The Book of Enoch refers to several ancient works attributed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. That is, Enoch son of Jared (Genesis. v. 18); there are also three other biblical Enochs: son of Cain (Gen. IV. 17), son of Midian (Gen. xxv. 4) and son of Reuben (Gen. xlvi. 9; Ex. vi. 14). The last two are transcribed "Hanoch" in the modern translations.

Though many scholars consider the books to be pseudepigraphal, various groups, including the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Essenes, regard parts or all of the books to be inspired Scripture. The currently known texts are usually dated to Maccabean times (ca. 160s BC).

Most commonly, the phrase Book of Enoch refers to 1 Enoch, which survives completely only in Ethiopic language as far as we know. There are also 2 other books called Enoch, i.e. 2 Enoch (surviving only in Old Slavonic, c. 1st century; Eng. trans. by R. H. Charles (1896) ) and a 3 Enoch (surviving in Hebrew, c. 5th-6th century.) The remainder of this article deals with 1 Enoch only.

History

The book, apparently as a Greek language text, was known to and quoted by nearly all Church Fathers.

There was some dispute about whether the Greek text was an original Christian production or whether it was a translation from an Aramaic text; the chief argument for a Christian author was the occurrence of references to the Messiah as the Son of Man. But the majority opinion favors a 3rd century BC Jewish authorship for its earliest parts considering that a few Aramaic texts of Enoch were discovered at Qumran among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The book is referred to, and quoted, in Jude, 1:14–15 (KJV):

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 convince 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 Ethiopian:

And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement 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.

A number of the Church Fathers thought it to be an authentic work particularly Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian based on its quotation in Jude. However some later Fathers denied the canonicity of the book and some even considered the letter of Jude uncanonical because it refers to an "apocryphal" work (Cf. Gerome, Catal. Script. Eccles. 4.).

After being struck from the Hebrew Scriptures by the Sanhedrin at Yavneh c. 90 AD, the book was discredited after the Council of Laodicea in 364; subsequently the Greek text was lost.

Some excerpts are given by the 8th century monk George Syncellus in his chronography which are published in Dillmann's translation, pp. 82-86. In the 9th century it is listed as an apocryphon of the New Testament by Patriarch Nicephorus Cf. Niceph. (ed. Dindorf), I. 787.

Influence from the book has been traced in the Hiberno-Latin poem Altus prosator.

Rediscovery

Outside of Ethiopia, the text of the Book of Enoch was considered lost until the beginning of the 17th century, when it was confidently asserted that the book was found in an Ethiopic translation there, and the learned 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 Epistle of Barnabas - Epistle xvi. 5) and by the Church Fathers: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origin and Clement of Alexandria. Hiob Ludolf, the great Ethiopic scholar of the 17th and 18th centuries, soon proved it to be a forgery produced by Abba Bahaila Michael (Ludolf, "Commentarius in Hist. Aethip." P. 347).

Better success was achieved by the famous Scottish traveller James Bruce, who in 1773 returned to Europe from six years in Abyssinia with three copies of a Ge'ez version (Bruce, Travels, vol 2, page 422). One is preserved in the Bodleian Library, another was presented to the royal library of France (the nucleus of the

The first translation of the Bodleian/Ethiopic MS was published in 1821 by Professor Richard Laurence, afterwards archbishop of Cashel. Titled "The Book of Enoch, the prophet: an apocryphal production, supposed to have been lost for ages; but discovered at the close of the last century in Abyssinia; now first translated from an Ehiopic MS in the Bodleian Library. Oxford, 1821.". With a second edition being released in 1833 and a third edition in 1838.

Laurence in 1838 also released an edited Ethiopic text named "Libri Enoch Prophetae Versio Aethiopica". The text divided into 105 chapters was even then considered unreliable as was published in "The severe judgement on Laurence by Dillmann, Das Buch Henoch, p lvii".

Professor A. G. Hoffmann released a translation in 1833 based on this work called "Das Buch Henoch in vollständiger Uebersetxung, mit fortlaugendem Commentar, ausführlicher Einleitung und erläuternden Excursen" but due to the use at least in part of Laurences later work there where a number of mistakes that are prevelent. Two other translations came out around the same time one in 1836 called "Enoch Retitutus, or an Attempt" (Rev Edward Murray) and in 1840 "Prophetae veteres Pseudepigraphi, partim ex Abyssinico vel Hebraico sermonibus Latine bersi" (Gfrörer). However both are considered to be poor the 1836 translation most of all and is discussed in Hoffmann, Zweiter Excurs, pages 917-965.

The first reliable edition appeared in 1851 as "Liber Henoch, Aethiopice, ad quinque codicum fidem editus, cum variis lectionibus" which is based on the Ethiopic text edited by A. Dillmann, with a accurate translation of the book with reliable notes released in 1853 titled "Das Buch Henoch, übersetzt und erklärt" which was considered an impeccable edition until the 1900's. A famous edition was published in 1912 by the famous R.H. Charles.

European scholars and academics consider the Ethiopic version is a translation from the Greek, although this is vehemently disputed by Ethiopian scholars and clergy, who insist that, since the only complete text of Enoch to surface so far is in Ethiopic, it proves their claim that this was the original language written by Enoch himself. In the Ethiopian Orthodox view, the following opening sentence of Enoch is the first and oldest sentence written in any human language, since Enoch was the first to write letters:

ቃለ በረከት ዘሄኖክ ዘከመ ባረከ ኅሩያነ ወጻድቃነ እለ ሀለው ይኩኑ

በዕለተ ምንዳቤ ለአሰስሎ ኲሉ እኩያን ወረሲዓን።

Ḳalä bäräkät zä-Henok zäkämä barräkä ḫəruyanä wäṣadḳanä ʾəlä häläw yəkunu

bäʿəlätä məndabe läʾäsäslo k^wilu ʾəkuyan wäräsiʿan

"Word of blessing of Henok, wherewith he blessed the chosen and righteous who would be alive in the day of tribulation for the removal of all wrongdoers and backsliders."

In the early period of Ethiopian literature, before the introduction of Arabic influence, there was considerable translation activity of much Greek literature into Ge'ez by Ethiopian theologians. Because of this, there are many texts for which both the Ge'ez translation and the Greek original are known, so that the Ge'ez translation of the Book of Enoch allows a reasonably good reconstruction of its Greek text that it had allegedly been copied from, although occasional misunderstandings on the part of the translators cannot be excluded.

Since Bruce's discovery, an Old Church Slavonic translationhas been identified, Greek fragments (En. 89:42–49, Codex Vaticanus Cod. Gr. 1809) as well as two separate fragments of a Latin translation. Fragments of papyri containing parts of the Greek version were recovered by a French archeological team at Akhmim and published five years later in 1892. Seven fragments from the Book of Enoch in Aramaic have also been identified in the Qumran Cave 4, among the Dead Sea scrolls .

Layout

The book consists of five major sections and many sub sections:

• 1. The Book of Watchers (Ch. 1 - 36)
• 2. The Book of Parables (Ch. 37 - 71) (May have been "Book of Giants")
• 3. The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries. (Ch. 72 - 82)
• 4. The Dream Visions (Ch. 83 - 90)
• 5. The Epistle of Enoch (Ch. 91 - 108)

Content

The Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers who fathered the Nephilim. The fallen angels then went to Enoch to intercede on their behalf with God. The remainder of the book describes Enoch's visit to Heaven in the form of a vision, and his revelations.

The book contains descriptions of the movement of heavenly bodies (in connection with Enoch's trip to Heaven), and some parts of the book have been speculated about as containing instructions for the construction of a solar declinometer (the Uriel's machine theory).

Names of the Fallen Angels

Please note that many of the following have various different spellings depending on which translation you use. In fact the list of fallen Angels even changes depending on the paticular section of the book you look in even before translation, Azâzêl becoming Gâdreêl being one important one.

• Shemyazaz (also called Samyaza)
• Araqiel (also spelled Arakiel)
• Rameel (Azazel)
• Kokabiel
• Tamiel
• Ramiel
• Daniel (see Daniel (angel))
• Chazaqiel
• Baraqiel (also called Baraqel)
• Asael
• Armaros
• Batariel
• Bezaliel (called 'Busasejal' or 'Basasael')
• Ananiel
• Zaqiel
• Shamsiel
• Satariel
• Turiel
• Yomiel
• Sariel
• Antares (Anti Ares)

Book of Watchers

I-V. Parable of Enoch on the Future Lot of the Wicked and the Righteous.

VI-XI. The

XII-XVI. Dream-Vision of Enoch: his Intercession for Azâzêl and the Fallen Angels: and his Announcement of their first and final Doom.

XVII-XXXVI. Enoch's Journeys through the Earth and Sheol.

• XVII-XIX. The First Journey.
• XX. Names and Functions of the Seven Archangels.
• XXI. Preliminary and final Place of Punishment of the fallen Angels (stars).
• XXII. Sheol or the Underworld.
• XXIII. The fire that deals with the Luminaries of Heaven.
• XXIV-XXV. The Seven Mountains in the North-West and the Tree of Life.
• XXVI. Jerusalem and the Mountains, Ravines, and Streams.
• XXVII. The Purpose of the Accursed Valley.
• XXVIII-XXXIII. Further Journey to the East.
• XXXIV-XXXV. Enoch's Journey to the North.
• XXXVI. The Journey to the South.

This 'introduction' to the Book of Enoch tells us who Enoch is, "a just man, whose eyes were opened by God so that he saw a holy vision in the heavens, which the angels showed to me, and from them I heard everything, and I knew what I saw, but not for this generaion, but for the far-off generations which are to come."

It discusses God coming to Earth on Mount Sinai with his hosts to pass judgement on man kind. That the luminaries rise and set in the order and in their own time and never change. The trees wither and die all except fourteen trees which "abide with the old from two to three years, till the new come". 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.

It then depicts the interaction of the Angels with mankind talking about Shamaza and his pact with 200 other angels to take human wives to "beget ourselves children".

"Then all answered him and said: "We all will swear an oath, and bind ourselves mutually by a curse, that we will not give up this plan, but will make this plan a deed."

"These are the names of their leaders: Semiazaz (a corrupt form of Shemyazaz) who was their leader, Arakiba (possibly a corrupt form of Araqiel), Kokabiel, Tamiel, Rameel (later called Azazel), Daniel, Ezeqeel (Chazaqiel), Buraqiyal (Baraqiel), Asael, Armaros, Batariel, , Ananiel, Zaqiel, Samsapiel (most likely a corrupt form of Shamsiel), Satariel, Turiel, Yomyael (Yomiel), and Sariel. These are the names of the leaders of the 200 angels, and the others all were with them."

This results in the creation of the Nephilim which are described in the book as

"They bought fourth great giants whose stature was three thousand ells. These devoured all the acquisitions of mankind till men were unable to sustain themselves. And the giants turned themselves against mankind in order to devour them."

It also discusses the teaching of humans by Angels

"And Azazel taught mankind to make swords and knives and shields and coats of mail, and taught them to see what was behind them, and their works of art: bracelets and ornaments, and the use of rouge, and the beautifying of the eye-brows, and the dearest and choicest stones and all coloring substances and the metals of the earth. And there was great wickedness and much fornication, and they sinned, and all their ways were corrupt Amezarak taught all the congurers and root-cutters, Armaros the loosening of conjurations, Baraqal the astrologers, Kokabel the signs, and Temel taught astrology and Asradel taught the course of the moon."

Micheal, Gabriel, Surjan and Urjan look down from heaven and hear the crys of mankind and place themselves before the creator to ask the now fallen angels to be punished for there sins.

"Then the Most High, the Great and Holy One, spoke and sent Arsjalaljur to the son of Lamech , and said to him: "Tell him in my name: 'Hide tyself!' and reveal to him the end which is to come. For the whole earth will be destroyed and the water of the deluge is about to come over the whole earth and what is upon it will be destroyed. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed remain on the whole earth."

The first fallen Angel to be judged was Azazel, the Lord spoke to Rufael:

"Bind Azazel hand and foot, and put him in the darkness; make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael , and put him there. And lay upon him rough and pointed rocks, and cover him with darkness that he may remain there forever, and cover his face that he may not see the light! And on the great day of judgement he will be cast into the fire."

Gabriel then "led out" the Nephilim so that they "may destroy each other by murder; for their days shall not be long."

The Lords judgement continues:

"When all their sons (Nephilim) shall have slain one another, and they shall have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them under the hills of the earth for seventy generations, till the day of their judgement and of their end, till the last judgement has been passed for all eternity. And in those days they will be led to the abyss of fire, in torture and in prison they will be locked for all eternity, and then he will burn, and be destroyed; they will be burned together from now on to the end of all generations."

Book of Parables

XXXVIII-XLIV. The First Parable.

• XXXVIII. The Coming Judgement of the Wicked.
• XXXIX. The Abode of the Righteous and the Elect One: the Praises of the Blessed.
• XL-XLI. 2. The Four Archangels.
• XLI. 3-9. Astronomical Secrets.
• XLII. The Dwelling-places of Wisdom and of Unrighteousness.
• XLIII-XLIV. Astronomical Secrets.

XLV-LVII. The Second Parable.

• XLV. The Lot of the Apostates: the New Heaven and the New Earth.
• XLVI. The Head of Days and the Son of Man.
• XLVII. The Prayer of the Righteous for Vengeance and their Joy at its coming.
• XLVIII. The Fount of Righteousness: the Son of Man -the Stay of the Righteous: Judgement of the Kings and the Mighty.
• XLIX. The Power and Wisdom of the Elect One.
• L. The Glorification and Victory of the Righteous: the Repentance of the Gentiles.
• LI. The Resurrection of the Dead, and the Separation by the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.
• LII. The Seven Metal Mountains and the Elect One.
• LIII-LIV. The Valley of Judgement: the Angels of Punishment: the Communities of the Elect One.
• LIV.7.-LV.2. Noachic Fragment on the first World Judgement.
• LV.3.-LVI.4. Final Judgement of Azazel, the Watchers and their children.
• LVI.5-8. Last Struggle of the Heathen Powers against Israel.
• LVII. The Return from the Dispersion.

LVIII-LXXI. The Third Parable.

• LVIII. The Blessedness of the Saints.
• LIX. The Lights and the Thunder.
• LX. Quaking of the Heaven: Behemoth and Leviathan: the Elements.
• LXI. Angels go off to measure Paradise: the Judgement of the Righteous by the Elect One: the Praise of the Elect One and of God.
• LXII. Judgement of the Kings and the Mighty: Blessedness of the Righteous.
• LXIII. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty.
• LXIV. Vision of the Fallen Angels in the Place of Punishment.
• LXV. Enoch foretells to Noah the Deluge and his own Preservation.
• LXVI. The Angels of the Waters bidden to hold them in Check.
• LXVII. God's Promise to Noah: Places of Punishment of the Angels and of the Kings.
• LXVIII. Michael and Raphael astonished at the Severity of the Judgement.
• LXIX. The Names and Functions of the (fallen Angels and) Satans: the secret Oath.
• LXX. The Final Translation of Enoch.
• LXXI. Two earlier Visions of Enoch.

The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries

• LXXII. The Sun.
• LXXIII. The Moon and its Phases.
• LXXIV. The Lunar Year.
• LXXVI. The Twelve Winds and their Portals.
• LXXVII. The Four Quarters of the World: the Seven Mountains, the Seven Rivers, Seven Great Islands.
• LXXVIII. The Sun and Moon: the Waxing and Waning of the Moon.
• LXXIX-LXXX.1. Recapitulation of several of the Laws.
• LXXX.2-8. Perversion of Nature and the heavenly Bodies due to the Sin of Men.
• LXXXI. The Heavenly Tablets and the Mission of Enoch.
• LXXXII. Charge given to Enoch: the four Intercalary days: the Stars which lead the Seasons and the Months.

The Dream visions

LXXXIII-LXXXIV. First Dream-Vision on the Deluge. LXXXV-XC. Second Dream-Vision of Enoch: the History of the World to the Founding of the Messianic Kingdom.

• LXXXVI. The Fall of the Angels and the Demoralization of Mankind.
• LXXXVII. The Advent of the Seven Archangels.
• LXXXVIII. The Punishment of the Fallen Angels by the Archangels.
• LXXXIX.1-9. The Deluge and the Deliverance of Noah.
• LXXXIX.10-27. From the Death of Noah to the Exodus.
• LXXXIX.28-40. Israel in the Desert, the Giving of the Law, the Entrance into Palestine.
• LXXXIX.41-50. From the Time of the Judges to the Building of the Temple.
• LXXXIX.51-67. The Two Kingdoms of Israel and Judah to the Destruction of Jerusalem.
• LXXXIX.68-71. First Period of the Angelic Rulers -from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Return from Captivity.
• LXXXIX.72-77. Second Period -from the Time of Cyrus to that of Alexander the Great.
• XC.1-5. Third Period -from Alexander the Great to the Graeco-Syrian Domination.
• XC.6-12. Fourth Period -from the Graeco-Syrian Domination to the Maccabean Revolt.
• XC.13-19. The last Assault of the Gentiles on the Jews (where vv. 13-15 and 16-18 are doublets).
• XC.20-27. Judgement of the Fallen Angels, the Shepherds, and the Apostates.
• XC.28-42. The New Jerusalem, the Conversion of the surviving Gentiles, the Resurrection of the Righteous, the Messiah. Enoch awakes and weeps.

The Epistle of Enoch

XCII, XCI.1-10, 18-19. Enoch's Book of Admonition for his Children.

• XCI.1-10, 18-19. Enoch's Admonition to his Children.
• XCIII, XCI.12-17. The Apocalypse of Weeks.
• XCI.12-17. The Last Three Weeks.
• XCIV.1-5. Admonitions to the Righteous.
• XCIV.6-11. Woes for the Sinners.
• XCV. Enoch's Grief: fresh Woes against the Sinners.
• XCVI. Grounds of Hopefulness for the Righteous: Woes for the Wicked.
• XCVII. The Evils in Store for Sinners and the Possessors of Unrighteous Wealth.
• XCVIII. Self-indulgence of Sinners: Sin originated by Man: all Sin recorded in Heaven: Woes for the Sinners.
• XCIX. Woes pronounced on the Godless, the Lawbreakers: evil Plight of Sinners in The Last Days: further Woes.
• C. The Sinners destroy each other: Judgement of the Fallen Angels: the Safety of the Righteous: further Woes for the Sinners.
• CI. Exhortation to the fear of God: all Nature fears Him but not the Sinners.
• CII. Terrors of the Day of Judgement: the adverse Fortunes of the Righteous on the Earth.
• CIII. Different Destinies of the Righteous and the Sinners: fresh Objections of the Sinners.
• CIV. Assurances given to the Righteous: Admonitions to Sinners and the Falsifiers of the Words of Uprightness.
• CV. God and the Messiah to dwell with Man.

See also

• Angel
• Arakiel
• Enochian
• John Dee
• Noah
• Samyaza

Libro de Enoch Livre d'Énoch ספר חנוך הכושי Księga Henocha Книга Еноха