The Book of ENOCH

CHAPTER 6

And it came to pass, after the children of men had increased in those days, beautiful and comely daughters were born to them.
2. And the angels, the sons of the heavens, saw and lusted after them, and said one to another: “Behold, we will choose for ourselves wives from among the children of men, and will beget for ourselves children.”
3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said to them: “I fear that perhaps ye will not be willing
to do this deed, and I alone shall suffer for this great sin.”
4. 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.”
5. Then they all swore together, and bound themselves mutually by a curse; and together they were two hundred.
6. And they descended on Ardîs, which is the summit of Mount Hermon; and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn on it and bound themselves mutually by a curse.
7. And these are the names of their leaders: Semjâzâ, who was their leader, Urâkibarâmêêl, Akibêêl, Tâmiêl, Râmuêl, Dânêl, Ezêqêêl, Sarâqujâl, Asâêl, Armers, Batraal, Anânî, Zaqêbê, Samsâvêêl, Sartaêl, Turêl, Jomjâêl, Arâzjâl.
8. These are the leaders of the two hundred angels, and the others all were with them.

CHAPTER 7

And they took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in to them, and mixed with them, and taught them charms and conjurations, and made them acquainted with the cutting of roots and of woods.
2. And they became pregnant and brought forth great giants whose stature was three thousand ells.
3. These devoured all the acquisitions of mankind till men were unable to sustain themselves.
4. And the giants turned themselves against mankind in order to devour them.
5. And they began to sin against the birds and the beasts, and against the creeping things, and the fish, and devoured their flesh among themselves, and drank the blood thereof.
6. Then the earth complained of the unjust ones.

CHAPTER 8

And Azâzêl 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.
2. And there was great wickedness and much fornication, and they sinned, and all their ways were corrupt.
3. Amêzârâk taught all the conjurers and root-cutters, Armârôs the loosening of conjurations, Baraq’âl the astrologers, Kôkâbêl the signs, and Temêl taught astrology, and Asrâdêl taught the course of the moon.
4. And in the destruction of mankind, they cried aloud, and their voices reached heaven.

CHAPTER 9

Then Michael and Gabriel and Surjân and Urjân looked down from heaven and saw the great amount of blood which had been spilled on the earth, and all the wickedness which had been committed over the earth.
2. And they said to one another: “The emptied earth re-echoes the sound of their [i.e. mankind’s] cries up to the gates of heaven.
3. And now to you, O ye holy ones of heaven, cry the souls of men, saying: ‘Secure us judgment before the Most High.’
4. And they spoke to their Lord, to the King: ‘O Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings, the throne of thy majesty is among all the generations of the world, and thy name, holy and glorious, among all the generations of the world. Thou art blessed and praised!
5. Thou hast made all things and all power is with thee, all things are open before thee and uncovered, and thou seest all things and nothing can hide itself from thee.
6. See then what Azâzêl has done, how he has taught all wickedness on earth and has revealed the secrets of the world which were prepared in the heavens.
7. And Semjâzâ to whom thou hast given the power to be chief of his associates has made known conjurations.
8. And they have gone together to the daughters of men and have slept with them, with those women, and have defiled themselves, and have revealed to them these sins.
9. And the women have brought forth giants, and thereby the whole earth has been filled with blood and wickedness.
10. And now, behold, the souls which have died cry and lament to the gates of heaven, and their groans ascend, and they are not able to escape from the wickedness which is committed on the earth.
11. And thou knowest everything before it comes to pass, and thou knowest this and their circumstances, and yet thou dost not speak to us. What shall we therefore do in regard to this?”

CHAPTER 10

Then the Most High, the Great and Holy One, spoke and sent Arsjalâljûr to the son of Lamech, and said to him:
2. “Tell him in my name: ‘Hide thyself!’ 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.
3. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed remain on the whole earth.”
4. And again the Lord spoke to Rufael: “Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and put him in the darkness; make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudâêl, and put him there.
5. 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!
6. And on the great day of judgment he will be cast into the fire.
7. And heal the earth which the angels have defiled, and announce the healing of the earth that I will heal it, and that not all the sons of men shall be destroyed through the mystery of all the things which the watchers have spoken and have taught their sons.
8. And the whole earth was defiled through the example of the deeds of Azâzêl; to him ascribe all the sins.”
9. And God said to Gabriel: “Go against the bastards and those cast off and against the children of fornication, and destroy the children of fornication and the children of the watchers from among men; lead them out, and let them loose that they may destroy each other by murder; for their days shall not be long.
10. And they will all supplicate thee, but their fathers will secure nothing for them, although they expect an everlasting life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.”
11. And God said to Michael: “Announce to Semjâzâ and to the others who are with him, who have bound themselves to women, to be destroyed with them in all their contamination.
12. When all their sons 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 judgment and of their end, till the last judgment has been passed for all eternity.
13. 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,
14. And then he will burn, and be destroyed; they will be burned together from now on to the end of all generations.
15. And destroy all souls of lust and the children of the watchers, because they have oppressed mankind.
16. Destroy all oppression from the face of the earth, and all wicked deeds shall cease, and the plant of justice and righteousness shall appear, and deeds will become a blessing: justice and righteousness will be planted in joy forever.
17. Then all the just will bend the knee, and they will remain alive till they beget a thousand children, and they will complete all the days of their youth and their sabbath in peace.
18. And in those days the whole earth will be worked in justice, and will all be planted with trees, and will be full of blessings.
19. And all the trees of desire will be planted on it, and vines will be planted on it; the vine planted on it will bear fruit in abundance. And of all the seed sown on it one measure will bear ten thousand, and one measure of olives will make ten presses of oil.
20. And cleanse thou the earth of all oppression and all injustice and all sin and all wickedness and all uncleanness which are produced on the earth: eradicate them from the earth.
21. And all the children of men shall become just, and all the nations shall worship me as God, and bless and all will worship me.
22. And the earth will be cleansed of all corruption and all sin and all punishment and all torment, and I will never again send a flood upon it, from generation to generation, to eternity.”

CHAPTER 11

“And in those days I will open the store-rooms of blessings which are in heaven, in order to bring them down upon the earth, upon the deeds and labor of the children of men.
2. Peace and rectitude will become associates in all the days of the world, and in all the generations of the world.”

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CHAP. 6. With this chapter the book proper begins, and in the recital of the fall of the angels, with other attending circumstances, gives to chap.16 the historical basis of the whole. This is based on the author’s interpretation of Gen. vi. 1 sqq., and is the same as is found in Josephus Antiqq. I. 3, 1, and in Philo, De Gig. 1, 2.—Sons of heaven, being an imitation of the appellation sons of God applied to angels Job I. 6; ii. 1; xxxviii. 7; Ps. xxix. 1; lxxxix. 7 (cf. Heb. text), is common to both portions of this book and to the Parables; cf. 13:8; 14:3; 39:1, and is explained by the author himself, 15:1-7. Lust is throughout the whole book represented as the great sin of the angels, 9:8; 10:11; 12:4; 15:3; and this union with the daughters of men became a fruitful source of speculation for later Jewish writers. Cf. Langen, p. 321.—3. Semjaza; cf. below.—4.

The belief that such an oath would prove true seems not to have been unpopular among the Hebrews, as is testified by the implicit faith put in the bitter water in case a man suspected the chastity of his wife; cf. Num. v. 18 and Josephus, Antiqq. iii. 11, 6.—5. The number two hundred is repeated verse 8. Origen, Contra Celsum, remarks that Celsus had heard that about sixty or seventy angels had descended and become wicked. Syncellus also gives the number as two hundred.—6. Ardis is a corrupt reading, and probably contracted from the GTR of Syncellus; the translator omitting the words GTR; for the Greek has GTR. Fama always placed the fall of the angels in the time of Jared. The book of the Jubilees (chap. 4, ed. Dillmann, p. 17) remarks that Jared was so called because in his days the angels descended (HTR, to descend) on the earth; and Origen (Comm. in Joan. tom. viii. p. 132, ed Hurt.) mentions an explanation of the word Jordan as the descenaing, by bringing it in connection with the name Jared, and adds: GTR..... GTR. Epiphanius (adv. Haer. I. 4, ed. Petav. tom. I. p. 4) puts the origin of magic in the days of Jared.

Hermon here taken from HTR or HTR. Hilarius (Comm. in Ps. cxxxiii. 3) remarks: Hermon mons est in Phoenice cujus interpretatio anathema est: quod enim nobis anathema nuncupatur, id hebraice Hermon dicitur. Fertur autem id, de quo etiam nescio cujus liber extat, quod angeli concupiscentes filias hominum, cum de caelo descenderunt, in hunc montem maxime convenirent excelsum. This liber is undoubtedly the Book of Enoch; cf. Jerome on Ps. cxxxiii. 3. This passage proves that the original was written in one of the Semitic languages.—7. This verse mentions eighteen leaders; the Gr. has twenty; and 69:2 sqq. has twenty-one; and the difference in the names in these three lists is considerable.

The disharmony between 6:7 and 69 can easily be explained by the fact that these lists were furnished by different authors, for 69 is a portion of the Noachic fragments; and in so uncertain a subject as the names of these angels, which had to be drawn from imagination alone, this lack of agreement is natural and of little moment. The departure of the Ethiopic text from that of Syncellus is probably owing to a gradual corruption of the Ethiopic. Dillmann’s unnecessary attempt to harmonize these three lists is more ingenious than successful. Cf. his Notes, p. 93 sqq.

CHAP. 7. In this and the following chapter the Greek and the Ethiopic texts do not harmonize; the former presenting the longer, and in general, although not always, the better, reading.—1. Syncellus dates the events here recorded as GTR, and says it continued GTR, which certainly never was found in the original book of Enoch, as this, after the manner of apocryphal writings, avoids such specific limitations. On the use of roots as instruments for magic Hoffmann (p. 116-120) treats extensively, and draws especial attention to the instances recorded by Josephus, Bel. Jud. vii. 6, 3, and Antiqq. viii. 2, 5.—2. The number three thousand, reduced by one MS. to three hundred and omitted in the Greek, is probably an interpolation.

The great giants are stated by Syncellus to have been of three kinds, GTR—a statement that must have been in the original, as it is presupposed in 86:4; 88:2, verses written by the same author. The book of the Jubilees (chap. 7, ed. Dillmann p. 31) divides them into Jerbâch, Naphâl, and Eljô.—4. The book of the Jubilees l. c. says that only the third class of giants destroyed mankind.—5. That the giants (not men) sinned with the birds, etc. is mentioned in almost the same words in the book of the Jubilees. Their flesh, i.e. that of man, as, unlike the book just quoted where the contest between the giants themselves goes on before the attack on man, the book of Enoch places this contest after the destruction of mankind.

The terrible crime of drinking blood finds its most vivid expression in the book of the Jubilees: “Take heed with blood, take much heed. Bury it in the earth, and eat no blood, for it is the soul; never eat blood!”—6. Like Gen. iv. 10; cf. En. 8:4; 9:2.

CHAP. 8, 1. Azazel; cf. Lev. xvi. 8, 10, 26; and Gesenius, Thesaurus 1012-13; and Herzog-Plitt, II. p. 23. That Azazel GTR (interpolation? of Syncellus), is mentioned first is in harmony with 9:6; 10:4; 13:1. To see what was behind them, correctly explained by S. de Sacy: Edocuit artem specula faciendi. The Greek text and Tertullian (quoted by Laurence, Prelim. Disc. p. xvi.) omit this phrase. Cf. Test. Ruben, 5.—2. Cf. Book of the Jubilees, 7.—3. Amezarak is undoubtedly a corruption of one of the names in chap. 6, possibly of Semjaza; cf. Dillmann and Syncelius. Here, probably, the Ethiopic text has omissions, and, not being able to render the distinction between GTR, the art of Baraqal, and GTR, that of Kokabel, he translates the latter signs, i.e. of heaven, 48:3. This verse is freely quoted by Clemens Alex. in Eclog. Proph., ed. Sylburg, p. 808.—4. Cf. note on 7:6.

CHAP.9. Surjan and Urjan are Suriel and Uriel, four of the highest angels. The canonical books (Dan.) know of Michael and Gabriel, but Suriel and especially Uriel are well known in later rabbinical theology as HTR; cf. e.g. Talm. Babyl. Berachoth, fol. 51ª. Generally, however, these four are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael; cf. Buxtorf, Lex. p. 27; and Syncellus gives this passage twice with these last names, and undoubtedly correctly. These angels being constantly near God are the proper ones to report the terrible fate of mankind to him.—2. is not in the Gr. but must have been in the original. Emptied, i.e. of mankind, 67:2; 84:5.—3. Holy ones, also a biblical name for angels; cf. Job v. 1; xv. 15; Zech. xiv. 5; Dan. iv. 14; viii. 13; cf. note on 15:2. Most-High or Highest God is found in the whole book.—4. A similar prayer is found 84:2 sqq., and is probably an enlargement of the Trisagion.

The character and wording of the prayer is strictly determined by the immediate wants; cf. Schürer in Zeitschrift für prot. Theol., 1876, p. 176.—6. From 9:8; 10:7, and especially 16:3 we are allowed to understand that these secrets are the ones referred to 8:1. Without the assistance of the fallen angels men would never have learned charms and conjurations.—7. Here the Gr. omits the most important words, made known conjurations.—8. How they defiled themselves is stated 15:3 sqq.—10. They are not able, i.e. the souls; the plural in the Ethiopic is decidedly better that the singular GTR with GTR as subject. The cries of those that died can be heard in heaven, 22:5 sqq.

CHAP. 10. Arsjalâljûr, for which the Gr. has Uriel, is probably, as Dillmann remarks, a combination of HTR and HTR (sun-god, light-god), and is about the same as the name Uriel. The son of Lamech, as the Gr. states, is Noah. The record here of an event that occurred after the death of Enoch does not demand that this chapter be ascribed to a new author; such chronological mistakes could easily happed to one writing thousands of years later than the events here mentioned.—2.

Hide thyself is a command to Noah, as Moses hides on receiving a revelation, Ex. iii. 6; cf. En. 12:1; chap. 81.—3. The additions to the Gr. in this verse are probably by Syncellus himself.—4. Rufael, the same as Raphael, mentioned here for the first time, is an angel introduced by apocryphal literature, being found first Tob. xii. 15. Azazel, as the chief of these sinful beings, receives a separate punishment. Dudael is HTR, i.e. God’s kettle; cf. Jude 6; 2 Pet. ii. 4; Irenaeus, adv. Haer. iv. 30. The desert as the place of his punishment is taken from Lev. xvi. 10, 22. The desert was frequently pictured as the abiding-place of demons; cf. LXX on Isa. xiii. 21; xxxiv. 13, 14; and Tob. viii. 3. This judgment is not the last, but only a temporary one, as the next verse already indicates.

This first judgment, although stated in verse 5 as one forever, is modified in verse 12 as seventy generations, and in 14:5, as for all the days of the world. —5. As light is the picture of happiness (1:8, etc), darkness signifies misery. One of the chief horrors of Sheol is darkness; cf. Lam. iii. 6; Ps. cxliii. 3; Job x. 21, 22; xviii. 18; and in general, Ps. cvii. 10, 14; Isa. xlii. 7.—6. Great day, i.e. the final judgment, 22:11. The punishment by fire, vs. 13; 18:11; 21:7-10, and often.—7. Heal, in the sense of Isa. vi. 10, as could be expected from one whose name is from HTR.

The action of the angel and that of God here run together as in Gen. xix. 17-22; xxxi. 3, 11, 13; Ex. xiii. 21 with xiv. 19. This healing, however, can only take place by first ridding the earth of the ulcerous giants.—8. All wicked deeds are recorded, 81:2, and the angels learn them, 100:10.—9. Bastards, i.e. the giants, the product of the union of two different kinds of beings, 15:3-7. The manner of this destruction shall be self-slaughter, as is also stated in the book of the Jubilees (ch. 5, p. 20): “And he sent among them his sword that each one should kill his neighbor; and they commenced to kill each other, till they all fell by the sword, and were destroyed from the earth. But their fathers looked on, and after that were bound in the abysses of the earth till the day of the great judgment”; cf. En. 12:6; 14:6; 87:1; 88:2. From men, i.e. born of men.—10.

The petition of the fallen angels is in vain, 12:6; 13:4 sqq.; 14:4, 7. Eternal life, i.e. long life, as the five hundred shows.—11. Michael, as the greatest of the angels, is to punish Semjaza and the rest of the fallen, with the exception of Azazel.—12. This punishment consists in first seeing the destruction of their children, and then being bound under the hills for seventy generations; cf. note on verse 4 and chap. 91 and 93. The idea here expressed does not require to be derived from the Greek fables of the Titans, but could very easily have been deduced by a Hebrew mind from passages like Job xi. 8; xxvi. 5; cf. Isa. xiii. 16. This punishment is exceptionally heavy, as the family-ties were especially strong among the Jews.—13. Abyss of fire, 90:25, 26. The final punishment is eternal, 14:4, 5; 22:11; 25:4; 27:3, etc.; cf. Jude 6; 2 Pet. ii. 4.—15. Souls of lust, 67:8, 10; and both the angels and the women are meant; cf. 19:2.—16. The plant of righteousness is the people of Israel; cf. 93: 2, 5, 8, 10, a term frequently found in apocryphal writings.

The picture here gradually blends into a portrait of the Messianic times.—17. Long life was one of the greatest blessings in the Old Testament; cf. note on 5:7, and En. 25:5, 6; 58:3, 6; 71:17, etc. Sabbath, the last years of their lives, as the Sabbath is the last and resting-day of the week. A numerous progeny was also a great blessing; cf. Deut. xxviii. 4; Ps. cxxviii. 3; Prov. xvii. 6; and barrenness a result of sin, En. 98:5.—18. Cf. Hos. xiv. 8; Amos ix. 14; Jer. xxxi. 5; lxv. 21; Ezek. xxviii. 26, etc.

This is the opposite from the condition pictured chap. 8 and 9. Justice is always joined with the happy time of the future; cf. note on 5:8.—19. The Old Testament frequently refers to the vine and the olive and fruitfulness as a source of blessing in the reign of the Messiah; cf. Amos ix. 13; Hos. ii. 22, 23; Isa. xxx. 23-25; Ezek. xxxiv. 26, 27; xxxvi. 8, 29, 30; Zech. viii. 12; Ps. lxxii. 16, and especially Isa. v. 10, of which this verse is an imitation; cf. also Harnack on Papias Frag., p. 87.—20. This refers to the deluge.—21. A sudden transition to the times of the Messiah, containing a well-known hope frequently expressed by the Old Testament prophets. In 90:37 the same is said of the Messiah, and in the Parables chap. 57.—22. Cf. Gen. ix. 11, 15. Sin; cf. note on 5:8.

CHAP. 11, 1 Is simply a combination of the preceding; cf. Deut. xxviii. 12. The idea that there are store-rooms or receptacles for things good and bad runs through the whole book.—2. Cf. Ps. lxxxv. 10; Isa.
xxii. 17.


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