The Book of Enoch 12
Book I The Book of the Watchers Chapters 1–36 · 3rd century BCE
The oldest core of 1 Enoch: the descent of the two hundred Watchers, the birth of the giants, Enoch's intercession, and his guided journeys through the cosmos and the places of judgment.
Dating & manuscripts. Among the oldest apocalyptic writings in existence. Aramaic copies were found at Qumran (4QEnoch a-c), confirming its pre-Maccabean date - older than the Book of Daniel.
Chapters 6-11 preserve an older Semjaza/Shemihazah myth cycle later woven together with the Azazel/Asael tradition; scholars read them as composite, with a Noah fragment embedded. Angel names vary by manuscript (Semjaza/Shemihazah, Azazel/Asael).
In later tradition. This section's imagery echoes through later scripture and tradition: the Epistle of Jude (verses 14-15) quotes 1 Enoch 1:9 by name, and the Watchers legend shaped 2 Peter, the Book of Revelation, and the theology of the Qumran community and early Christianity.
The Book of Giants. A sixth Enochic work that expands the Watchers story from the giants' point of view - their violence, their prophetic dreams, and their doom. Known from Aramaic fragments at Qumran and, centuries later, adopted into Manichaean scripture. It is not part of the Ethiopic 1 Enoch preserved here.
1 Enoch is an anthology of five distinct works, composed over roughly three centuries.
Enoch Sent to the Watchers
Before these things Enoch was hidden and no one of the children of men knew where he was hidden and where he abode and what had become of him. Themes: The Watchers and Their Fall
1efore these things Enoch was hidden, and no one of the children of men knew where he was hidden, and where he abode, and what had become of him.
2 And his activities had to do with the Watchers, and his days were with the holy ones.
3 And I Enoch was blessing the Lord of majesty and the King of the ages, and lo! the Watchers called me -Enoch the scribe- and said to me:
4 'Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness, go, declare to the Watchers of the heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have done as the children of earth do, and have taken unto themselves wives: "Ye have wrought great destruction on the earth:
5 And ye shall have no peace nor forgiveness of sin: and inasmuch as they delight themselves in their children,
6 The murder of their beloved ones shall they see, and over the destruction of their children shall they lament, and shall make supplication unto eternity, but mercy and peace shall ye not attain."'
Did You Know?
Before these things Enoch was hidden and no one of the children of men knew where he was hidden and where he abode and what had become of him.
Enoch's activities had to do with the Watchers and his days were with the holy ones.
Enoch was blessing the Lord of majesty and the King of the ages when the Watchers called him Enoch the scribe.
Enoch was commanded to declare to the Watchers of the heaven who left the high heaven and the holy eternal place and defiled themselves with women.
The Watchers shall have no peace nor forgiveness of sin and will see the murder of their beloved ones and lament over their children's destruction without attaining mercy.
← → arrow keys to navigate chapters · spacebar to play/pause audio
Commentary
In brief
Enoch, who walks with the angels and is hidden from other men, is sent as an unlikely go-between. The doomed Watchers beg him to carry a petition for mercy up to heaven on their behalf.
Scholar's note
Charles heads chapters 12-16 as "Dream Vision of Enoch: his intercession for Azazel and the fallen Angels, and his announcement to them of their first and final doom." He cautions that these visions "are preserved only in a fragmentary condition."
R.H. Charles, The Book of Enoch (Oxford, 1912) · public domain