypha, Jewish apocryphal book. Authorship Modern scholars desc ...

. 1 Enoch is not considered to be canonical scripture by most

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

church bodies, although it is part of the biblical canon used by the Ethiopian Jewish community

Beta Israel Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews, is a Jewish group originating from the territory of the Amhara Region, Amhara and Tigray Region, Tigray regions in northern Ethiopia, where they are spread out across more than 500 small villages over a wide ter ...

, as well as the

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The older sections of 1 Enoch are estimated to date from about 300–200 BCE, and the latest part (Book of Parables) is probably from around 100 BCE. Scholars believe Enoch was originally written in either

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, the languages first used for Jewish texts. Ephraim Isaac suggests that the Book of Enoch, like the

Book of Daniel The Book of Daniel is a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th-century BC setting. It is ostensibly a narrative detailing the experiences and Prophecy, prophetic visions of Daniel, a Jewish Babylonian captivity, exile in Babylon ...

, was composed partially in Aramaic and partially in Hebrew. No Hebrew version is known to have survived. Copies of the earlier sections of 1 Enoch were preserved in Aramaic among the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

in the Qumran Caves. Authors of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

were also familiar with some content of the book. A short section of 1 Enoch is cited in the

Epistle of Jude The Epistle of Jude is the penultimate book of the New Testament and of the Christianity, Christian Bible. The Epistle of Jude claims authorship by Jude the Apostle, Jude, identified as a servant of Jesus and brother of James (and possibly Jesu ...

, , and attributed there to "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" (1 Enoch 60:8), although this section of 1 Enoch is a

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

on , which was written long after the supposed time of Enoch. The full Book of Enoch only survives in its entirety in the

Geʽez Geez ( or ; , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originates from what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. Today, Geez is used as the main liturgical langu ...

translation.

Canonicity

Judaism

Judging by the number of copies found in the

, the Book of Enoch was widely read during the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

. Today, the Ethiopic

community of

Haymanot Haymanot () is the branch of Judaism which is practiced by the Beta Israel, also known as Ethiopian Jews. In Geʽez, Tigrinya and Amharic, ''Haymanot'' means 'religion' or 'faith'. Thus in modern Amharic and Tigrinya, it is common to speak of ...

Jews is the only Jewish group that accepts the Book of Enoch as canonical and still preserves it in its liturgical language of

, where it plays a central role in worship. Except for this community, the Book of Enoch was excluded from both the formal canon of the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

and therefore, also from the writings known today as the Deuterocanon. The main reason for Jewish rejection of the book is that it is inconsistent with the teachings of the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

. From the standpoint of

Rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...

, the book is considered to be heretical. Another reason for the exclusion of the texts might be the textual nature of several early sections of the book that make use of material from the

; for example, 1 Enoch 1 is a

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

of Deuteronomy 33. The content, particularly detailed descriptions of

fallen angel Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven. Such angels are often described ...

s, would also be a reason for rejection from the Hebrew canon at this period, as is illustrated by the comments of Trypho the Jew when debating with

Justin Martyr Justin, known posthumously as Justin Martyr (; ), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and Philosophy, philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue did survive. The ''First Apolog ...

on this subject: "The utterances of God are holy, but your expositions are mere contrivances, as is plain from what has been explained by you; nay, even blasphemies, for you assert that angels sinned and revolted from God."

Christianity

By the fifth century, the Book of Enoch was mostly excluded from Christian biblical canons, and it is now regarded as

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

only by the

and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

References in the New Testament

"Enoch, the seventh from Adam" is quoted in : : And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Compare this with Enoch 1:9, translated from the Ethiopic (also found in

Qumran Qumran (; ; ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about south of the historic city of Jericho, and adjac ...

scroll 4Q204=4QEnoch^c ar, col I 16–18): :And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His Saints to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. Compare this also with what may be the original source of in Deuteronomy 33:2: In "He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones" the text reproduces the Masoretic of Deuteronomy 33 in reading = , whereas the three

Targum A targum (, ''interpretation'', ''translation'', ''version''; plural: targumim) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ) that a professional translator ( ''mǝṯurgǝmān'') would give in the common language o ...

s, the Syriac and

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

read , = . Here, the Septuagint diverges wholly. The reading is recognized as original. The writer of 1–5, therefore, used the Hebrew text and presumably wrote in Hebrew. According to John Barton, under the heading of canonicity, it is not enough to merely demonstrate that something is quoted. Instead, it is necessary to demonstrate the nature of the quotation. In the case of the Jude 1:14 quotation of , it would be difficult to argue that Jude does not quote Enoch as a historical prophet since he cites Enoch by name. However, there remains a question as to whether the author of Jude attributed the quotation believing the source to be the historical Enoch before the flood or as a midrash of Deuteronomy 33:2–3. The Greek text might seem unusual in stating that "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" prophesied "to" ( dative case) not "of" (

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

case) the men. However, this Greek grammar might indicate the meaning "against them" – the dative as a dative of disadvantage (''dativus incommodi''). Davids (2006) points to Dead Sea Scrolls evidence but leaves it open as to whether Jude viewed 1 Enoch as canon, deuterocanon, or otherwise: "Did Jude, then, consider this scripture to be like Genesis or Isaiah? Certainly he did consider it authoritative, a true word from God. We cannot tell whether he ranked it alongside other prophetic books such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. What we do know is, first, that other Jewish groups, most notably those living in Qumran near the Dead Sea, also used and valued 1 Enoch, but we do not find it grouped with the scriptural scrolls." The attribution "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" is apparently itself a section heading taken from 1 Enoch ( Jude 1:14a) and not from Genesis. Enoch is referred to directly in the

Epistle to the Hebrews The Epistle to the Hebrews () is one of the books of the New Testament. The text does not mention the name of its author, but was traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle; most of the Ancient Greek manuscripts, the Old Syriac Peshitto and ...

. The epistle mentions that Enoch received testimony from God before his translation, which may be a reference to 1 Enoch. It has also been alleged that the

First Epistle of Peter The First Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament. The author presents himself as Peter the Apostle. The ending of the letter includes a statement that implies that it was written from "Babylon", which may be a reference to Rome. The ...

() and the Second Epistle of Peter () make reference to some Enochian material.

Reception

The Book of Enoch was considered as scripture in the Epistle of Barnabas (4:3) and by some of the early

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

, such as Athenagoras,

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

, and

Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

, who wrote c. 200 that the Jews had rejected the Book of Enoch because it purportedly contained prophecies about

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

does not consider 1 Enoch to be part of its standard canon, although it believes that a purported "original" Book of Enoch was an inspired book. The Book of Moses, first published in the 1830s by this church, is part of its standard works and has a section that claims to contain extracts from the "original" Book of Enoch. This section has a number of similarities to 1 Enoch and other Enoch texts, including 2 Enoch,

, and '' The Book of Giants''. The Enoch section of the Book of Moses is believed by the Church to contain extracts from "the ministry, teachings, and visions of Enoch", though it does not contain the entire Book of Enoch itself. The Church considers the portions of the other texts that match its Enoch excerpts to be inspired while not rejecting but withholding judgment on the remainder.

Manuscript tradition

Geʽez

The most extensive surviving early manuscripts of the Book of Enoch exist in the

language. Robert Henry Charles's critical edition of 1906 subdivides the Geʽez manuscripts into two families: Family : thought to be more ancient and more similar to the earlier Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek versions: * A – ms. orient. 485 of the British Museum, 16th century, with Jubilees * B – ms. orient. 491 of the British Museum, 18th century, with other biblical writings * C – ms. of Berlin orient. Petermann II Nachtrag 29, 16th century * D – ms. abbadiano 35, 17th century * E – ms. abbadiano 55, 16th century * F – ms. 9 of the Lago Lair, 15th century Family : more recent, apparently edited texts * G – ms. 23 of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 18th century * H – ms. orient. 531 of the Bodleian Library of Oxford, 18th century * I – ms. Brace 74 of the Bodleian Library of Oxford, 16th century * J – ms. orient. 8822 of the British Museum, 18th century * K – ms. property of E. Ullendorff of London, 18th century * L – ms. abbadiano 99, 19th century * M – ms. orient. 492 of the British Museum, 18th century * N – ms. Ethiopian 30 of Munich, 18th century * O – ms. orient. 484 of the British Museum, 18th century * P – ms. Ethiopian 71 of the Vatican, 18th century * Q – ms. orient. 486 of the British Museum, 18th century, lacking chapters 1–60 Additionally, there are the manuscripts used by the

for preparation of the

deuterocanonical The deuterocanonical books, meaning 'of, pertaining to, or constituting a second Biblical canon, canon', collectively known as the Deuterocanon (DC), are certain books and passages considered to be Biblical canon, canonical books of the Old ...

s from Geʽez into the targumic

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

in the bilingual Haile Selassie Amharic Bible (''Mashaf qeddus bage'ezenna ba'amaregna yatasafe'' 4 vols. ).

Aramaic

Eleven

-language fragments of the Book of Enoch were found in cave 4 of

in 1948 and are in the care of the Israel Antiquities Authority. They were translated for and discussed by Józef Milik and Matthew Black in ''The Books of Enoch''. Other translations were released by Geza Vermes and by Garcia-Martinez. Milik described the documents as being white or cream in color, blackened in areas, and made of leather that was smooth, thick and stiff. They were also partly damaged, with the ink blurred and faint.
4Q201
= 4QEnoch ^a ar, Enoch 2:1–5:6; 6:4–8:1; 8:3–9:3,6–8 * 4Q202 = 4QEnoch ^b ar, Enoch 5:9–6:4, 6:7–8:1, 8:2–9:4, 10:8–12, 14:4–6 * 4Q204 = 4QEnoch ^c ar, Enoch 1:9–5:1, 6:7, 10:13–19, 12:3, 13:6–14:16, 30:1–32:1, 35, 36:1–4, 106:13–107:2 * 4Q205 = 4QEnoch ^d ar; Enoch 89:29–31, 89:43–44 * 4Q206 = 4QEnoch ^e ar; Enoch 22:3–7, 28:3–29:2, 31:2–32:3, 88:3, 89:1–6, 89:26–30, 89:31–37 * 4Q207 = 4QEnoch ^f ar * 4Q208 = 4QEnastr ^a ar * 4Q209 = 4QEnastr ^b ar; Enoch 79:3–5, 78:17, 79:2 and large fragments that do not correspond to any part of the Ethiopian text * 4Q210 = 4QEnastr ^c ar; Enoch 76:3–10, 76:13–77:4, 78:6–8 * 4Q211 = 4QEnastr ^d ar; large fragments that do not correspond to any part of the Ethiopian text * 4Q212 = 4QEn ^g ar; Enoch 91:10, 91:18–19, 92:1–2, 93:2–4, 93:9–10, 91:11–17, 93:11–93:1

Greek

The 8th-century work ''Chronographia Universalis'' by the Byzantine historian George Syncellus preserved some passages of the Book of Enoch in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

(6:1–9:4, 15:8–16:1). Other Greek fragments known are: * Codex Panopolitanus (Cairo Papyrus 10759), named also ''Codex Gizeh'' or Akhmim fragments, consists of fragments of two 6th-century

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can ...

containing portions of chapters 1–32 recovered by a French archeological team at

Akhmim Akhmim (, ; Akhmimic , ; Sahidic/Bohairic ) is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as Khemmis or Chemmis () and Panopolis (), it is located on the east bank of the Nile, to the northeast of Sohag. ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and published five years later, in 1892. According to Elena Dugan, this Codex was written by two separate scribes and was previously misunderstood as containing errors. She suggests that the first scribe actually preserves a valuable text that is not erroneous. In fact the text preserves "a thoughtful composition, corresponding to the progression of Enoch's life and culminating in an ascent to heaven". The first scribe may have been working earlier, and was possibly unconnected to the second. * Vatican Fragments, f. 216v (11th century): including 89:42–49 * Chester Beatty Papyri XII : including 97:6–107:3 (less chapter 105) *

Oxyrhynchus Papyri The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrology, papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient Landfill, rubbish dump near Oxyrhync ...

2069: including only a few letters, which made the identification uncertain, from 77:7–78:1, 78:1–3, 78:8, 85:10–86:2, 87:1–3 It has been claimed that several small additional fragments in Greek have been found at Qumran (7QEnoch: 7Q4, 7Q8, 7Q10-13), dating about 100 BCE, ranging from 98:11? to 103:15 and written on papyrus with grid lines, but this identification is highly contested. Portions of 1 Enoch were incorporated into the chronicle of Panodoros () and thence borrowed by his contemporary Annianos.

Coptic

A sixth- or seventh-century fragmentary manuscript contains a Coptic version of the Apocalypse of Weeks. How extensive the Coptic text originally was cannot be known. It agrees with the Aramaic text against the Ethiopic, but was probably derived from Greek.

Latin

Of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

translation, only 1:9 and 106:1–18 are known. The first passage occurs in the Pseudo-Cyprianic ''Ad Novatianum'' and the Pseudo-Vigilian '' Contra Varimadum''; the second was discovered in 1893 by

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English medievalist scholar and author who served as provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as well as Vice-Chancellor of the Univers ...

in an 8th-century manuscript in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and published in the same year.

Syriac

The only surviving example of ''1 Enoch'' in Syriac is found in the 12th century ''Chronicle'' of Michael the Great. It is a passage from Book VI and is also known from Syncellus and papyrus. Michael's source appears to have been a Syriac translation of (part of) the chronicle of Annianos.

History

Origins

Ephraim Isaac, the editor and translator of 1 Enoch in ''The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha'', writes that "1 Enoch is clearly composite representing numerous periods and writers". And that the dating of the various sections spans from early pre-Maccabean (i.e. ) to 160 CE. George W. E. Nickelsburg writes that "1 Enoch is a collection of Jewish apocalyptic traditions that date from the last three centuries before the common era".

Second Temple period

Paleographic analysis of the Enochic fragments found in the Qumran caves dates the oldest fragments of the Book of the Watchers to 200–150 BCE. Since this work shows evidence of multiple stages of composition, it is probable that this work was already extant in the 3rd century BCE. The same can be said about the Astronomical Book. Because of these findings, it was no longer possible to claim that the core of the Book of Enoch was composed in the wake of the

Maccabean Revolt The Maccabean Revolt () was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167 to 160 BCE and ended with the Seleucids in control of ...

as a reaction to

Hellenization Hellenization or Hellenification is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language, and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonisation often led to the Hellenisation of indigenous people in the Hellenistic period, many of the ...

.Gabriele Boccaccini, ''Roots of Rabbinic Judaism: An Intellectual History, from Ezekiel to Daniel'', (2002) Scholars thus had to look for the origins of the Qumranic sections of 1 Enoch in the previous historical period, and the comparison with traditional material of such a time showed that these sections do not draw exclusively on categories and ideas prominent in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Margaret Barker argues, "Enoch is the writing of a very conservative group whose roots go right back to the time of the First Temple". The main peculiar aspects of this Enochic Judaism include: * the idea that

evil Evil, as a concept, is usually defined as profoundly immoral behavior, and it is related to acts that cause unnecessary pain and suffering to others. Evil is commonly seen as the opposite, or sometimes absence, of good. It can be an extreme ...

and impurity on Earth originated as a result of angels that had intercourse with human women and were subsequently expelled from Heaven; * the absence of references to terms of the

Mosaic covenant Abrahamic religions believe in the Mosaic covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinaitic covenant (after the biblical Mount Sinai), which refers to a covenant between the Israelite tribes and God, including their proselytes, not lim ...

(such as the observance of

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

or the rite of

circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

), as found in the

;George W. E. Nickelsburg ''1 Enoch: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch'', Fortress: 2001 * the concept of "End of Days" as the time of final judgment that takes the place of promised earthly rewards; * the rejection of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

's sacrifices considered impure: according to Enoch 89:73, the Jews, when returned from the

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

, "reared up that tower (the temple) and they began again to place a table before the tower, but all the bread on it was polluted and not pure"; * the presentation of heaven in 1 Enoch 1–36, not in terms of the Jerusalem temple and its priests, but modelling God and his angels as a court, with its king and courtiers; * a

solar calendar A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicates the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar ...

in opposition to the

lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are br ...

used in the Second Temple (an important aspect for the determination of the dates of religious feasts); * an interest in the angelic world that involves life after death. Most Qumran fragments are relatively early, with none written from the last period of the Qumranic experience. The relation between 1 Enoch and the

Essenes The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''ʾĪssīyīm''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') or Essenians were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd cent ...

was noted even before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. While there is consensus to consider the sections of the Book of Enoch found in Qumran as texts used by the Essenes, the same is not so clear for the Enochic texts not found in Qumran (mainly the Book of Parables): it was proposed. to consider these parts as expression of the mainstream, but not-Qumranic, essenic movement. The main peculiar aspects of the not-Qumranic units of 1 Enoch are the following: * a Messiah called " Son of Man", with divine attributes, generated before the creation, who will act directly in the final judgment and sit on a throne of glory (1 Enoch 46:1–4, 48:2–7, 69:26–29) * the sinners usually seen as the wealthy ones and the just as the oppressed (a theme we find also in the Psalms of Solomon).

Early influence

Classical

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire corpus of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era (70–640 CE), as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic ...

is characterized by near silence concerning Enoch. It is possible that rabbinic polemics against Enochic texts and traditions might have led to the fall from use of these books in

. However, the book of Enoch plays an important role in the history of Jewish mysticism: the scholar Gershom Scholem wrote, "The main subjects of the later

Merkabah Merkabah () or Merkavah mysticism (lit. Chariot mysticism) is a school of History of Judaism, early Jewish mysticism (), centered on vision (spirituality), visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1 or in the hekhalot literature ("palaces" literat ...

mysticism already occupy a central position in the older esoteric literature, best represented by the ''Book of Enoch''." Particular attention is paid to the detailed description of the throne of God included in chapter 14 of 1 Enoch. For the quotation from the Book of the Watchers in the New Testament

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all who are ungodly among them of all their godless deeds which they have godlessly committed, and of all the harsh speeches which godless sinners have spoken against Him."

There is little doubt that 1 Enoch was influential in molding

doctrines about the

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

, the Son of Man, the messianic kingdom,

demonology Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or occultism. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons. Demons may be n ...

, the resurrection, and

eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of Contemporary era, present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic and non-Abrah ...

.Ephraim Isaac, ''1 Enoch: A New Translation and Introduction'' in James Charlesworth (ed.) ''The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha'', vol. 1, pp. 5-89 (New York, Doubleday, 1983, ) The limits of the influence of 1 Enoch are discussed at length by R.H. Charles, Ephraim Isaac, and G.W. Nickelsburg in their respective translations and commentaries. It is possible that the earlier sections of 1 Enoch had direct textual and content influence on multiple

Biblical apocrypha The Biblical apocrypha () denotes the collection of ancient books, some of which are believed by some to be of doubtful origin, thought to have been written some time between 200 BC and 100 AD. The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Ori ...

, such as

Jubilees The Book of Jubilees is an ancient Jewish apocryphal text of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered Biblical canon, canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as well as by Haymanot, Haymanot Judaism, a denomination observed by membe ...

2 Baruch 2 Baruch is a Jewish apocryphal text thought to have been written in the late 1st century CE or early 2nd century CE, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. It is attributed to the biblical figure Baruch ben Neriah (c. 6th century BC) ...

2 Esdras 2 Esdras, also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra, is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the fifth century BC, whom the book identifies with the sixth-ce ...

, Apocalypse of Abraham and 2 Enoch, though even in these cases, the connection is typically more branches of a common trunk than direct development. The

text was known to, and quoted, both positively and negatively, by a number of

Church Father The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

s: references can be found in

, Minucius Felix,

Irenaeus Irenaeus ( or ; ; ) was a Greeks, Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christianity, Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by oppos ...

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

Cyprian Cyprian (; ; to 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berbers, Berber descent, ...

, Hippolytus, Commodianus,

Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius () was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Crispus. His most impo ...

and Cassian. After Cassian and before the modern "rediscovery", some excerpts are given in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

by the 8th-century monk George Syncellus in his chronography, and in the 9th century, it is listed as an apocryphon of the New Testament by Patriarch Nicephorus.

Rediscovery

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...

, in his ''History of the World'' (written in 1616 while imprisoned in the Tower of London), makes the curious assertion that part of the Book of Enoch "which contained the course of the stars, their names and motions" had been discovered in Saba (Sheba) in the first century and was thus available to

and

. He attributes this information to Origen, although no such statement is found anywhere in extant versions of Origen. Outside of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, the text of the Book of Enoch was considered lost until the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it was confidently asserted that the book was found in a Geʽez translation there, and Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc bought a book that was claimed to be identical to the one quoted by the Epistle of Jude and the Church Fathers. Hiob Ludolf, the great Ethiopic scholar of the 17th and 18th centuries, soon claimed it to be a forgery produced by Abba Bahaila Michael. Better success was achieved by the famous Scottish traveller

James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who physically confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North and East Africa and in 1770 became the fir ...

, who, in 1773, returned to Europe from six years in Abyssinia with three copies of a Geʽez version. One is preserved in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, another was presented to the royal library of France, while the third was kept by Bruce. The copies remained unused until the 19th century; Silvestre de Sacy, in "Notices sur le livre d'Enoch", included extracts of the books with Latin translations (Enoch chapters 1, 2, 5–16, 22, and 32). From this a German translation was made by Rink in 1801. The first English translation of the Bodleian / Ethiopic manuscript was published in 1821 by Richard Laurence. Revised editions appeared in 1833, 1838, and 1842. In 1838, Laurence also released the first Geʽez text of 1 Enoch published in the West, under the title: ''Libri Enoch Prophetae Versio Aethiopica''. The text, divided into 105 chapters, was soon considered unreliable as it was the transcription of a single Geʽez manuscript. In 1833, Professor Andreas Gottlieb Hoffmann of the University of

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

released a German translation, based on Laurence's work, called ''Das Buch Henoch in vollständiger Uebersetzung, mit fortlaufendem Kommentar, ausführlicher Einleitung und erläuternden Excursen''. Two other translations came out around the same time: one in 1836 called ''Enoch Restitutus, or an Attempt'' (Rev. Edward Murray) and one in 1840 called ''Prophetae veteres Pseudepigraphi, partim ex Abyssinico vel Hebraico sermonibus Latine bersi'' (A. F. Gfrörer). However, both are considered to be poor—the 1836 translation most of all—and is discussed in Hoffmann. The first critical edition, based on five manuscripts, appeared in 1851 as ''Liber Henoch, Aethiopice, ad quinque codicum fidem editus, cum variis lectionibus'', by August Dillmann. It was followed in 1853 by a German translation of the book by the same author with commentary titled ''Das Buch Henoch, übersetzt und erklärt''. It was considered the standard edition of 1 Enoch until the work of Charles. The generation of Enoch scholarship from 1890 to World War I was dominated by Robert Henry Charles. His 1893 translation and commentary of the Geʽez text already represented an important advancement, as it was based on ten additional manuscripts. In 1906 R.H. Charles published a new critical edition of the Geʽez text, using 23 Geʽez manuscripts and all available sources at his time. The English translation of the reconstructed text appeared in 1912, and the same year in his collection of ''The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament''. The publication, in the early 1950s, of the first Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch among the Dead Sea Scrolls profoundly changed the study of the document, as it provided evidence of its antiquity and original text. The official edition of all Enoch fragments appeared in 1976, by Jozef Milik. The renewed interest in 1 Enoch spawned a number of other translations: in Hebrew (A. Kahana, 1956), Danish (Hammershaimb, 1956), Italian (Fusella, 1981), Spanish (1982), French (Caquot, 1984) and other modern languages. In 1978, a new edition of the Geʽez text was edited by Michael Knibb, with an English translation, while a new commentary appeared in 1985 by Matthew Black. In 2001 George W.E. Nickelsburg published the first volume of a comprehensive commentary on 1 Enoch in the Hermeneia series. Since the year 2000, the Enoch seminar has devoted several meetings to the Enoch literature and has become the center of a lively debate concerning the hypothesis that the Enoch literature attests the presence of an autonomous non-Mosaic tradition of dissent in Second Temple Judaism. Jay Winter published his translation of the Ethiopian texts in his ''Complete Book of Enoch, Standard English Version'' in 2015.

Synopsis

The first part of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

s who fathered the angel-human hybrids called Nephilim. The remainder of the book describes Enoch's revelations and his visits to heaven in the form of travels, visions, and dreams. The book consists of five quite distinct major sections (see each section for details): # The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36) # The Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37–71) (also called the Similitudes of Enoch) # The Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72–82) (also called the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries or Book of Luminaries) # The Book of Dream Visions (1 Enoch 83–90) (also called the Book of Dreams) # The Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 91–108) Most scholars believe that these five sections were originally independent works (with different dates of composition), themselves a product of much editorial arrangement, and were only later redacted into what is now called 1 Enoch.

The Book of the Watchers

This first section of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the Nephilim (cf. the '' bene Elohim'', ) and narrates the travels of Enoch in the heavens. This section is said to have been composed in the 4th or 3rd century BCE according to Western scholars.

* 1–5. Parable of Enoch on the Future Lot of the Wicked and the Righteous. * 6–11. The Fall of the Angels: the Demoralization of Mankind: the Intercession of the Angels on behalf of Mankind. The Dooms pronounced by God on the Angels of the Messianic Kingdom. * 12–16. Dream-Vision of Enoch: his Intercession for

Azazel In the Hebrew Bible, the name Azazel (; ''ʿĂzāʾzēl'') represents a desolate place where a scapegoat bearing the Jewish views on sin, sins of the Jews was sent during Yom Kippur. During the late Second Temple period (after the Development ...

and the fallen angels: and his Announcement of their first and final Doom. * 17–36. Enoch's Journeys through the Earth and

Sheol Sheol ( ; ''Šəʾōl'', Tiberian: ''Šŏʾōl'') in the Hebrew Bible is the underworld place of stillness and darkness which is death. Within the Hebrew Bible, there are few—often brief and nondescript—mentions of Sheol, seemingly descri ...

: Enoch also traveled through a portal shaped as a triangle to heaven. * 17–19. The First Journey. * 20. Names and Functions of the Seven Archangels. * 21. Preliminary and final Place of Punishment of the fallen Angels (stars). * 22.

or the Underworld. * 23. The fire that deals with the Luminaries of Heaven. * 24–25. The Seven Mountains in the North-West and the

Tree of Life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythology, mythological, religion, religious, and philosophy, philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The ...

. * 26.

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and the Mountains, Ravines, and Streams. * 27. The Purpose of the Accursed Valley. * 28–33. Further Journey to the East. * 34–35. Enoch's Journey to the North. * 36. The Journey to the South.

Description

The introduction to the book of Enoch tells us that Enoch is "a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come" It discusses

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

coming to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the Mount Sinai (Bible), biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the thre ...

with His hosts to pass judgment on mankind. It also tells us about the luminaries rising and setting in the order and in their own time and never change:

"Observe and see how (in the winter) all the trees seem as though they had withered and shed all their leaves, except fourteen trees, which do not lose their foliage but retain the old foliage from two to three years till the new comes."

The book also discusses how all things are ordained by God and take place in his own time. The sinners shall perish and the great and the good shall live on in light, joy and peace.

And all His works go on thus from year to year for ever, and all the tasks which they accomplish for Him, and their tasks change not, but according as God hath ordained so is it done.

The first section of the book depicts the interaction of the fallen angels with mankind; Sêmîazâz compels the other 199 fallen angels to take human wives to "beget us children".

And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: "I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin." And they all answered him and said: "Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing." Then swore they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of
Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( / ALA-LC: ('Mountain of the Sheikh', ), , ) is a mountain, mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the Lebanon–Syria border, border between Syria and Lebanon a ...
, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.

The names of the leaders are given as " Samyaza (Shemyazaz), their leader, Araqiel, Râmêêl, Kokabiel, Tamiel, Ramiel, Dânêl, Chazaqiel, Baraqiel, Asael, Armaros, Batariel, Bezaliel, Ananiel, Zaqiel, Shamsiel, Satariel, Turiel, Yomiel, Sariel." This results in the creation of the Nephilim ( Genesis) or Anakim / Anak (giants) as they are described in the book:

And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three hundred ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood.

It also discusses the teaching of humans by the fallen angels, chiefly Azâzêl:

And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl, taught astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon.

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

, Uriel,

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

, and

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

appeal to God to judge the inhabitants of the world and the fallen angels. Uriel is then sent by God to tell Noah of the coming cataclysm and what he needs to do.

Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spoke, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: Go to
Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...
and tell him in my name "Hide thyself!" and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.

God commands Raphael to imprison Azâzêl:

e Lord said to Raphael: "Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: And make an opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl (God's kettle / crucible / cauldron), and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl: To him ascribe all sin."

God gave Gabriel instructions concerning the Nephilim and the imprisonment of the fallen angels:

And to Gabriel said the Lord: "Proceed against the biters and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy he children of fornication andthe children of the Watchers from amongst men nd cause them to go forth send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle ..."

The Lord commands Michael to bind the fallen angels.

And the Lord said unto Michael: "Go, bind Semjâzâ and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness. 12. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated. 13. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: (and) to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever. And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations. ..."

Book of Parables

Chapters 37–71 of the Book of Enoch are referred to as the 'Book of Parables'. The scholarly debate centers on these chapters. The Book of Parables appears to be based on the Book of the Watchers, but presents a later development of the idea of final judgment and of

, concerned not only with the destiny of the fallen angels but also that of the evil kings of the earth. The Book of Parables uses the expression "The Son of Man" for the eschatological protagonist, who is also called "Righteous One", "Chosen One", and "Messiah", and sits on the throne of glory in the final judgment. The first known use of "Son of Man" as a definite title in Jewish writings is in 1 Enoch, and its use may have played a role in the early Christian understanding and use of the title. It has been suggested that the Book of Parables, in its entirety, is a later addition. Pointing to similarities with the

Sibylline Oracles The ''Sibylline Oracles'' (; sometimes called the pseudo-Sibylline Oracles) are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state. Fourteen b ...

and other earlier works, in 1976, J.T. Milik dated the Book of Parables to the third century. He believed that the events in the parables were linked to historic events dating from 260 to 270 CE. According to this theory, these chapters were written in later Christian times by a Jewish Christian, to enhance Christian beliefs with Enoch's authoritative name. Knibb followed Milik's reasoning, and suggested that because no fragments of chapters 37–71 were found at Qumran, a later date was likely. Knibb would continue this line of reasoning in later works. In addition to being missing from Qumran, Chapters 37–71 are also missing from the Greek translation. Currently no firm consensus has been reached among scholars as to the date of the writing of the Book of Parables. Milik's date of as late as 270 CE, however, has been rejected by most scholars. David W. Suter suggests that there is a tendency to date the Book of Parables to between 50 BCE – 117 CE. In 1893, R. Charles judged Chapter 71 to be a later addition. He later changed his opinion and gave an early date for the work between 94 and 64 BCE. The 1906 article by Emil G. Hirsch in the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' states that ''Son of Man'' is found in the Book of Enoch, but never in the original material. It occurs in the "Noachian interpolations" (lx. 10, lxxi. 14), wherein it has clearly no other meaning than 'man'. The author of the work misuses or corrupts the titles of the angels. Charles views the title ''Son of Man'', as found in the Book of Parables, as referring to a supernatural person, a Messiah who is not of human descent. In that part of the Book of Enoch known as the Similitudes, it has the technical sense of a supernatural Messiah and judge of the world (xlvi. 2, xlviii. 2, lxx. 27); universal dominion and preexistence are predicated of him (xlviii. 2, lxvii. 6). He sits on God's throne (xlv. 3, li. 3), which is his own throne. Though Charles does not admit it, according to Emil G. Hirsch these passages betray Christian redaction and emendation. A number of scholars have suggested that passages in the Book of Parables are Noachian interpolations. These passages seem to interrupt the flow of the narrative. Darrell D. Hannah suggests that these passages are not, in total, novel interpolations, but rather derived from an earlier Noah apocryphon. He believes that some interpolations refer to Herod the Great and should be dated to around 4 BCE. In addition to the theory of Noachian interpolations, which perhaps a majority of scholars support, most scholars currently believe that Chapters 70–71 are a later addition in part or in whole. Chapter 69 ends with, "This is the third parable of Enoch." Like Elijah, Enoch is generally thought to have been brought up to Heaven by God while still alive, but some have suggested that the text refers to Enoch as having died a natural death and ascending to Heaven. The Son of Man is identified with Enoch. The text implies that Enoch had previously been enthroned in heaven. Chapters 70–71 seem to contradict passages earlier in the parable where the Son of Man is a separate entity. The parable also switches from third person singular to first person singular. James H. Charlesworth rejects the theory that chapters 70–71 are later additions. He believes that no additions were made to the Book of Parables. In his earlier work, the implication is that a majority of scholars agreed with him.

37. Superscription and Introduction

=38–44. The First Parable

= * 38. The Coming Judgment of the Wicked. * 39. The Abode of the Righteous and the Elect One: the Praises of the Blessed. * 40. The Four

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

s. *41.1–2. Anticipation of Judgment * 41.3–9. Astronomical Secrets. * 42. The Dwelling-places of Wisdom and of Unrighteousness. * 43–44. Astronomical Secrets.

=45–57. The Second Parable

= * 45. The Lot of the Apostates: the New Heaven and the New Earth. * 46. The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man. * 47. The Prayer of the Righteous for Vengeance and their Joy at its coming. * 48. The Fount of Righteousness: the Son of Man - the Stay of the Righteous: Judgment of the Kings and the Mighty. * 49. The Power and Wisdom of the Elect One. * 50. The Glorification and Victory of the Righteous: the Repentance of the Gentiles. * 51. The Resurrection of the Dead, and the Separation by the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked. * 52. The Six Metal Mountains and the Elect One. * 53–54.6. The Valley of Judgment: the Angels of Punishment: the Communities of the Elect One. * 54.7.–55.2. Noachic Fragment on the first World Judgment. * 55.3.–56.4. Final Judgment of

, the Watchers and their children. * 56.5–8. Last Struggle of the Heathen Powers against Israel. * 57. The Return from the Dispersion.

=58–69. The Third Parable

= * 58. The Blessedness of the Saints. * 59. The Lights and the Thunder. * 60. Quaking of the Heaven:

Behemoth Behemoth (; , ''bəhēmōṯ'') is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful ...

and

Leviathan Leviathan ( ; ; ) is a sea serpent demon noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. Leviathan is of ...

: the Elements. * 61. Angels go off to measure Paradise: the Judgment of the Righteous by the Elect One: the Praise of the Elect One and of God. * 62. Judgment of the Kings and the Mighty: Blessedness of the Righteous. * 63. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty. * 64. Vision of the Fallen Angels in the Place of Punishment. * 65. Enoch foretells to Noah the Deluge and his own Preservation. * 66. The Angels of the Waters bidden to hold them in Check. * 67. God's Promise to Noah: Places of Punishment of the Angels and of the Kings. * 68. Michael and Raphael astonished at the Severity of the Judgment. * 69. The Names and Functions of the (fallen Angels and) Satans: the secret Oath.

=70–71. Concluding Appendices

= * 70. The Final Translation of Enoch. * 71. Two earlier Visions of Enoch.

The Astronomical Book

Four fragmentary editions of the Astronomical Book were found at Qumran, 4Q208-211. 4Q208 and 4Q209 have been dated to the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, providing a '' terminus ante quem'' for the Astronomical Book of the 3rd century BCE. The fragments found in Qumran also include material not contained in the later versions of the Book of Enoch. This book contains descriptions of the movement of heavenly bodies and of the firmament, as a knowledge revealed to Enoch in his trips to Heaven guided by Uriel, and it describes a

Solar calendar A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicates the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar ...

that was later described also in the

Book of Jubilees The Book of Jubilees is an ancient Jewish apocryphal text of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as well as by Haymanot Judaism, a denomination observed by members of Ethiopian Jewish ...

which was used by the Dead Sea sect. The use of this calendar made it impossible to celebrate the festivals simultaneously with the Temple of Jerusalem. The year was composed from 364 days, divided in four equal

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

s of ninety-one days each. Each season was composed of three equal months of thirty days, plus an extra day at the end of the third month. The whole year was thus composed of exactly fifty-two weeks, and every calendar day occurred always on the same day of the week. Each year and each season started always on Wednesday, which was the fourth day of the creation narrated in Genesis, the day when the lights in the sky, the seasons, the days and the years were created. It is not known how they used to reconcile this calendar with the

tropical year A tropical year or solar year (or tropical period) is the time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the sky – as viewed from the Earth or another celestial body of the Solar System – thus completing a full cycle of astronom ...

of 365.24 days (at least seven suggestions have been made), and it is not even sure if they felt the need to adjust it.

* 72. The Sun * 73. The Moon and its Phases * 74. The Lunar Year * 76. The Twelve Winds and their Portals * 77. The Four Quarters of the World: the Seven Mountains, the Seven Rivers, Seven Great Islands * 78. The Sun and Moon: the Waxing and Waning of the Moon * 79–80.1. Recapitulation of several of the Laws * 80.2–8. Perversion of Nature and the heavenly Bodies due to the Sin of Men * 81. The Heavenly Tablets and the Mission of Enoch * 82. Charge given to Enoch: the four Intercalary days: the Stars which lead the Seasons and the Months

The Dream Visions

The Book of Dream Visions, containing a

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

of a history of Israel all the way down to what the majority have interpreted as the Maccabean Revolt, is dated by most to Maccabean times (about 163–142 BCE).

* 83–84. First Dream Vision on the Deluge. * 85–90. Second Dream Vision of Enoch: the History of the World to the Founding of the Messianic Kingdom. * 86. The Fall of the Angels and the Demoralization of Mankind. * 87. The Advent of the Seven Archangels. * 88. The Punishment of the Fallen Angels by the Archangels. * 89.1–9. The Deluge and the Deliverance of Noah. * 89.10–27. From the Death of Noah to

The Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the Origin myth#Founding myth, founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Torah, Pentateuch (specif ...

. * 89.28–40. Israel in the Desert, the Giving of the Law, the Entrance into

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

. * 89.41–50. From the Time of the Judges to the Building of the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. * 89.51–67. The Two Kingdoms of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and Judah to the Destruction of Jerusalem. * 89.68–71. First Period of the Angelic Rulers – from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Return from Captivity. * 89.72–77. Second Period – from the Time of

Cyrus Cyrus () is a Persian-language masculine given name. It is historically best known as the name of several List of monarchs of Iran, Persian kings, most notably including Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC. It remains wid ...

to that of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

. * 90.1–5. Third Period – from Alexander the Great to the Graeco-Syrian Domination. * 90.6–12. Fourth Period Graeco-Syrian Domination to the Maccabean Revolt (debated). * 90.13–19. The last Assault of the

Gentiles ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites, groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsider ...

on the Jews (where vv. 13–15 and 16–18 are doublets). * 90.20–27. Judgment of the Fallen Angels, the Shepherds, and the Apostates. * 90.28–42. The New Jerusalem, the Conversion of the surviving Gentiles, the Resurrection of the Righteous, the

. Enoch awakes and weeps.

Animal Apocalypse

The second dream vision in this section of the Book of Enoch is an allegorical account of the history of Israel, that uses animals to represent human beings and human beings to represent angels. One of several hypothetical reconstructions of the meanings in the dream is as follows based on the works of R. H. Charles and G. H. Schodde: * White color for moral purity; Black color for sin and contamination of the fallen angels; Red color for blood in reference to martyrdom * White bull is

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

; Female heifer is

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

; Red calf is

Abel Abel ( ''Hébel'', in pausa ''Hā́ḇel''; ''Hábel''; , ''Hābēl'') is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within the Abrahamic religions. Born as the second son of Adam and Eve, the first two humans created by God in Judaism, God, he ...

; Black calf is

Cain Cain is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. How ...

; White calf is

Seth Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. The Hebrew Bible names two of his siblings (although it also states that he had others): his brothers Cain and Abel. According to , Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, ...

; * White bull / man is

; White bull is

Shem Shem (; ''Šēm''; ) is one of the sons of Noah in the Bible ( Genesis 5–11 and 1 Chronicles 1:4). The children of Shem are Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to unnamed daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Christ ...

; Red bull is

Ham, son of Noah Ham (in ), according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was the second son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan. Ham's descendants are interpreted by Josephus and others as having populated Africa. The Bible ...

; Black bull is Japheth; Lord of the sheep is

; Fallen star is either Samyaza or Azazel; Elephants are

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) * Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...

; Camels are Nephilim; Asses are Elioud; * Sheep are the faithful; Rams are leaders; Herds are the tribes of Israel; Wild Asses are

Ishmael In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Isla ...

, and his descendants including the Midianites; Wild Boars are

Esau Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the minor prophet, prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The story of Jacob and Esau reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming ...

and his descendants,

Edom Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomi ...

and Amalek; Bears (Hyenas/Wolves in Ethiopic) are the

Egyptians Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...

; Dogs are

Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...

; Lions and Tigers are Assyrians and Babylonians; Hyenas are

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

; Ravens (Crows) are Seleucids (Syrians); Kites are Ptolemies; Eagles are possibly Macedonians; Foxes are

Ammon Ammon (; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; '; ) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Wadi Mujib, Arnon and Jabbok, in present-d ...

ites and Moabites.

Description

There are multiple links between the first book and this one, including the outline of the story and the imprisonment of the leaders and destruction of the Nephilim. The dream includes sections relating to the Book of the Watchers:

And those seventy shepherds were judged and found guilty, and they were cast into that fiery abyss. And I saw at that time how a like abyss was opened in the midst of the earth, full of fire, and they brought those blinded sheep. (The fall of the evil ones)

And all the oxen feared them and were affrighted at them, and began to bite with their teeth and to devour, and to gore with their horns. And they began, moreover, to devour those oxen; and behold all the children of the earth began to tremble and quake before them and to flee from them. (The creation of the Nephilim et al.)

86:4, 87:3, 88:2, and 89:6 all describe the types of Nephilim that are created during the times described in The Book of the Watchers, though this doesn't mean that the authors of both books are the same. Similar references exist in Jubilees 7:21–22. The book describes their release from the Ark along with three bulls – white, red, and black, which are Shem, Ham, and Japheth – in 89:9. It also covers the death of Noah, described as the white bull, and the creation of a number of nations:

And they began to bring forth beasts of the field and birds, so that there arose different genera: lions, tigers, wolves, dogs, hyenas, wild boars, foxes, squirrels, swine, falcons, vultures, kites, eagles, and ravens (89:10)

It then describes the story of Moses and Aaron (89:13–15), including the miracle of the river splitting in two for them to pass, and the creation of the stone commandments. Eventually they arrived at a "pleasant and glorious land" (89:40) where they were attacked by dogs (Philistines), foxes (Ammonites, Moabites), and wild boars (Esau).

And that sheep whose eyes were opened saw that ram, which was amongst the sheep, till it forsook its glory and began to butt those sheep, and trampled upon them, and behaved itself unseemly. And the Lord of the sheep sent the lamb to another lamb and raised it to being a ram and leader of the sheep instead of that ram which had forsaken its glory. (David replacing Saul as leader of Israel)

It describes the creation of

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (), was a biblical Temple in Jerusalem believed to have existed between the 10th and 6th centuries Common Era, BCE. Its description is largely based on narratives in the Hebrew Bible, in which it ...

and also the house which may be the

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

: "And that house became great and broad, and it was built for those sheep: (and) a tower lofty and great was built on the house for the Lord of the sheep, and that house was low, but the tower was elevated and lofty, and the Lord of the sheep stood on that tower and they offered a full table before Him". This interpretation is accepted by Dillmann (p. 262), Vernes (p. 89), and Schodde (p. 107). It also describes the escape of

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

the prophet; in 1 Kings 17:2–24, he is fed by "ravens", so if Kings uses a similar analogy, he may have been fed by the Seleucids. "... saw the Lord of the sheep how He wrought much slaughter amongst them in their herds until those sheep invited that slaughter and betrayed His place." This describes the various tribes of Israel "inviting" in other nations "betraying his place" (i.e., the land promised to their ancestors by God). This part of the book can be taken to be the kingdom splitting into the northern and southern tribes, that is, Israel and Judah, eventually leading to Israel falling to the Assyrians in 721 BCE and Judah falling to the Babylonians a little over a century later 587 BCE. "And He gave them over into the hands of the lions and tigers, and wolves and hyenas, and into the hand of the foxes, and to all the wild beasts, and those wild beasts began to tear in pieces those sheep"; God abandons Israel for they have forsaken him. There is also mention of 59 of 70 shepherds with their own seasons; there seems to be some debate on the meaning of this section, some suggesting that it is a reference to the 70 appointed times in 25:11, 9:2, and 1:12. Another interpretation is the 70 weeks in . However, the general interpretation is that these are simply angels. This section of the book and another section near the end describe the appointment by God of the 70 angels to protect the Israelites from enduring too much harm from the "beasts and birds". The later section (110:14) describes how the 70 angels are judged for causing more harm to Israel than he desired, found guilty, and "cast into an abyss, full of fire and flaming, and full of pillars of fire." "And the lions and tigers eat and devoured the greater part of those sheep, and the wild boars eat along with them; and they burnt that tower and demolished that house"; this represents the sacking of Solomon's temple and the tabernacle in Jerusalem by the Babylonians as they take Judah in 587–586 BCE, exiling the remaining Jews. "And forthwith I saw how the shepherds pastured for twelve hours, and behold three of those sheep turned back and came and entered and began to build up all that had fallen down of that house". "Cyrus allowed Sheshbazzar, a prince from the tribe of Judah, to bring the Jews from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Jews were allowed to return with the Temple vessels that the Babylonians had taken. Construction of the

began"; this represents the

history of ancient Israel and Judah The history of ancient Israel and Judah spans from the early appearance of the Israelites in Canaan's hill country during the late second millennium BCE, to the establishment and subsequent downfall of the two Israelite kingdoms in the mi ...

; the temple was completed in 515 BCE. The first part of the next section of the book seems, according to Western scholars, to clearly describe the Maccabean revolt of 167 BCE against the Seleucids. The following two quotes have been altered from their original form to make the hypothetical meanings of the animal names clear.

And I saw in the vision how the (Seleucids) flew upon those (faithful) and took one of those lambs, and dashed the sheep in pieces and devoured them. And I saw till horns grew upon those lambs, and the (Seleucids) cast down their horns; and I saw till there sprouted a great horn of one of those (faithful), and their eyes were opened. And it looked at them and their eyes opened, and it cried to the sheep, and the rams saw it and all ran to it. And notwithstanding all this those ( Macedonians) and vultures and (Seleucids) and ( Ptolemies) still kept tearing the sheep and swooping down upon them and devouring them: still the sheep remained silent, but the rams lamented and cried out. And those (Seleucids) fought and battled with it and sought to lay low its horn, but they had no power over it. (109:8–12)

All the (Macedonians) and vultures and (Seleucids) and (Ptolemies) were gathered together, and there came with them all the sheep of the field, yea, they all came together, and helped each other to break that horn of the ram. (110:16)

According to this theory, the first sentence most likely refers to the death of High Priest Onias III, whose murder is described in (died c. 171 BCE). The "great horn" clearly is not Mattathias, the initiator of the rebellion, as he dies a natural death, described in . It is also not Alexander the Great, as the great horn is interpreted as a warrior who has fought the Macedonians, Seleucids, and Ptolemies.

Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus ( ), also known as Judah Maccabee (), was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Ded ...

(167 - 160 BCE) fought all three of these, with a large number of victories against the Seleucids over a great period of time; "they had no power over it". He is also described as "one great horn among six others on the head of a lamb", possibly referring to Maccabeus's five brothers and Mattathias. If taken in context of the history from Maccabeus's time, Dillman Chrest Aethiop says the explanation of Verse 13 can be found in 1 Maccabees iii 7; vi. 52; v.; 2 Maccabees vi. 8 sqq., 13, 14; 1 Maccabees vii 41, 42; and 2 Maccabees x v, 8 sqq. Maccabeus was eventually killed by the Seleucids at the Battle of Elasa, where he faced "twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry". At one time, it was believed this passage might refer to

John Hyrcanus John Hyrcanus (; ; ) was a Hasmonean (Maccabee, Maccabean) leader and Jewish High Priest of Israel of the 2nd century BCE (born 164 BCE, reigned from 134 BCE until he died in 104 BCE). In rabbinic literature he is often referred to as ''Yoḥana ...

; the only reason for this was that the time between Alexander the Great and John Maccabeus was too short. However, it has been asserted that evidence shows that this section does indeed discuss Maccabeus. It then describes: "And I saw till a great sword was given to the sheep, and the sheep proceeded against all the beasts of the field to slay them, and all the beasts and the birds of the heaven fled before their face." This might be simply the "power of God": God was with them to avenge the death. It may also be Jonathan Apphus taking over command of the rebels to battle on after the death of Judas. John Hyrcanus ( Hyrcanus I, Hasmonean dynasty) may also make an appearance; the passage "And all that had been destroyed and dispersed, and all the beasts of the field, and all the birds of the heaven, assembled in that house, and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced with great joy because they were all good and had returned to His house" may describe John's reign as a time of great peace and prosperity. Certain scholars also claim

Alexander Jannaeus Alexander Jannaeus ( , English: "Alexander Jannaios", usually Latinised to "Alexander Jannaeus"; ''Yannaʾy''; born Jonathan ) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judaea from 103 to 76 BCE. ...

of Judaea is alluded to in this book. The end of the book describes the new Jerusalem, culminating in the birth of a

And I saw that a white bull was born, with large horns and all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air feared him and made petition to him all the time. And I saw till all their generations were transformed, and they all became white bulls; and the first among them became a lamb, and that lamb became a great animal and had great black horns on its head; and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced over it and over all the oxen.

Still another interpretation, which has just as much as credibility, is that the last chapters of this section simply refer to the infamous battle of Armageddon, where all of the nations of the world march against Israel; this interpretation is supported by the War Scroll, which describes what this epic battle may be like, according to the group(s) that existed at Qumran.

The Epistle of Enoch

This section can be seen as being made up of five subsections, mixed by the final redactor: * Apocalypse of Weeks (93:1–10, 91:11–17): this subsection, usually dated to the first half of the 2nd century BCE, narrates the history of the world using a structure of ten periods (said "weeks"), of which seven regard the past and three regard future events (the final judgment). The climax is in the seventh part of the tenth week where "new heaven shall appear" and "there will be many weeks without number for ever, and all shall be in goodness and righteousness". * Exhortation (91:1–10, 91:18–19): this short list of exhortations to follow righteousness, said by Enoch to his son Methuselah, looks to be a bridge to next subsection. * Epistle (92:1–5, 93:11–105:2): the first part of the epistle describes the wisdom of the Lord, the final reward of the just and the punishment of the evil, and the two separate paths of righteousness and unrighteousness. Then there are six oracles against the sinners, the witness of the whole creation against them, and the assurance of the fate after death. According to Boccaccini the epistle is composed of two layers: a "proto-epistle", with a theology near the deterministic doctrine of the Qumran group, and a slightly later part (94:4–104:6) that points out the personal responsibility of the individual, often describing the sinners as the wealthy and the just as the oppressed (a theme found also in the Book of Parables). * Birth of Noah (106–107): this part appears in Qumran fragments separated from the previous text by a blank line, thus appearing to be an appendix. It tells of the deluge and of

, who is born already with the appearance of an angel. This text probably derives, as do other small portions of 1 Enoch, from an originally separate book (see Book of Noah), but was arranged by the redactor as direct speech of Enoch himself. * Conclusion (108): this second appendix was not found in Qumran and is considered to be the work of the final redactor. It highlights the "generation of light" in opposition to the sinners destined to the darkness.

* 92, 91.1–10, 18–19. Enoch's Book of Admonition for his Children. * 91.1–10, 18–19. Enoch's Admonition to his Children. * 93, 91.12–17. The Apocalypse of Weeks. * 91.12–17. The Last Three Weeks. * 94.1–5. Admonitions to the Righteous. * 94.6–11. Woes for the Sinners. * 95. Enoch's Grief: fresh Woes against the Sinners. * 96. Grounds of Hopefulness for the Righteous: Woes for the Wicked. * 97. The Evils in Store for Sinners and the Possessors of Unrighteous Wealth. * 98. Self-indulgence of Sinners: Sin originated by Man: all Sin recorded in Heaven: Woes for the Sinners. * 99. Woes pronounced on the Godless, the Lawbreakers: evil Plight of Sinners in The Last Days: further Woes. * 100. The Sinners destroy each other: Judgment of the Fallen Angels: the Safety of the Righteous: further Woes for the Sinners. * 101. Exhortation to the fear of God: all Nature fears Him but not the Sinners. * 102. Terrors of the Day of Judgment: the adverse Fortunes of the Righteous on the Earth. * 103. Different Destinies of the Righteous and the Sinners: fresh Objections of the Sinners. * 104. Assurances given to the Righteous: Admonitions to Sinners and the Falsifiers of the Words of Uprightness. * 105. God and the Messiah to dwell with Man. * 106–107. (first appendix) Birth of Noah. * 108. (second appendix) Conclusion.

Names of the fallen angels

Some of the fallen angels that are given in 1 Enoch have other names, such as ''Rameel'' ('morning of God'), who becomes

, and is also called '' Gadriel'' ('wall of God') in Chapter 68. Another example is that '' Araqiel'' ('Earth of God') becomes ''Aretstikapha'' ('world of distortion') in Chapter 68. ''Azaz'', as in ''

'', means strength, so the name ''Azazel'' can refer to 'strength of God'. This is also a key point in modern thought that Azazel was one of Lucifer’s chief leaders of the revolt against God. Also important in this identification is the fact that the original name Rameel, is similar in meaning to the word

Lucifer The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology. He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...

('Morning Star') which is a common Latin name of Satan in Christianity. Nathaniel Schmidt states, "the names of the angels apparently refer to their condition and functions before the fall," and lists the likely meanings of the angels' names in the Book of Enoch, noting that "the great majority of them are Aramaic."Nathaniel Schmidt, "Original Language of the Parables of Enoch," pp. 343–345, in William Rainey Harper, ''Old Testament and Semitic studies in memory of William Rainey Harper, Volume 2'', The University of Chicago Press, 1908 The name suffix ''-el'' comes from the Hebrew text and the Lord’s name Emmanuel, (see list of names referring to El), and is used in the names of high-ranking angels. The archangels' names all include ''-el'', such as '' Uriel'' ('flame of God') and ''

'' ('who is like God'). ''Gadreel'' () is listed as one of the chiefs of the fallen Watchers. He is said to have been responsible for deceiving

. Schmidt lists the name as meaning 'the helper of God.'

Enoch and contemporary theology

Enochic studies have traditionally been historical, focusing on the meanings of the text for its ancient audiences. 1 Enoch counts as Old Testament scripture in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and has played a significant role in its theology, especially via the ''andemta'' tradition of interpretation. In 2015 a group of scholars from Ethiopia and other countries held meetings in Ethiopia and the UK to explore the significance of Enoch for contemporary theology. The initial outcome was a collection of essays published in 2017 on various theological topics, including justice, political theology, the environment, the identity of the Son of Man, suffering and evil.Philip F. Esler (ed) (2017), ''The Blessing of Enoch: 1 Enoch and Contemporary Theology'' (Eugene, OR: Cascade).

Editions, translations, commentaries

* Margaret Barker. ''The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and its influence on Christianity''. (London: SPCK, 1998;

Sheffield Phoenix Press Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd. (SPP) is an independent academic publisher specializing in biblical studies. It was launched in January 2004, continuing the traditions of the former Sheffield Academic Press. SPP's main series of titles are Hebrew ...

, 2005) * John Baty. ''The Book of Enoch the Prophet'' (London: Hatchard, 1839) * Matthew Black (with James C. VanderKam). ''The Book of Enoch; or, 1 Enoch'' (Leiden: Brill, 1985) * Robert Henry Charles.
The Book of Enoch
' (Oxford: Clarendon, 1893), translated from professor Dillmann's Ethiopic text - ''The Ethiopic version of the Book of Enoch'' (Oxford: Clarendon, 1906) * Robert Henry Charles.
The Book of Enoch, or 1 Enoch
' (Oxford: Clarendon, 1912) * * Sabino Chialà. ''Libro delle Parabole di Enoc'' (Brescia: Paideia, 1997) * * — 2 vols * * Michael A. Knibb. ''The Ethiopic Book Of Enoch.'', 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978; repr. 1982) * Michael Langlois. ''The First Manuscript of the Book of Enoch: An epigraphical and philological study of the Aramaic fragments of 4Q201 from Qumran'' (Paris: Cerf, 2008) * Richard Laurence. ''The Book of Enoch'' (Oxford: Parker, 1821) * * * * * *

Notes

References

Works cited

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism: An interdisciplinary seminar at Marquette University

(all 108 chapters) * (Robert Charles translation)
Book of Enoch Interlinear
(''Including three English and two Swedish translations'')

* August Dillmann (1893). ''The Book of Enoch''
1Enoch
translated from Geez, መጽሐፈ ፡ ሄኖክ ።.

access to the Ethiopic Greek, a Latin translation {{Authority control 1st-century BC books 2nd-century BC books 3rd-century BC books 4th-century BC books Apocalyptic literature Enoch (ancestor of Noah) Jewish apocrypha Nephilim Noah Enoch 1 Texts in Ge'ez Uriel Watchers (angels) Works of unknown authorship Satan in religious literature

Canonicity

Judaism

Christianity

References in the New Testament

Reception

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Manuscript tradition

Geʽez

Aramaic

Greek

Coptic

Latin

Syriac

History

Origins

Second Temple period

Early influence

Rediscovery

Synopsis

The Book of the Watchers

Contents

Description

Book of Parables

Contents

=38–44. The First Parable

=45–57. The Second Parable

=58–69. The Third Parable

=70–71. Concluding Appendices

The Astronomical Book

Contents

The Dream Visions

Contents

Animal Apocalypse

Description

The Epistle of Enoch

Contents

Names of the fallen angels

Enoch and contemporary theology

Editions, translations, commentaries

See also

Notes

References

Works cited

Further reading

External links