The Book of Enoch (also called 1 Enoch; Hebrew: סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ, romanized: Sēfer Ḥănōḵ; Ge'ez: መጽሐፈ ሄኖክ, romanized: Maṣḥafa Hēnok) is an ancient Jewish religious text that describes events related to the end of the world. It is traditionally believed to have been written by Enoch, who was the father of Methuselah and the great-grandfather of Noah. The text includes unique information about the origins of demons and Nephilim, the reasons some angels were cast out of heaven, an explanation for why the flood described in Genesis was necessary, and a description of the Messiah’s 1,000-year reign. Three books are traditionally linked to Enoch, including 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch.
Most Jewish and Christian groups do not consider 1 Enoch to be official scripture. However, it is part of the biblical canon used by the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as Beta Israel, as well as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
The oldest parts of 1 Enoch are estimated to have been written around 300–200 BC, and the latest section, called the Book of Parables, is likely from around 100 BC. Scholars believe the original text was written in either Aramaic or Hebrew, the languages used for early Jewish writings. Some scholars, like Ephraim Isaac, suggest that parts of the book were written in Aramaic and parts in Hebrew. No Hebrew version of the text is known to have survived. Earlier sections of 1 Enoch were preserved in Aramaic among the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the Qumran Caves.
Writers of the New Testament were familiar with some parts of the Book of Enoch. A short section of the text is quoted in the Epistle of Jude, where it is attributed to "Enoch, the Seventh from Adam" (1 Enoch 60:8). The full version of the Book of Enoch survives only in the Geʽez language translation.
Synopsis
The first part of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the angel-human hybrids called Nephilim. The rest of the book describes Enoch's visions and his journeys to heaven, including dreams and travels.
The book is divided into five major sections. Most scholars believe these sections were originally separate works written at different times. They were later combined into what is now known as 1 Enoch. Because the Book of Parables is only found in Ethiopic manuscripts and because The Book of Giants appears to be written on the same manuscript as part of Enoch, it is likely that the Book of Parables replaced the Book of Giants in the original collection.
The first section of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the Nephilim, and it tells of Enoch's travels in the heavens. Western scholars believe this section was written in the 4th or 3rd century BCE.
The introduction to the book of Enoch says Enoch was "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."
The book discusses God coming to Earth on Mount Sinai with his angels to judge humans. It also describes how the sun, moon, and stars rise and set in their own time and never change. For example, during winter, most trees lose their leaves, but fourteen trees keep their old leaves for two to three years until new leaves grow.
The book explains that God has planned everything and that all events happen according to His timing. It says that sinners will perish, while the righteous will live in light, joy, and peace forever. It also states that God’s works continue without change, and all tasks are done as He has planned.
The first section of the book describes how the fallen angels interacted with humans. Sêmîazâz convinced the other 199 fallen angels to take human wives to "beget us children." They all swore an oath to follow this plan. They descended to Earth in the days of Jared on Mount Hermon, which they named after their oath.
The names of the leaders of the fallen angels include Samyaza (Shemyazaz), Araqiel, Râmêêl, Kokabiel, Tamiel, Ramiel, Dânêl, Chazaqiel, Baraqiel, Asael, Armarios, Batariel, Bezaliel, Ananiel, Zaqiel, Shamsiel, Satariel, Turiel, Yomiel, and Sariel.
This led to the creation of the Nephilim (mentioned in Genesis) or Anakim (giants) as described in the book. These giants were very tall, about 300 ells in height, and they consumed the resources of humans. Eventually, the giants turned against humans and began eating them, as well as other animals and even each other.
The book also describes how the fallen angels taught humans skills, such as making weapons, jewelry, and using antimony. Azazel taught humans to make swords, knives, shields, and other tools. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, Armârôs taught how to break enchantments, Barâqîjâl taught astrology, Kokabêl taught about constellations, Ezêqêêl taught about clouds, Araqiêl taught about the earth, Shamsiêl taught about the sun, and Sariêl taught about the moon.
Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel asked God to judge the people on Earth and the fallen angels. Uriel was sent by God to warn Noah about an upcoming disaster and what he needed to do.
God told Uriel to go to Noah and tell him, "Hide thyself!" and warn him that the Earth would be destroyed by a great flood. He instructed Noah to prepare so his family could survive for future generations.
God commanded Raphael to imprison Azâzêl. He was to be bound, cast into a dark place in the desert, and kept there forever. On the day of judgment, Azâzêl would be thrown into fire. God also ordered the Earth to be healed from the corruption caused by the fallen angels.
God gave Gabriel instructions to destroy the Nephilim and the fallen angels. He told Gabriel to send them to fight each other until they were destroyed.
God told Michael to bind the fallen angels who had sinned by marrying humans. Michael was to imprison them for seventy generations in the valleys of the Earth until the day of judgment. After judgment, they would be cast into fire and remain there forever.
Chapters 37–71 of the Book of Enoch are called the Book of Parables. Scholars debate the meaning of these chapters. The Book of Parables is based on the Book of the Watchers but expands on ideas about the final judgment and the end of the world. It focuses not only on the fate of the fallen angels but also on the punishment of evil kings. The book uses the term "Son of Man" to describe the main figure in its visions. This figure is also called the "Righteous One," "Chosen One," and "Messiah." He is shown sitting on a throne of glory during the final judgment. The first known use of "Son of Man" as a specific title in Jewish writings appears in 1 Enoch.
Manuscript tradition
The most complete early manuscripts of the Book of Enoch that still exist today are written in the Geʽez language. In 1906, Robert Henry Charles created an important version of these manuscripts and divided them into two groups:
Family α: This group is believed to be older and more similar to earlier versions of the Book of Enoch written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
Family β: This group is newer and appears to have been edited or changed over time.
In addition, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church used manuscripts in the Geʽez language to help translate parts of the Bible into Amharic, a language used in Ethiopia. These translations are part of the bilingual Haile Selassie Amharic Bible, published in four volumes around 1935.
In 1948, eleven small pieces of the Book of Enoch written in Aramaic were discovered in Cave 4 at Qumran. These fragments are now kept by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Scholars Józef Milik and Matthew Black studied and translated them in their book The Books of Enoch. Other translations were later made by Geza Vermes and Garcia-Martinez. Milik described the fragments as light-colored with some dark spots, made of thick, stiff leather, and partially damaged with faint, unclear writing.
In the 8th century, the Byzantine historian George Syncellus wrote a work called Chronographia Universalis, which included some parts of the Book of Enoch in Greek (6:1–9:4, 15:8–16:1). Other Greek pieces of the Book of Enoch are also known.
Elena Dugan noted that a certain Codex was written by two different scribes. Earlier, people thought the text had errors, but Dugan believes the first scribe’s version is accurate and meaningful. She explains that this scribe’s work follows the story of Enoch’s life and ends with his journey to heaven. The first scribe may have worked earlier and was not connected to the second.
Some small Greek fragments of the Book of Enoch have been claimed to be found at Qumran (7QEnoch: 7Q4, 7Q8, 7Q10-13), dating to about 100 BCE. These fragments are written on papyrus with grid lines and include parts from 98:11? to 103:15. However, this identification is not widely accepted by scholars.
Parts of 1 Enoch were included in the chronicle written by Panodoros around 400 CE. Annianos, who lived at the same time as Panodoros, later used this work.
A fragment from the 6th or 7th century contains a Coptic version of the Apocalypse of Weeks. The full length of this Coptic text is unknown. It matches the Aramaic version but differs from the Ethiopic version. It likely came from a Greek version of the text.
Only two short sections of the Latin translation of 1 Enoch are known: 1:9 and 106:1–18. The first section appears in two ancient Latin writings, Ad Novatianum and Contra Varimadum. The second section was found in 1893 in an 8th-century manuscript at the British Museum and published the same year.
The only known Syriac version of 1 Enoch is from the 12th century, found in the Chronicle of Michael the Great. This passage is from Book VI and is also recorded by Syncellus and on papyrus. Michael’s source seems to be a Syriac translation of part of Annianos’s chronicle.
History
Ephraim Isaac, the editor and translator of 1 Enoch in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, wrote that "1 Enoch is clearly made up of different parts from many time periods and writers," with its sections dating from the early pre-Maccabean era (about 200 BC) to AD 160. George W. E. Nickelsburg wrote that "1 Enoch is a collection of Jewish beliefs about the end of the world that date from the last three centuries before the common era."
Studies of the writing style in Enochic fragments found in the Qumran caves show the oldest parts of the Book of the Watchers date to 200–150 BC. Because the work has evidence of being written in different stages, it is likely the book existed by the 3rd century BC. The same is true for the Astronomical Book.
Because of these findings, it is no longer possible to say the main part of the Book of Enoch was written after the Maccabean Revolt as a response to Greek influence. Scholars now look for the origins of the Qumranic sections of 1 Enoch in earlier times. Comparing these sections with traditional material from that time shows they do not rely only on ideas from the Hebrew Bible. David Jackson refers to an "Enochic Judaism" from which the writers of the Qumran scrolls were descended. Margaret Barker argues, "Enoch is the writing of a very traditional group whose roots go back to the time of the First Temple." Key features of this Enochic Judaism include:
Most Qumran fragments are relatively early, with none written during the later period of the Qumranic experience.
The connection between 1 Enoch and the Essenes was noticed even before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. While there is agreement that the parts of the Book of Enoch found in Qumran were used by the Essenes, it is unclear if the same is true for parts of 1 Enoch not found in Qumran (mainly the Book of Parables). These parts may represent a different, non-Qumranic Essene movement. Key features of the non-Qumranic sections of 1 Enoch include:
Classical rabbinic writings say little about Enoch. It is possible that Jewish religious leaders' criticism of Enochic texts led to their exclusion from later Jewish traditions.
However, the Book of Enoch played an important role in Jewish mysticism. Scholar Gershom Scholem wrote, "The main ideas of later Merkabah mysticism were already present in older secret writings, best shown by the Book of Enoch." Special attention is given to the detailed description of God’s throne in chapter 14 of 1 Enoch.
For the quote from the Book of the Watchers in the New Testament Epistle of Jude:
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these things, saying, "Look, the Lord is coming with ten thousand of His holy ones 15 to judge all people and to prove all who are ungodly among them for all their ungodly actions they have done, and for all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."
There is little doubt that 1 Enoch influenced New Testament teachings about the Messiah, the Son of Man, the messianic kingdom, demons, the resurrection, and the end of the world. The extent of this influence is discussed in detail by R.H. Charles, Ephraim Isaac, and G.W. Nickelsburg in their translations and commentaries. It is possible that the earlier parts of 1 Enoch directly influenced other Jewish writings, such as Jubilees, 2 Baruch, 2 Esdras, Apocalypse of Abraham, and 2 Enoch, though these connections are often more like branches of a shared tradition than direct development.
The Greek version of 1 Enoch was known and quoted by many early Christian leaders, both positively and negatively. References appear in writings by Justin Martyr, Minucius Felix, Irenaeus, Origen, Cyprian, Hippolytus, Commodianus, Lactantius, and Cassian. After Cassian and before its modern rediscovery, some parts were included in the 8th-century work of monk George Syncellus, and in the 9th century, it was listed as an apocryphal New Testament book by Patriarch Nicephorus.
Sir Walter Raleigh, in his History of the World (written in 1616 while in prison), claimed that a part of the Book of Enoch "which described the stars, their names, and movements" was discovered in Saba (Sheba) in the first century and was available to Origen and Tertullian. He attributed this to Origen, though no such claim appears in surviving writings of Origen.
Outside Ethiopia, the text of the Book of Enoch was thought lost until the early 1700s, when it was said to be found in a Geʽez translation there. Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc bought a book claimed to match the one quoted in the Epistle of Jude and by Church Fathers. Hiob Ludolf, a 17th- and 18th-century expert on Ethiopic texts, later claimed it was a fake made by Abba Bahaila Michael.
Better success came with Scottish traveler James Bruce, who returned to Europe in 1773 with three copies of a Geʽez version. One is in the Bodleian Library, another was given to the French royal library, and the third was kept by Bruce. These copies were not used until the 19th century, when Silvestre de Sacy included extracts with Latin translations (Enoch chapters 1, 2, 5–16, 22, and 32). A German translation followed in 1801 by Rink.
The first English translation of the Bodleian/Ethiopic manuscript was published in 1821 by Richard Laurence. Revised editions came in 1833, 1838, and 1842.
In 1838, Laurence also released the first Geʽez text of 1 Enoch published in the West, titled Libri Enoch Prophetae Versio Aethiopica. Divided into 105 chapters, it was soon seen as unreliable because it was based on a single manuscript.
In 1833, Professor Andreas Gottlieb Hoffmann of the University of Jena released a German translation based on Laurence’s work, titled Das Buch Henoch in vollständiger Uebersetzung. Two other translations appeared around the same time: Enoch Restitutus (1836) by Edward Murray and Prophetae veteres Pseudepigraphi (1840) by A.F. Gfrörer. Both are considered poor, with the 1836 version being the worst, as discussed by Hoffmann.
The first critical edition, based on five manuscripts, appeared in 1851 as Liber Henoch, Aethiopice, ad quinque codicum fidem editus by August Dillmann. In 18
Canonicity
The Book of Enoch was widely read during the Second Temple period, as shown by the many copies found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Today, only the Ethiopic Beta Israel community of Haymanot Jews considers the Book of Enoch as official scripture. They preserve it in the Geʽez language, where it is used in religious ceremonies. However, the book was not included in the formal Jewish canon of the Tanakh or the Septuagint, nor in the Deuterocanon. Some reasons for its exclusion from Jewish scripture include its teachings about fallen angels and the corruptibility of humans, which did not match orthodox Jewish beliefs. Its focus on mystical and apocalyptic themes, rather than legal or ethical teachings, also differed from Rabbinic Judaism.
The Qumran community accepted the Book of Enoch fully, but later rabbis viewed it with suspicion and considered it inauthentic. By the fifth century, the book was mostly excluded from Christian biblical canons. It is now considered scripture only by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
The phrase "Enoch, the seventh from Adam" appears in Jude 1:14–15. This matches a passage from the Ethiopic version of 1 Enoch (1:9), which is also found in the Qumran scroll 4Q204. This passage may have been inspired by Deuteronomy 33:2, which mentions "He comes with ten thousands of His holy ones." According to Charles (1912), the original Hebrew version of Deuteronomy 33:2 uses the word "comes," while other translations use variations. The writer of 1 Enoch likely used the Hebrew text and wrote in Hebrew.
Deuteronomy 33:2 (English Standard Version) says: "The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of saints, with flaming fire at his right hand." Other translations of this passage vary.
John Barton explains that proving a text is quoted is not enough to determine its canonicity. It is also necessary to understand the nature of the quotation. In Jude 1:14, the author quotes 1 Enoch 1:9 by naming Enoch, which suggests he viewed Enoch as a historical prophet. However, it is unclear whether Jude believed the source was the historical Enoch before the flood or a midrash (interpretation) of Deuteronomy 33:2–3. The Greek text uses the dative case "to" instead of "of," which may mean "against them."
Davids (2006) notes that Dead Sea Scrolls evidence shows other Jewish groups, like those at Qumran, used and valued 1 Enoch, but it was not grouped with other scriptural texts. The phrase "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" comes from 1 Enoch (1 Enoch 60:8) and is not from Genesis. Enoch’s name appears in Luke 3:37 as the father of Methuselah in Jesus’ lineage.
The Epistle to the Hebrews mentions that Enoch received testimony from God before his translation, which may refer to 1 Enoch. Some scholars suggest that 1 Peter 3:19–20 and 2 Peter 2:4–5 reference Enochian material. Other references include Jude 1:6 and 1 Corinthians 11:10, according to Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer. The Pulpit Commentary notes that Luke 1:19 may reflect Enoch, where archangels like Gabriel appear before God. Simon Gathercole suggests Luke 10:18 draws on Enoch’s cosmology, though he questions this interpretation.
The Book of Enoch was considered scripture in the Epistle of Barnabas (4:3) and by early Church Fathers like Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, who wrote around 200 AD that Jews rejected it because it supposedly contained prophecies about Jesus.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not include 1 Enoch in its standard canon but believes a "original" Book of Enoch was inspired. The Book of Moses, published by the church in the 1830s, includes excerpts from what it calls the "original" Book of Enoch. These excerpts share similarities with 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, 3 Enoch, and The Book of Giants. The church believes these sections contain parts of Enoch’s teachings but does not include the entire book. It considers matching parts of other texts as inspired but does not judge the rest.
Names of the fallen angels
In the Book of 1 Enoch, some fallen angels have different names. For example, Ramel, which means "morning of God," becomes Azazel. In Chapter 68, this same angel is also called Gadriel, meaning "wall of God." Another example is Araqiel, meaning "earth of God," which becomes Aretstikapha, meaning "world of distortion," in Chapter 68.
The name Azazel comes from the word "Azaz," which means strength. This suggests that Azazel could mean "strength of God." Some modern scholars believe Azazel was a leader in the rebellion against God led by Lucifer.
Nathaniel Schmidt explains that the names of the angels in the Book of Enoch likely describe their roles or conditions before they fell from heaven. Most of these names are in Aramaic, a language related to Hebrew.
The suffix "-el" in angel names comes from Hebrew and is found in the name Emmanuel, which means "God is with us." This suffix is used in the names of important angels, such as Uriel ("flame of God") and Michael ("who is like God").
Gadreel, whose Hebrew name is "Gader ha-el" (meaning "wall of God"), is listed as one of the leaders of the fallen Watchers. He is said to have played a role in deceiving Eve. Schmidt notes that the name Gadreel may mean "the helper of God."
Enoch and contemporary theology
Studies about the Book of Enoch have historically focused on understanding what the text meant to people in ancient times. The Book of Enoch is considered part of the Old Testament in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and has been important in its religious beliefs, especially through the andemta tradition of interpreting the text. In 2015, a group of scholars from Ethiopia and other countries met in Ethiopia and the UK to discuss the relevance of the Book of Enoch to modern religious ideas. The first result of these meetings was a book published in 2017 that included essays about topics such as justice, political theology, the environment, the identity of the Son of Man, suffering, and evil.