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The Book of Enoch
Rife with concepts of original sin, fallen angels, demonology, resurrection, and the last judgment, The Book of Enoch is a vital document to the origins of Christianity. Today, it remains a written remnant of the Apocalypse — an ardent testament to hope and the triumph of good over evil in the dawning of a world to come.
R. H. Charles provides a definitive translation of one of the most noted apocalyptic works still in existence. Often described as "the lost book" of the Bible , The Book of Enoch seems to have been written in Palestine by several different authors in the first and second centuries B.C. For hundreds of years it was accepted as scriptural canon by the early church fathers, but it was rejected by the council of Laodicea in A.D. 364 and is mostly excluded from Christian biblical canons.
It is comprised of various monumental works : The Book of Enoch , which tells the story of fallen angels (the Watchers) taking human wives and breeding giants (Nephilim); The Book of Parables , which describes Enoch's journey through heaven and hell and the destiny of the fallen angels and kings of the earth; The Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries (The Astronomical Book) , which explains the movement of heavenly bodies and predicts future events; The Dream Visions, The Concluding Section (The Epistle of Enoch) ; Enoch’s advice to his sons urging repentance and warns against sin , and The Noah Fragments .
This edition provides a well-researched introduction placing The Book of Enoch in its historical context, highlighting its importance for scholars of religious history and early Christianity. With Charles's authoritative translation and insightful annotations, this edition sheds light on one of history's most enigmatic writings.
R. H. Charles provides a definitive translation of one of the most noted apocalyptic works still in existence. Often described as "the lost book" of the Bible , The Book of Enoch seems to have been written in Palestine by several different authors in the first and second centuries B.C. For hundreds of years it was accepted as scriptural canon by the early church fathers, but it was rejected by the council of Laodicea in A.D. 364 and is mostly excluded from Christian biblical canons.
It is comprised of various monumental works : The Book of Enoch , which tells the story of fallen angels (the Watchers) taking human wives and breeding giants (Nephilim); The Book of Parables , which describes Enoch's journey through heaven and hell and the destiny of the fallen angels and kings of the earth; The Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries (The Astronomical Book) , which explains the movement of heavenly bodies and predicts future events; The Dream Visions, The Concluding Section (The Epistle of Enoch) ; Enoch’s advice to his sons urging repentance and warns against sin , and The Noah Fragments .
This edition provides a well-researched introduction placing The Book of Enoch in its historical context, highlighting its importance for scholars of religious history and early Christianity. With Charles's authoritative translation and insightful annotations, this edition sheds light on one of history's most enigmatic writings.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 301
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* They are officially published under that name
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* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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August 15, 2012
At one time the book of Enoch was given in a combined text of the bible, it was placed in between the Old Testament and the New Testament. At some point it got kicked out of that honored place. It is one of several religious texts written before Christ.
Before Dante' and Milton, before Matthew, Luke, and John, before Paul and Simon, before Christ, before Noah, there was Enoch. Enoch gives us one of the ealiest, purely Judeo-Christian ideas of what Heaven is like, and the God Machine that created the universe and wind and fire.
Dante' and Milton tried to tell us about heaven and hell, Enoch gives a first hand account from dreams he had where the Archangel Micheal leads him through heaven. I'm not going to say much that involves interpretation of the Book of Enoch. I would say, compared to the modern printing of the Bible (New Testament),and , modernized versions of the Old Testament I can see why this book has been left out.
Where the stories of the Old Testament are almost endearing and sometimes frightening and the stories in the New Testament, The Gospels, Pol's letter campaign to the civilized world (as it existed at the time) need some interpretation as to what's fable, what is metaphor and what is an accurate historical account, compared to the Book of Enoch, they come across as direct, straight foreward and clear. The book of Enoch needs interpretation and it would take years of religious and theologic study to understand what it really means and how it translates to our lives on religious terms. Even after years of work, it would still yeild a debateable conclusion at best.
Enoch, talks of Angels and monsters, other dimensions where the forces of Light make the Universe work and a cataclysmic end to all unrighteous life on earth. He speaks in metphors about the rise of man from little more than anibal to civilized human beings.
In the book of Enoch lay the straws that Racists grasp at and stories that make witches real. This is the book where Satan is Identified and demons and devils take mortal human wives to mate who give birth to wolves and Leviathan.
But Enoch also condems those who turn to violence who would do violence to others for not being like themsleves.
If you are a religious person (Christian), you should read this book. It is about God, Angels, Heaven, Damnation and things you should be thinking about.
If you are a Wican, this may help explain the paranoia and fear about where your faith comes from and what you worship.
If you are a Literary Scholar, you should read this book. This is what Dante' and Milton are reflecting in their works about heaven and hell and this is reflected in so many works right down to Tolkien and the 9 Damned Men who took rings from Sauron (which matches the 9 Angels who took human wives).
If you read Classic Horror, or Modern Urban Fantasy, you should read this. This is where you find out why Silver kills lycanthropes and wounds vampires. This is where we hear about Leviathan and her Brother/Husband Behemoth.
If you write fiction, be it horror, Modern Fantasy, Modern Apocolyptic Distopian, Science Fiction, Monster stories, or Archeological Sci-Fi meets Science...fiction stories then this is the hot bed of your greatest villains and doomsday scenarios.
If your an athiest who reads non-fiction only...meh... you can let this one go it won't make a big difference in your life.
Here's a link to the History Channel's Documentary "Banned from the Bible." Here they discuss the Book of Enoch, as well as the Gospels according to Thomas and other religious writing in the Judeo-Christian world that did not make the cut to get into the bible.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=W...
Before Dante' and Milton, before Matthew, Luke, and John, before Paul and Simon, before Christ, before Noah, there was Enoch. Enoch gives us one of the ealiest, purely Judeo-Christian ideas of what Heaven is like, and the God Machine that created the universe and wind and fire.
Dante' and Milton tried to tell us about heaven and hell, Enoch gives a first hand account from dreams he had where the Archangel Micheal leads him through heaven. I'm not going to say much that involves interpretation of the Book of Enoch. I would say, compared to the modern printing of the Bible (New Testament),and , modernized versions of the Old Testament I can see why this book has been left out.
Where the stories of the Old Testament are almost endearing and sometimes frightening and the stories in the New Testament, The Gospels, Pol's letter campaign to the civilized world (as it existed at the time) need some interpretation as to what's fable, what is metaphor and what is an accurate historical account, compared to the Book of Enoch, they come across as direct, straight foreward and clear. The book of Enoch needs interpretation and it would take years of religious and theologic study to understand what it really means and how it translates to our lives on religious terms. Even after years of work, it would still yeild a debateable conclusion at best.
Enoch, talks of Angels and monsters, other dimensions where the forces of Light make the Universe work and a cataclysmic end to all unrighteous life on earth. He speaks in metphors about the rise of man from little more than anibal to civilized human beings.
In the book of Enoch lay the straws that Racists grasp at and stories that make witches real. This is the book where Satan is Identified and demons and devils take mortal human wives to mate who give birth to wolves and Leviathan.
But Enoch also condems those who turn to violence who would do violence to others for not being like themsleves.
If you are a religious person (Christian), you should read this book. It is about God, Angels, Heaven, Damnation and things you should be thinking about.
If you are a Wican, this may help explain the paranoia and fear about where your faith comes from and what you worship.
If you are a Literary Scholar, you should read this book. This is what Dante' and Milton are reflecting in their works about heaven and hell and this is reflected in so many works right down to Tolkien and the 9 Damned Men who took rings from Sauron (which matches the 9 Angels who took human wives).
If you read Classic Horror, or Modern Urban Fantasy, you should read this. This is where you find out why Silver kills lycanthropes and wounds vampires. This is where we hear about Leviathan and her Brother/Husband Behemoth.
If you write fiction, be it horror, Modern Fantasy, Modern Apocolyptic Distopian, Science Fiction, Monster stories, or Archeological Sci-Fi meets Science...fiction stories then this is the hot bed of your greatest villains and doomsday scenarios.
If your an athiest who reads non-fiction only...meh... you can let this one go it won't make a big difference in your life.
Here's a link to the History Channel's Documentary "Banned from the Bible." Here they discuss the Book of Enoch, as well as the Gospels according to Thomas and other religious writing in the Judeo-Christian world that did not make the cut to get into the bible.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=W...
May 18, 2022
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 remainder of the book describes Enoch's revelations and his visits to heaven in the form of travels, visions, and dreams.
It’s a fascinating book with all kinds of interesting insights and some of the things that we think might be in the Bible are actually in the Book of Enoch, things about the names of certain angels and whatnot.
The remainder of the book describes Enoch's revelations and his visits to heaven in the form of travels, visions, and dreams.
It’s a fascinating book with all kinds of interesting insights and some of the things that we think might be in the Bible are actually in the Book of Enoch, things about the names of certain angels and whatnot.
April 7, 2024
As a “uitae” student of erudition and scholarly matter, the book of Enoch presents an uncommon view and a most surreptitious focus into divinity. Such is not popular, common or preached in many houses of religion. Numbers and revelations can be deduced for those who have risen from slumber. Enoch lived for 365 years and walked with God. How many days in a year?
"But with the righteous, He will make peace, and will protect the elect, And mercy shall be upon them. "And they shall all belong to God, And they shall all be prospered, And they shall all be blessed. "And He will help them all, And light shall appear unto them, And He will make peace with them" (1 Enoch i. 8).
---Enoch
Given COVID19 and the actions and strife that our planet has underwent, The Book of Enoch has some parallels, “and Sheol also shall give back that which it has received/Hell shall give back that which it owes.” And it causes me to ponder the sheep that grew horns and those who have no peace….and a sheep became ram in its stead. Does it quake?
Small sheep become mighty (like faithful souls) and then there are wild beasts/birds preying upon others whom Enoch calls Gentiles. Wisdom from “Let not your spirit be troubled on account of the times; For the Holy and Great One has appointed days for all things---walk in the path of peace, and ye shall live and prosper. Nothing/no one can hide (from the inevitable).
"But with the righteous, He will make peace, and will protect the elect, And mercy shall be upon them. "And they shall all belong to God, And they shall all be prospered, And they shall all be blessed. "And He will help them all, And light shall appear unto them, And He will make peace with them" (1 Enoch i. 8).
---Enoch
Given COVID19 and the actions and strife that our planet has underwent, The Book of Enoch has some parallels, “and Sheol also shall give back that which it has received/Hell shall give back that which it owes.” And it causes me to ponder the sheep that grew horns and those who have no peace….and a sheep became ram in its stead. Does it quake?
Small sheep become mighty (like faithful souls) and then there are wild beasts/birds preying upon others whom Enoch calls Gentiles. Wisdom from “Let not your spirit be troubled on account of the times; For the Holy and Great One has appointed days for all things---walk in the path of peace, and ye shall live and prosper. Nothing/no one can hide (from the inevitable).
September 11, 2021
Popsugar Challenge 2021 - DNF book from your TBR list
If you're going to read a religious text, may as well make it a short one! At around 120 pages I was interested in reading this because I'm told was removed from the Bible and that the Jews weren't happy with this one either and totally rejected it? Something like this anyway and that's why it was on my radar to read. However without knowing the context I did get much from reading this, all it really underlined for me is that this religious texts wasn't great for a woman's spirit and empowerment.
I got more from googling this book than what I got from the actual reading experience to be honest. All I can tell you is there's a lot of gates and cows featured here.
What i did enjoy about this book though was the birth of Noah, we all love Noah, the guy who saved the animals two by two. I'd never given much thought to his family line and now I know it.
My understanding of religion is pretty minimal so not the best book for me to read but am glad I finally got through it after several attempts.
If you're going to read a religious text, may as well make it a short one! At around 120 pages I was interested in reading this because I'm told was removed from the Bible and that the Jews weren't happy with this one either and totally rejected it? Something like this anyway and that's why it was on my radar to read. However without knowing the context I did get much from reading this, all it really underlined for me is that this religious texts wasn't great for a woman's spirit and empowerment.
I got more from googling this book than what I got from the actual reading experience to be honest. All I can tell you is there's a lot of gates and cows featured here.
What i did enjoy about this book though was the birth of Noah, we all love Noah, the guy who saved the animals two by two. I'd never given much thought to his family line and now I know it.
My understanding of religion is pretty minimal so not the best book for me to read but am glad I finally got through it after several attempts.
August 5, 2018
'The Book of Enoch' is the little pre-Christian book (best guesses of scholars place its creation around 100 BC, give or take a century) which ended up being a Blockbuster world-changer. It has had a HUGE influence on many future literary and genre authors, and the Bible's New Testament, and Hollywood blockbuster movies.
Among current modern novels that are obviously and directly under the influence of religious concepts from ‘Book of Enoch’:
Every Dead Thing
The Eye of the World
The Name of the Wind
Paradise Lost
Fallen
Unearthly
and at minimum, half of these movies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
There is a long dull section on astrology in ‘Book of Enoch’, but the influence on:
The Luminaries
is clear!
‘The Book of Enoch’ is of a type of religious literature which is called by theological scholars “apocalyptic literature”. Quoted from this edition’s Introduction:
"THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE As the Book of Enoch is, in some respects, the most notable extant apocalyptic work outside the canonical Scriptures, it will not be inappropriate to offer a few remarks here on the Apocalyptic Literature generally. In writing about the books which belong to this literature, Prof. Burkitt says very pointedly that "they are the most characteristic survival of what I will venture to call, with all its narrowness and its incoherence, the heroic age of Jewish history, the age when the nation attempted to realize in action the part of the peculiar people of God. It ended in catastrophe, but the nation left two successors, the Christian Church and the Rabbinical Schools, each of which carried on some of the old national aims. And of the two it was the Christian Church that was most faithful to the ideas enshrined in the Apocalypses, and it did consider itself, not without some reason, the fulfilment of those ideas. What is wanted, therefore, in studying the Apocalypses is, above all, sympathy with the ideas that underlie them, and especially with the belief in the New Age."
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch . Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
Quoted from this edition’s introduction, who wrote and what ‘The Book of Enoch’ is about:
“AUTHORSHIP As the various parts of the book 4 clearly belong to different dates, diversity of authorship is what one is naturally led to expect; and of this there can, indeed, be no shadow of doubt. The author of the earliest portions was a Jew who lived, as Burkitt has shown, in northern Palestine, in the land of Dan, south-west of the Hermon range, near the headwaters of the Jordan. This is important, as it tends to show that the book, or books, is really Palestinian, and one which, therefore, circulated among Jews in Palestine. "If, moreover, the author came from the north, that helps to explain the influence the book had upon the Religion that was cradled in Galilee." 5 Of the authors of the other three books of which "Enoch" is made up (viz. "The Dream-Visions," "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries," and "The Similitudes") we know nothing save what can be gathered from their writings as to their religious standpoint.”
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch . Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
As usual with Christian bible books and other, more infamous, Christian books which were ultimately decided as not doctrinaire enough to be part of the official ‘canon’ (please note that the ‘official Bible canon’ depends on what year and what Bible and what translation and what community to which a Christian belongs), ‘Book of Enoch’ is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy....passed down through millennia.
"LANGUAGE The Book of Enoch exists only in the Ethiopic Version; this was translated from the Greek Version, of which only a few portions are extant. 15 The Latin Version, which was also made from the Greek, is not extant, with the exception of i. 9, and cvi. 1-18; the fragment containing these two passages was discovered by the Rev. Al. R. James, of King's College, Cambridge, in the British Museum. The book was originally written either in Hebrew or Aramaic; Charles thinks that chapters vi.-xxxvi., lxxxiii.-xc. were Aramaic, the rest Hebrew. It is, however, very difficult to say for certain which of these two languages was really the original, because, as Burkitt says, "most of the most convincing proofs that the Greek text of Enoch is a translation from a Semitic language fit equally well with a Hebrew or an Aramaic original"; his opinion is that Aramaic was the original language, "but that a few passages do seem to suggest a Hebrew origin, yet not decisively." 16
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch . Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
"THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BOOK FOR THE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN ORIGINS This is a subject which cannot be thoroughly appreciated without studying the book in detail, especially from its doctrinal standpoint, and seeing in how many aspects it represents the doctrine and the popular conceptions of the Jews during the two last pre-Christian centuries. To do this here would involve a far too extended investigation; it must suffice to indicate a few of the many points which should be studied; from these it will be seen how important the book is for the study of Christian origins. Charles says that "the influence of 1 Enoch on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other apocryphal and pseudepigraphical books put together"; and he gives a formidable list of passages in the New Testament which "either in phraseology or idea directly depend on, or are illustrative of, passages in 1 Enoch,"
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch . Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
Gentle reader, you are by now probably asking, “so, what the hell is this influence which has infiltrated all of Western World society and entertainment?” Check out the below quote from ‘The Book of Enoch’:
"CHAPTER VI. 1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.'"
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch (p. 4). Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
This is the Big Idea which has fueled much of Christian and the Western World’s imagination, angst, horrors of hellfire, theories of angelic warfare and Hollywood movies - angels being thrown out of heaven for raping human women.
How did the Angel rebellion come about? Quoted from ‘The Book of Enoch’ below:
"3. 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.' 4. 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.' 5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈ in the days ⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl. 8. These are their chiefs of tens."
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch (pp. 4-5). Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
So, in the verses which follow verse 3. above describe how God directs his remaining angels to “bind” and capture these rogue angels. Names are named, and many, gentle reader, are known to us through the magic and literary appropriation (stealing) of many movie scripts.
I have to admit the fun portions of ‘The Book of Enoch’ are only a couple of pages long. The rest of this book are the instructional cadences, poetry and format of worship with which we readers of biblical texts are very familiar. The importance of these verses, though, come from that they precede the creation of the books of the Christian Bible’s ‘New Testament.’
Plus, Leviathan and Behemoth are introduced.
Ever wonder how the books of the bible were put together to be ‘The Bible?’ It wasn’t under a god’s directions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_C...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_...
and so on.
There was a lot of bloodshed between meetings as well - assassinations, entire villages and towns burned down because their local church was considered heretical by the neighboring Christian village or town - which was why it was necessary for millions of meetings between the various early Middle-eastern/Mediterranean Christian sects attempting to agree on what Christian beliefs would finally be.
Lest you think I am leaving out the argument between Catholics which caused the Protestant schism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest...
But of course, this wasn’t the end of it. Bibles still still are being created and written and reorganized by various Christian sects and major denominations. One such well-known rewrite:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ja...
which was good old King James trying to put an end to the squabbling by coming out with a bible which was supposed to end the constant arguing and killing and warfare.
However:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
I believe I read somewhere there at least 80 new versions of the Bible created in the last 100 years (up to and including 2016), but I suspect my Wikipedia links above have been enough information to digest.
BTW, i use Wikipedia mostly because of the likelihood these links will still exist in a couple of years, plus I worry about copyrights, but, gentle reader, you certainly can google or bing your own, possibly more accurate secular and scholarly links!
; )
Among current modern novels that are obviously and directly under the influence of religious concepts from ‘Book of Enoch’:
Every Dead Thing
The Eye of the World
The Name of the Wind
Paradise Lost
Fallen
Unearthly
and at minimum, half of these movies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
There is a long dull section on astrology in ‘Book of Enoch’, but the influence on:
The Luminaries
is clear!
‘The Book of Enoch’ is of a type of religious literature which is called by theological scholars “apocalyptic literature”. Quoted from this edition’s Introduction:
"THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE As the Book of Enoch is, in some respects, the most notable extant apocalyptic work outside the canonical Scriptures, it will not be inappropriate to offer a few remarks here on the Apocalyptic Literature generally. In writing about the books which belong to this literature, Prof. Burkitt says very pointedly that "they are the most characteristic survival of what I will venture to call, with all its narrowness and its incoherence, the heroic age of Jewish history, the age when the nation attempted to realize in action the part of the peculiar people of God. It ended in catastrophe, but the nation left two successors, the Christian Church and the Rabbinical Schools, each of which carried on some of the old national aims. And of the two it was the Christian Church that was most faithful to the ideas enshrined in the Apocalypses, and it did consider itself, not without some reason, the fulfilment of those ideas. What is wanted, therefore, in studying the Apocalypses is, above all, sympathy with the ideas that underlie them, and especially with the belief in the New Age."
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch . Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
Quoted from this edition’s introduction, who wrote and what ‘The Book of Enoch’ is about:
“AUTHORSHIP As the various parts of the book 4 clearly belong to different dates, diversity of authorship is what one is naturally led to expect; and of this there can, indeed, be no shadow of doubt. The author of the earliest portions was a Jew who lived, as Burkitt has shown, in northern Palestine, in the land of Dan, south-west of the Hermon range, near the headwaters of the Jordan. This is important, as it tends to show that the book, or books, is really Palestinian, and one which, therefore, circulated among Jews in Palestine. "If, moreover, the author came from the north, that helps to explain the influence the book had upon the Religion that was cradled in Galilee." 5 Of the authors of the other three books of which "Enoch" is made up (viz. "The Dream-Visions," "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries," and "The Similitudes") we know nothing save what can be gathered from their writings as to their religious standpoint.”
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch . Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
As usual with Christian bible books and other, more infamous, Christian books which were ultimately decided as not doctrinaire enough to be part of the official ‘canon’ (please note that the ‘official Bible canon’ depends on what year and what Bible and what translation and what community to which a Christian belongs), ‘Book of Enoch’ is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy....passed down through millennia.
"LANGUAGE The Book of Enoch exists only in the Ethiopic Version; this was translated from the Greek Version, of which only a few portions are extant. 15 The Latin Version, which was also made from the Greek, is not extant, with the exception of i. 9, and cvi. 1-18; the fragment containing these two passages was discovered by the Rev. Al. R. James, of King's College, Cambridge, in the British Museum. The book was originally written either in Hebrew or Aramaic; Charles thinks that chapters vi.-xxxvi., lxxxiii.-xc. were Aramaic, the rest Hebrew. It is, however, very difficult to say for certain which of these two languages was really the original, because, as Burkitt says, "most of the most convincing proofs that the Greek text of Enoch is a translation from a Semitic language fit equally well with a Hebrew or an Aramaic original"; his opinion is that Aramaic was the original language, "but that a few passages do seem to suggest a Hebrew origin, yet not decisively." 16
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch . Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
"THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BOOK FOR THE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN ORIGINS This is a subject which cannot be thoroughly appreciated without studying the book in detail, especially from its doctrinal standpoint, and seeing in how many aspects it represents the doctrine and the popular conceptions of the Jews during the two last pre-Christian centuries. To do this here would involve a far too extended investigation; it must suffice to indicate a few of the many points which should be studied; from these it will be seen how important the book is for the study of Christian origins. Charles says that "the influence of 1 Enoch on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other apocryphal and pseudepigraphical books put together"; and he gives a formidable list of passages in the New Testament which "either in phraseology or idea directly depend on, or are illustrative of, passages in 1 Enoch,"
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch . Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
Gentle reader, you are by now probably asking, “so, what the hell is this influence which has infiltrated all of Western World society and entertainment?” Check out the below quote from ‘The Book of Enoch’:
"CHAPTER VI. 1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.'"
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch (p. 4). Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
This is the Big Idea which has fueled much of Christian and the Western World’s imagination, angst, horrors of hellfire, theories of angelic warfare and Hollywood movies - angels being thrown out of heaven for raping human women.
How did the Angel rebellion come about? Quoted from ‘The Book of Enoch’ below:
"3. 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.' 4. 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.' 5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈ in the days ⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl. 8. These are their chiefs of tens."
Charles, R.H. (2013-07-06). Book Of Enoch (pp. 4-5). Global Grey. Kindle Edition.
So, in the verses which follow verse 3. above describe how God directs his remaining angels to “bind” and capture these rogue angels. Names are named, and many, gentle reader, are known to us through the magic and literary appropriation (stealing) of many movie scripts.
I have to admit the fun portions of ‘The Book of Enoch’ are only a couple of pages long. The rest of this book are the instructional cadences, poetry and format of worship with which we readers of biblical texts are very familiar. The importance of these verses, though, come from that they precede the creation of the books of the Christian Bible’s ‘New Testament.’
Plus, Leviathan and Behemoth are introduced.
Ever wonder how the books of the bible were put together to be ‘The Bible?’ It wasn’t under a god’s directions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_C...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_...
and so on.
There was a lot of bloodshed between meetings as well - assassinations, entire villages and towns burned down because their local church was considered heretical by the neighboring Christian village or town - which was why it was necessary for millions of meetings between the various early Middle-eastern/Mediterranean Christian sects attempting to agree on what Christian beliefs would finally be.
Lest you think I am leaving out the argument between Catholics which caused the Protestant schism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest...
But of course, this wasn’t the end of it. Bibles still still are being created and written and reorganized by various Christian sects and major denominations. One such well-known rewrite:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ja...
which was good old King James trying to put an end to the squabbling by coming out with a bible which was supposed to end the constant arguing and killing and warfare.
However:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
I believe I read somewhere there at least 80 new versions of the Bible created in the last 100 years (up to and including 2016), but I suspect my Wikipedia links above have been enough information to digest.
BTW, i use Wikipedia mostly because of the likelihood these links will still exist in a couple of years, plus I worry about copyrights, but, gentle reader, you certainly can google or bing your own, possibly more accurate secular and scholarly links!
; )
August 9, 2021
Cultura general pura. Muy interesante y parabólico.
El Libro de Enoc es un libro se dice intertestamentario que forma parte del canon de la Biblia de los patriarcados de Etiopía y Eritrea de la Iglesia Copta. No es reconocido como canónico por el resto de las Iglesias cristianas, a pesar de haber sido encontrado en algunos de los códices de la Septuaginta (Códice Vaticano y Papiros Chester Beatty). Los Beta Israel (judíos etíopes) lo incluyen en la Tanaj, a diferencia de los demás judíos actuales, que lo excluyen. Es un texto religioso apocalíptico hebreo antiguo, atribuido por la tradición a Enoc, el bisabuelo de Noé.
El libro de Enoc contiene material único sobre los orígenes de los demonios y gigantes (nefilim), y sobre por qué algunos ángeles cayeron del cielo, así como una explicación de por qué el diluvio como es narrado en el Génesis había sido moralmente necesario, y una exposición profética del reinado de mil años del Mesías.
Merece la pena!
El Libro de Enoc es un libro se dice intertestamentario que forma parte del canon de la Biblia de los patriarcados de Etiopía y Eritrea de la Iglesia Copta. No es reconocido como canónico por el resto de las Iglesias cristianas, a pesar de haber sido encontrado en algunos de los códices de la Septuaginta (Códice Vaticano y Papiros Chester Beatty). Los Beta Israel (judíos etíopes) lo incluyen en la Tanaj, a diferencia de los demás judíos actuales, que lo excluyen. Es un texto religioso apocalíptico hebreo antiguo, atribuido por la tradición a Enoc, el bisabuelo de Noé.
El libro de Enoc contiene material único sobre los orígenes de los demonios y gigantes (nefilim), y sobre por qué algunos ángeles cayeron del cielo, así como una explicación de por qué el diluvio como es narrado en el Génesis había sido moralmente necesario, y una exposición profética del reinado de mil años del Mesías.
Merece la pena!
June 9, 2016
سوداپیگرافا
عهد عتیق از کتاب های متعددی تشکیل شده است که یهودیان و مسیحیان، کاتولیک ها و پروتستان ها، در معتبر بودن آن ها اختلاف دارند: گروهی یک کتاب را معتبر می دانند، در حالی که گروه دیگر آن را مشکوک یا جعلی می شمارند. و کتاب هایی نیز هست که همگی بر جعلی بودنشان اتفاق نظر دارند. به این دسته ی اخیر، «سوداپیگرفا» گفته می شود، که به زبان یونانی، معنی «مجهول العنوان» می دهد. کتاب خنوخ از این دسته کتب است، در نتیجه در عهد عتیقی که ترجمه و منتشر می شود، وجود ندارد؛ بلکه جداگانه ترجمه و منتشر شده است.
خنوخ
خنوخ، که در سنّت اسلامی ادریس نامیده می شود، از نوادگان آدم و جدّ اعلای نوح بود. باور این است که او به آسمان عروج کرد. این کتاب، شرح عروج او به طبقات مختلف آسمان و مشاهده ی فرشتگان و ارواح بهشتیان و دوزخیان، رسیدن به عرش الهی و گفتگو با خداوند، سپس بازگشت به زمین برای خبر دادن ماجرای عروجش به فرزندانش، و سپس عروج نهایی و بی بازگشتش به آسمان است.
عهد عتیق از کتاب های متعددی تشکیل شده است که یهودیان و مسیحیان، کاتولیک ها و پروتستان ها، در معتبر بودن آن ها اختلاف دارند: گروهی یک کتاب را معتبر می دانند، در حالی که گروه دیگر آن را مشکوک یا جعلی می شمارند. و کتاب هایی نیز هست که همگی بر جعلی بودنشان اتفاق نظر دارند. به این دسته ی اخیر، «سوداپیگرفا» گفته می شود، که به زبان یونانی، معنی «مجهول العنوان» می دهد. کتاب خنوخ از این دسته کتب است، در نتیجه در عهد عتیقی که ترجمه و منتشر می شود، وجود ندارد؛ بلکه جداگانه ترجمه و منتشر شده است.
خنوخ
خنوخ، که در سنّت اسلامی ادریس نامیده می شود، از نوادگان آدم و جدّ اعلای نوح بود. باور این است که او به آسمان عروج کرد. این کتاب، شرح عروج او به طبقات مختلف آسمان و مشاهده ی فرشتگان و ارواح بهشتیان و دوزخیان، رسیدن به عرش الهی و گفتگو با خداوند، سپس بازگشت به زمین برای خبر دادن ماجرای عروجش به فرزندانش، و سپس عروج نهایی و بی بازگشتش به آسمان است.
August 27, 2017
A wonderful book.
I'm not going to go into the whys and wherefores of my rating here because of amonst the wonderful advice from my Mum and Pop one of the main things was never get into a discussion about religion.
I read this and The Gnostic gospels and am reading Jesus: The evidence from a historical perspective and they are illuminating and are bringing and have brought me many more questions and insights into the true meaning of such writings.
Religions as we know them today for me are how men, human beings have interpreted the writings of people from long ago, which were likely to have been interpreted by even earlier authors, therefore like 'chinese whispers' words and phrases will have changed in tone, language, dialect etc so for my money can not be proof absolute.
I found with Enoch that his words were exciting to my spirit and it reads like an adventure of epic proportions. It's not staid and dull like I found some of the canonical writings in the bible but passionate and profound.
Anyway onward with my own investigations. :)
I'm not going to go into the whys and wherefores of my rating here because of amonst the wonderful advice from my Mum and Pop one of the main things was never get into a discussion about religion.
I read this and The Gnostic gospels and am reading Jesus: The evidence from a historical perspective and they are illuminating and are bringing and have brought me many more questions and insights into the true meaning of such writings.
Religions as we know them today for me are how men, human beings have interpreted the writings of people from long ago, which were likely to have been interpreted by even earlier authors, therefore like 'chinese whispers' words and phrases will have changed in tone, language, dialect etc so for my money can not be proof absolute.
I found with Enoch that his words were exciting to my spirit and it reads like an adventure of epic proportions. It's not staid and dull like I found some of the canonical writings in the bible but passionate and profound.
Anyway onward with my own investigations. :)
Shelved as 'started-and-not-finished'
March 11, 2017This makes the second book in a row that I've started and not finished, which is unusual for me; but I truly felt that continuing with this one to the end would be a waste of precious time. (As usual in these cases, I'm not writing an actual review, just noting why I didn't finish it.)
Although this text purports to have been written by the antediluvian patriarch Enoch (and in part by his grandson Noah, builder of the Ark), it was actually written in the second or first centuries B.C. by an author or authors of the Pharisee sect in Judaism, promoting their distinctive beliefs in angels and in an afterlife/resurrection, against the opposition of the Sadducees. It presents a complex angelology with numerous names of angels and fallen angels (and explicitly interprets the ambiguous text in Genesis 6:2-4 as referring to angel-human matings), as well as various descriptions of the state of the departed dead and the final judgment. There's also a LOT of material (all of it wildly inaccurate) purporting to give the inside scoop on the heavenly bodies, weather phenomena, etc. But the style of the whole is eye-glazingly boring and tedious, reading like a poor attempt to imitate the Old Testament, written by someone totally devoid of the Old Testament writers' stylistic skills and spiritual perception. (It's easy to see why the ancient Jewish community never accepted this as canonical.) It's also sufficiently disorganized and theologically incoherent to lend credibility to a case for multiple authorship.
Contrary to the Goodreads description (which probably just copies the cover blurb on one edition), I don't think reading this is "indispensable" to understanding the New Testament. It does document the fact that some inter-testamental Jews already regarded the Son of Man in Daniel 7:13-14 as a heavenly eschatological figure (which furnishes a context for Jesus' use of the term), and gives a window into the variety of Jewish thinking about the afterlife in that period. But I don't think it's necessary to do a personal reading of the book to get this, rather than getting the gist of it from secondary sources. The latter method would be a whole lot less boring and time-consuming!
Although this text purports to have been written by the antediluvian patriarch Enoch (and in part by his grandson Noah, builder of the Ark), it was actually written in the second or first centuries B.C. by an author or authors of the Pharisee sect in Judaism, promoting their distinctive beliefs in angels and in an afterlife/resurrection, against the opposition of the Sadducees. It presents a complex angelology with numerous names of angels and fallen angels (and explicitly interprets the ambiguous text in Genesis 6:2-4 as referring to angel-human matings), as well as various descriptions of the state of the departed dead and the final judgment. There's also a LOT of material (all of it wildly inaccurate) purporting to give the inside scoop on the heavenly bodies, weather phenomena, etc. But the style of the whole is eye-glazingly boring and tedious, reading like a poor attempt to imitate the Old Testament, written by someone totally devoid of the Old Testament writers' stylistic skills and spiritual perception. (It's easy to see why the ancient Jewish community never accepted this as canonical.) It's also sufficiently disorganized and theologically incoherent to lend credibility to a case for multiple authorship.
Contrary to the Goodreads description (which probably just copies the cover blurb on one edition), I don't think reading this is "indispensable" to understanding the New Testament. It does document the fact that some inter-testamental Jews already regarded the Son of Man in Daniel 7:13-14 as a heavenly eschatological figure (which furnishes a context for Jesus' use of the term), and gives a window into the variety of Jewish thinking about the afterlife in that period. But I don't think it's necessary to do a personal reading of the book to get this, rather than getting the gist of it from secondary sources. The latter method would be a whole lot less boring and time-consuming!
February 21, 2017
A long time back I read a non-canonical book called The Secrets of Enoch in a collection of extra-biblical books The Lost Books of the Bible and The Forgotten Books of Eden.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
It so happens that this is apparently another Book of Enoch. This particular non-canonical book has of late been rather the talk of the town in some Christian alternative news and esoterica (so-called conspiracy theory) channels on YouTube. I threw my hands up over mainstream media and television news six years ago to migrate over to searching for information in unorthodox circles online. With the more Christian set who are trying to discern what's happening in the world on a spiritual level the ancient Book of Enoch has become a trendy read.
Unlike many if not most of the books contained in the aforementioned The Lost Books of the Bible which have been expunged out of church circles whether Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox , the Book of Enoch is actually included in the Bible used by the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches. It is a book which deals with pre-human history when there was a rebellion in heaven and a third of the angels were cast out. (Note: I highly recommend John Milton's epic poems Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained on this topic.) Here in the Book of Enoch light is beamed on portions of the Old Testament which talks very briefly about the sons of God (the fallen angels) who unlawfully married human women. A number of question marks that are raised in the Bible are clarified here. The Book of Enoch is a kind of spiritual history, explanation of nature and the cosmos, and a prophetic book.
Wikipedia's post on the Book of Enoch says that it 'is an ancient Jewish religious work, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, although modern scholars estimate the older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) to date from about 300 BC, and the latest part (Book of Parables) probably to the first century BC.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of...
I would have given the Book of Enoch five stars, however, the chapters about the changing of the seasons, movement of the earth, sun, etc. were very dry and repetitious reading. Otherwise, I recommend it for those who are interested in the non-canonical books of Christianity, Christian and mystical esoterica, Bible prophesy, theology, and those who like a good, curious obscure read.
The Book of Enoch can be read free online at the following link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
It so happens that this is apparently another Book of Enoch. This particular non-canonical book has of late been rather the talk of the town in some Christian alternative news and esoterica (so-called conspiracy theory) channels on YouTube. I threw my hands up over mainstream media and television news six years ago to migrate over to searching for information in unorthodox circles online. With the more Christian set who are trying to discern what's happening in the world on a spiritual level the ancient Book of Enoch has become a trendy read.
Unlike many if not most of the books contained in the aforementioned The Lost Books of the Bible which have been expunged out of church circles whether Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox , the Book of Enoch is actually included in the Bible used by the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches. It is a book which deals with pre-human history when there was a rebellion in heaven and a third of the angels were cast out. (Note: I highly recommend John Milton's epic poems Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained on this topic.) Here in the Book of Enoch light is beamed on portions of the Old Testament which talks very briefly about the sons of God (the fallen angels) who unlawfully married human women. A number of question marks that are raised in the Bible are clarified here. The Book of Enoch is a kind of spiritual history, explanation of nature and the cosmos, and a prophetic book.
Wikipedia's post on the Book of Enoch says that it 'is an ancient Jewish religious work, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, although modern scholars estimate the older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) to date from about 300 BC, and the latest part (Book of Parables) probably to the first century BC.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of...
I would have given the Book of Enoch five stars, however, the chapters about the changing of the seasons, movement of the earth, sun, etc. were very dry and repetitious reading. Otherwise, I recommend it for those who are interested in the non-canonical books of Christianity, Christian and mystical esoterica, Bible prophesy, theology, and those who like a good, curious obscure read.
The Book of Enoch can be read free online at the following link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/
March 6, 2014
Want to know some origins of Christianity then it is best to acquaint with some of the books that have been discarded.
2* The Watchers: http://youtu.be/otetsHSsfpA
See also:
Nag Hammadi
The Pale Abyssinian
Uriel's Machine
Better is this, BBC The Lost Gospels: http://youtu.be/7_9MfFewdTo
See also Oxyrhynchus Papyri
Christian catacombes under Rome
Ebionites
REJECTED: The Gospel of Peter
Epiphanius of Salamis
Marcion of Sinope
2* The Watchers: http://youtu.be/otetsHSsfpA
See also:
Nag Hammadi
The Pale Abyssinian
Uriel's Machine
Better is this, BBC The Lost Gospels: http://youtu.be/7_9MfFewdTo
See also Oxyrhynchus Papyri
Christian catacombes under RomeEbionites
REJECTED: The Gospel of Peter
Epiphanius of Salamis
Marcion of Sinope
December 30, 2008
May be the oldest piece of literature ever written. May have even been on the Ark with Noah. Jesus taught from it on many occasions (more than from any other book). His brother, Jude, quotes it verbatim in his book.
Enoch almost made it into the Bible but missed this by just a few votes at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. The primary objection of those who voted against it is that Enoch explains in no uncertain terms that angels rebelled against God and had sexual intercourse with human women, creating a race of giants, in Noah's time. (This is the primary reason given by God in Genesis 6 for destroying the earth with the Flood.) Crazy stuff, and with implications for our own time and our near future...
Enoch almost made it into the Bible but missed this by just a few votes at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. The primary objection of those who voted against it is that Enoch explains in no uncertain terms that angels rebelled against God and had sexual intercourse with human women, creating a race of giants, in Noah's time. (This is the primary reason given by God in Genesis 6 for destroying the earth with the Flood.) Crazy stuff, and with implications for our own time and our near future...
November 15, 2015
An amazing tale! It should have stayed part of the bible. Sometimes its nice to dig deep into the mind of "Evil" and see his/her reasoning.
December 28, 2009
The reason I wanted to read the Book of Enoch was because I've heard preachers that I admire mention it. I didn't know much about it when I started reading it, except that it gave insight into the days prior to Noah's flood. Of course, whether or not this book is inspired by God (as I believe the Bible to be) is up for debate. All the same though, I figured it was worth checking out. I do not see anything in the book of Enoch that contradicts the Bible, and in many ways, it helps explain how other cultures acquired their myths regarding "gods" who slept with women and had offspring. Then there is the issue of giants, which also pop up in myths.
However, that is not the bulk of this book's contents. There were parts in it about the sun and moon and how they rise and descend into various "doors" depending on the time of year. Other parts pertained to God the Father and God the Son (aka Son of Man). The angels were mentioned and some of their names and roles were explained. Then there was the vision of where the lost and the fallen angels will spend eternity. Noah is credited for writing a portion of this book as well, and the flood is warned ahead of time and even covered in a vision Enoch has. Then Enoch gives an overall view of human history post-flood to when the Son of Man returns (His second coming) and how the wicked are punished forever while the righteous live on in joy forever. I did not realize this book contained all of this extra stuff as well, which is why I mention it here in this review.
Overall, I found it useful for background knowledge. I plan to do more research in this area though before I make any definite conclusions. Do I think this is worth reading? Yes because regardless of how "accurate" it may be, I did find myself praising God in light of what I read concerning His care for His own. Also, I think it is very plausible that things happened the way Enoch said they did. However, I would not put this above or in place of the Bible. I think it's important to have read the Bible first to have the foundation in place. As for this translation, I liked it, especially when Joseph B. Lumpkin tied in Biblical verses with pertinent passages.
However, that is not the bulk of this book's contents. There were parts in it about the sun and moon and how they rise and descend into various "doors" depending on the time of year. Other parts pertained to God the Father and God the Son (aka Son of Man). The angels were mentioned and some of their names and roles were explained. Then there was the vision of where the lost and the fallen angels will spend eternity. Noah is credited for writing a portion of this book as well, and the flood is warned ahead of time and even covered in a vision Enoch has. Then Enoch gives an overall view of human history post-flood to when the Son of Man returns (His second coming) and how the wicked are punished forever while the righteous live on in joy forever. I did not realize this book contained all of this extra stuff as well, which is why I mention it here in this review.
Overall, I found it useful for background knowledge. I plan to do more research in this area though before I make any definite conclusions. Do I think this is worth reading? Yes because regardless of how "accurate" it may be, I did find myself praising God in light of what I read concerning His care for His own. Also, I think it is very plausible that things happened the way Enoch said they did. However, I would not put this above or in place of the Bible. I think it's important to have read the Bible first to have the foundation in place. As for this translation, I liked it, especially when Joseph B. Lumpkin tied in Biblical verses with pertinent passages.
February 2, 2012
I read this book because Erich von Däniken referenced it in the History Channel's Ancient Aliens series. Also, I was interested in it because of my interest in John Dee and Emanuel Swedenborg, both authors profess an interaction with beings that may loosely be termed "Enochian Angels", which simply meanings that these beings are similar to those mentioned in this book.
This book melds the archetypal stories of Prometheus and the Fall of Man from Genesis. From this point of view, its very interesting book. Its even more interesting because the narrative reveals the drama of the angelic or god beings (aliens in von Daniken's eyes). It reveals their motivation and their world.
Whether or not this book actually talks about ancient alien visitation, doesn't seem to matter to me. Its opened my eyes to a different aspect of myths.
This book melds the archetypal stories of Prometheus and the Fall of Man from Genesis. From this point of view, its very interesting book. Its even more interesting because the narrative reveals the drama of the angelic or god beings (aliens in von Daniken's eyes). It reveals their motivation and their world.
Whether or not this book actually talks about ancient alien visitation, doesn't seem to matter to me. Its opened my eyes to a different aspect of myths.
November 15, 2016
As one of the other reviewers indicated, this is a late 19th century translation of what is now known as the book of 1 Enoch. The translation is serviceable, with a good introduction and plenty of footnotes explaining the textual choices made (though I suspect if you care about the latter you will be reading it in the original).
I must confess that when I read books like this one it is out of a sort of literary tourism. It can't provide the raw entertainment of a good novel, it lacks authority to be treated with theological depth leaving its value to be mainly that of a theological and historical curiosity.
Personally, I most enjoyed the section now known as The Book of the Watchers which expounds (for good or ill) upon the basic accounts of the pre-flood world offered in the book of Genesis. The latter part of the book, especially the visions, were hard to follow. These sections are, no doubt, the most interesting to a true scholar as they would probably offer more insight into the beliefs of theologically conservative Jews of the period.
I must confess that when I read books like this one it is out of a sort of literary tourism. It can't provide the raw entertainment of a good novel, it lacks authority to be treated with theological depth leaving its value to be mainly that of a theological and historical curiosity.
Personally, I most enjoyed the section now known as The Book of the Watchers which expounds (for good or ill) upon the basic accounts of the pre-flood world offered in the book of Genesis. The latter part of the book, especially the visions, were hard to follow. These sections are, no doubt, the most interesting to a true scholar as they would probably offer more insight into the beliefs of theologically conservative Jews of the period.
June 24, 2020
The Book of Enoch (i.e. 1st Enoch), although quoted in the Letter of Jude (verses 14-15 which quote Enoch 1:9) in the New Testament, was never canonized as part of the Bible and is preserved in its entirety only in the ancient Ethiopian language Ge'ez. Extensive fragments of the Greek version still exist, quoted by other authors or otherwise discovered in papyrus fragments discovered in Egypt in the late 19th century. Aramaic fragments were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The English version under review here is the R.H. Charles translation first published in 1917. However, I have been reading it in tandem with the E. Isaac translation found in Volume 1 of "The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha", edited by James H. Charlesworth, published in 1983. The Isaac translation is based on an Ethopian manuscript not available to Charles 100 years ago. And of couse the Aramaic fragments hadn't yet been discovered in Charles' time.
Enoch is important in giving a window into the thought world of certain factions of Jews in the last 2 centuries before the Common Era ("B.C."). It was esteemed by the Qumran people and also by many early Christians. Reading it, one realizes how much the New Testament echoes it, especially the apocalyptic passages. I would urge anyone interested more than casually in Christian origins to read it. Understanding the thought world of the varieties of Judaism in existence around the time of Christ gives us a better understanding of why the early Christians thought the way they did. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church did the whole Christian world a service in preserving 1 Enoch (as well as some other books).
The English version under review here is the R.H. Charles translation first published in 1917. However, I have been reading it in tandem with the E. Isaac translation found in Volume 1 of "The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha", edited by James H. Charlesworth, published in 1983. The Isaac translation is based on an Ethopian manuscript not available to Charles 100 years ago. And of couse the Aramaic fragments hadn't yet been discovered in Charles' time.
Enoch is important in giving a window into the thought world of certain factions of Jews in the last 2 centuries before the Common Era ("B.C."). It was esteemed by the Qumran people and also by many early Christians. Reading it, one realizes how much the New Testament echoes it, especially the apocalyptic passages. I would urge anyone interested more than casually in Christian origins to read it. Understanding the thought world of the varieties of Judaism in existence around the time of Christ gives us a better understanding of why the early Christians thought the way they did. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church did the whole Christian world a service in preserving 1 Enoch (as well as some other books).
November 1, 2020
Well, that was interesting, edifying not so much. Let’s just start off by saying how thoroughly convinced I am that it should not be thought of as Holy Scripture. I’m actually leaning toward considering it as the work of a false prophet than the work of any godly man. It certainly wasn’t written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
How can I best describe it? Maybe as an ancient version of Heaven is for Real written by an ancient charismatic demonologist. Sound Biblical? No, not to me either. Parts of it would have been interesting as a look at how the ancients looked at different aspects of science if they hadn’t been claiming to have been shown these ‘wonders’ by the Lord and His angels. Then again, maybe the general populace didn’t think that was how the world worked than we do today. So maybe even that part was no more than the dreams of a false prophet. If this sounds confused, that’s because book is confused itself, and I didn’t care to spend a lot of time sorting it out. Oh, and why do they refer to God as the Lord of Spirits?
While I did choose to read it all the way through, I don’t think that it is necessary to be familiar with it to understand God’s Word. God’s Word is eternal, holy, perfect. It is God’s way of opening His immortal truth to us mortals. What possible use could there be in studying man’s uninspired imaginings about God in an attempt to understand God? I doubt I will ever read this again and will certainly stress to anyone choosing to read start with a firm understanding that it is no more authoritative than the Book of Mormon or the Koran.
How can I best describe it? Maybe as an ancient version of Heaven is for Real written by an ancient charismatic demonologist. Sound Biblical? No, not to me either. Parts of it would have been interesting as a look at how the ancients looked at different aspects of science if they hadn’t been claiming to have been shown these ‘wonders’ by the Lord and His angels. Then again, maybe the general populace didn’t think that was how the world worked than we do today. So maybe even that part was no more than the dreams of a false prophet. If this sounds confused, that’s because book is confused itself, and I didn’t care to spend a lot of time sorting it out. Oh, and why do they refer to God as the Lord of Spirits?
While I did choose to read it all the way through, I don’t think that it is necessary to be familiar with it to understand God’s Word. God’s Word is eternal, holy, perfect. It is God’s way of opening His immortal truth to us mortals. What possible use could there be in studying man’s uninspired imaginings about God in an attempt to understand God? I doubt I will ever read this again and will certainly stress to anyone choosing to read start with a firm understanding that it is no more authoritative than the Book of Mormon or the Koran.
July 21, 2016
Book of Enoch is to the beginning of Earth as the Book of Revelations is to the End of times in the Holy Bible. It's wonderful content reveals more on who the "Sons of God" were. As mentioned in the Book of Genesis just before the great flood. It allowed me to realize a perspective in the verity on questions like, who these alien visitors were and why we do not have evidence of these visits. Also exposing the facts on who really built the pyramids. And gave man the knowledge responsible for his great technological advances. Are a few of us, the "Elect" ancestrally related by a consanguineous relation of the past. You'd be surprised by how much more the suppressors know, than you. Stop using your monkey brain, and ask the creator for a genius (gene+i+us) brain. We are all ONE, a collective consciousness. If you kill a human being, you are killing part of yourself. Islamic, Jewish, Christian…we all stem from the same inception. We just went "really" wrong somewhere down the line.
November 12, 2020
I read Charles' translation of 'Enoch' while taking Ray Brown's course on apocalypticism at Union Theological Seminary in New York. The way I was taking courses then, and as previously done in college, was substantially determined by my research interests. In other words, I'd be interested in a subject and find courses which would allow me to pursue the topic. In this case the project was to read the canons of all Jewish and Christian denominations, as well as all the apocryphal and pseudepigraphical works. Charles was, of course, prominent among the translators of these pieces.
By the time I got to Brown's course I was finishing up this project and wrote for him a concordance of all number references in these texts with a paper on '14', a number he selected. The paper was lots of fun what with all the charts and graphs it included as appendices.
Now one could generate such a concordance quickly, given digitalized texts. This took months to do.
By the time I got to Brown's course I was finishing up this project and wrote for him a concordance of all number references in these texts with a paper on '14', a number he selected. The paper was lots of fun what with all the charts and graphs it included as appendices.
Now one could generate such a concordance quickly, given digitalized texts. This took months to do.
May 6, 2016
It's a bit difficult to review this book. The portions referring to the angels were really interesting but I dragged through the numbering of the days of the years and the function of the sun and the moon etc. There were parts that were beautiful and 'scripture-like' but you can find similar scripture verses written much more powerfully. This gives me reason enough to understand why the book of Enoch was disgarded. Christians should approach the book of Enoch as a piece of history and definitely not as part of THE inspired text.
April 29, 2012
Parts of the Book of Enoch, according to critical scholars were written around 300BC. The book is traditionally ascribed Enoch. To me it would be fascinating if the contents of this book really were from Enoch and copied throughout the ages or carried along by oral tradition until they were written down. Fragments of Enoch were among the dead sea scrolls and it is believed much of earlier Christendom were pretty familiar with its content. There is a possibility that Enoch is Jewish Midrash, which was (If I understand right), similar to what we today, call historical fiction. Midrash, then was a Jewish way to convey spiritual truth in story form, freely filling in gaps that the Torah left out. So it is possible that when Jude quoted Enoch, it was like quoting a character from a story, much like if I was to quote Grandalf from the Lord of the Rings. The question is, how did the readers at that time in history understand Enoch? Did they see it as Midrash or as ancient historical scripture? Many of the church fathers quoted from Enoch, nevertheless for various reasons which I won't discuss here, it was rejected from the biblical canon, also the book of Jude was almost rejected because it quoted Enoch.
The contents of the book of Enoch really interested me. Enoch goes into considerable detail about the angels that left their abode and coupled with the daughters of men, creating giants (titans). Much of the book is concerning the wickedness they brought to earth and the judgment that will come upon them, in the flood, but ultimately in the final judgment. Enoch has much to say about the final judgment, having a developed concept of angels, demons, the soul, heaven and hell and the Messiah, also called the Ancient of days and the Son of Man. Much of what Enoch shares on these things is expressed by New Testament authors. Many critical scholars have confidently claimed the Jews merely stole their concept of demons and the afterlife from Zoroastrianism, during their time of captivity in Persia. Though, I'm thoroughly convinced otherwise, I'll still note here that if it could be shown the book of Enoch had its origins before the captivity, then this would truly dispel their nonsense once and for all. Even if it was merely some historical fiction written in the 3rd century BC, then, wow... if Christianity is true, then surely this book was inspired in part by God, for it really embodies a New Testament understanding of the supernatural that is not clearly expressed in the Torah, and even of the Messiah being from everlasting to everlasting and ruling in glory fills its pages, which not clearly expressed in the Hebrew bible.
Since the book of Jude is primarily about judgment, it understandable why he chose to quote from this text. After reading Enoch, it is easy to think much of the epistle was inspired by Enoch. I wonder if it is safe to assume that those he wrote to were familiar with Enoch, and Jude is primarily writing his letter to remind them of the fate of the wicked found in its pages.
The contents of the book of Enoch really interested me. Enoch goes into considerable detail about the angels that left their abode and coupled with the daughters of men, creating giants (titans). Much of the book is concerning the wickedness they brought to earth and the judgment that will come upon them, in the flood, but ultimately in the final judgment. Enoch has much to say about the final judgment, having a developed concept of angels, demons, the soul, heaven and hell and the Messiah, also called the Ancient of days and the Son of Man. Much of what Enoch shares on these things is expressed by New Testament authors. Many critical scholars have confidently claimed the Jews merely stole their concept of demons and the afterlife from Zoroastrianism, during their time of captivity in Persia. Though, I'm thoroughly convinced otherwise, I'll still note here that if it could be shown the book of Enoch had its origins before the captivity, then this would truly dispel their nonsense once and for all. Even if it was merely some historical fiction written in the 3rd century BC, then, wow... if Christianity is true, then surely this book was inspired in part by God, for it really embodies a New Testament understanding of the supernatural that is not clearly expressed in the Torah, and even of the Messiah being from everlasting to everlasting and ruling in glory fills its pages, which not clearly expressed in the Hebrew bible.
Since the book of Jude is primarily about judgment, it understandable why he chose to quote from this text. After reading Enoch, it is easy to think much of the epistle was inspired by Enoch. I wonder if it is safe to assume that those he wrote to were familiar with Enoch, and Jude is primarily writing his letter to remind them of the fate of the wicked found in its pages.
October 13, 2019
Imagninging if the council of Laodicea (A.D. 364) was held now
Council: Right, so, the Book of Enoch you say?
Spokesperson for BoE: Yes, yes, marvelous apocalypticism, isn't it?
Council: And where did you say you found it?
Spokesperson: Egypt, thereabouts. Some in Ethiopia.
Council: Ok, great, ehm, some general questions... it's not very... conceptually coherent, is it?
Spokesperson: Well, it is a collection more or less of several smaller works. Besides, you could say the same about Isaiah.
Council: Mm, yeah, but this text tends to be quite incoherent within the same work, within the same paragraphs even. Kind of makes you question the writer/s state of mind. It's also quite repetitive.
Spokesperson: You want the message to get through.
Council: Of course, of course. It's just, it's not cohesive, within even the separate fragments. So, it would seem that the author struggled with things like names and numbers... and was possibly quite unfamiliar with the meaning of a 'parable', just more so liked the word. Wouldn't you say?
Spokesperson: Not sure I would.
Council: It's also a bit temporally confused. And poorly structured. As for the content...
Spokesperson: Breathtaking, isn't it?
Council: We were thinking more along the lines of redundant in the essential and as for the rest... the word 'unreadable' comes to mind.
Spokesperson: Different strokes and all that, it'll definitely be in the canon though, right? We all love it.
Council: Right... the thing is, it's not... compelling.
Spokesperson: I'm not sure I understand what you mean.
Council: It also declares that writing is a sin
Spokesperson: Your point being?
Council: Well, we're creating a canon of holy writ, you know what I mean?
Spokesperson: Nope, no, not sure that I do.
Council: Great, well, thanks for this meeting, we'll call you.
Spokesperson: I could wait around, if you want to make a decision now. I'm in no hurry.
Council (gestures for guards to come): We'll call you.
Spokesperson (being led away by guards): Really, it's no trouble. I'll be right outside!
Council: Burn it.
*end scene*
Long story short, The Book of Enoch is definitely interesting, and I could imagine reading it again from a research and comparison kind of perspective. But really, it's really brushing up against that border of being completely unreadable. It's just not... good. Which is a weird measurement to use for a text like this, because they have a very specific type of purpose and format which is more about message that literary quality, but as someone who reads the Bible quite a lot the structure and language of this is just... peculiar and slightly off putting. In short, I can see why it didn't make the cut. And it was a good call.
Council: Right, so, the Book of Enoch you say?
Spokesperson for BoE: Yes, yes, marvelous apocalypticism, isn't it?
Council: And where did you say you found it?
Spokesperson: Egypt, thereabouts. Some in Ethiopia.
Council: Ok, great, ehm, some general questions... it's not very... conceptually coherent, is it?
Spokesperson: Well, it is a collection more or less of several smaller works. Besides, you could say the same about Isaiah.
Council: Mm, yeah, but this text tends to be quite incoherent within the same work, within the same paragraphs even. Kind of makes you question the writer/s state of mind. It's also quite repetitive.
Spokesperson: You want the message to get through.
Council: Of course, of course. It's just, it's not cohesive, within even the separate fragments. So, it would seem that the author struggled with things like names and numbers... and was possibly quite unfamiliar with the meaning of a 'parable', just more so liked the word. Wouldn't you say?
Spokesperson: Not sure I would.
Council: It's also a bit temporally confused. And poorly structured. As for the content...
Spokesperson: Breathtaking, isn't it?
Council: We were thinking more along the lines of redundant in the essential and as for the rest... the word 'unreadable' comes to mind.
Spokesperson: Different strokes and all that, it'll definitely be in the canon though, right? We all love it.
Council: Right... the thing is, it's not... compelling.
Spokesperson: I'm not sure I understand what you mean.
Council: It also declares that writing is a sin
Spokesperson: Your point being?
Council: Well, we're creating a canon of holy writ, you know what I mean?
Spokesperson: Nope, no, not sure that I do.
Council: Great, well, thanks for this meeting, we'll call you.
Spokesperson: I could wait around, if you want to make a decision now. I'm in no hurry.
Council (gestures for guards to come): We'll call you.
Spokesperson (being led away by guards): Really, it's no trouble. I'll be right outside!
Council: Burn it.
*end scene*
Long story short, The Book of Enoch is definitely interesting, and I could imagine reading it again from a research and comparison kind of perspective. But really, it's really brushing up against that border of being completely unreadable. It's just not... good. Which is a weird measurement to use for a text like this, because they have a very specific type of purpose and format which is more about message that literary quality, but as someone who reads the Bible quite a lot the structure and language of this is just... peculiar and slightly off putting. In short, I can see why it didn't make the cut. And it was a good call.
February 26, 2010
Amazing piece of apocryphal literature! It engaged me almost immediately with it's lore about the angels. I've always been enamored with angel lore so this book, along with a few other apocryphal books are so interesting to me. They make me feel like I'm getting the chunk of the story that was perhaps edited out of Genesis (the beginning of Genesis, when creation is being discussed and, oh so briefly, the fall of the angels and what happened...how they were partly the cause of the flood. It helps me better understand these creatures we call angels, why some of them may have been so enamored with humans to want to come to earth to mate with us and eventually cause their own demise and fall with Lucifer. I highly suggest the Book of Enoch to EVERYONE...not only because it's one of the oldest pieces of apocryphal literature out there, but also because it so interesting to read. However, I must remind readers out their that thinking that this is perhaps a "companion book" to the Holy Bible...it isn't included in the canon for a reason, along with many other books like it. So while it is considered a "biblical book" it is an APOCRYPHAL book all the same and contains untruths and "fairy tales" throughout its pages, therefore do not get swept up in it thinking that what it is pronouncing as facts to actually really ring true. :)
May 17, 2021
The ancient book of Enoch, the same Enoch mentioned and quoted in the Bible. A must read, correlates with The Bible. A book that was almost included in The Bible (which is made up of books). A book about the beginning of time and about the end of times. I highly recommend you read it along with the Old Testament and the book of Apocalypse/Revelation. I also recommend you read the New Testament for the full picture.
I've read it a couple of times.
I've read it a couple of times.
August 20, 2011
The Book of Enoch is a transitional piece of apocalyptica (!) written smack between the passage from Judaism to Christianity. So you have Sheol and not Hell, no Jesus but yes Son of God and so on. Some of the texts are as weird as the heaviest of the Nag Hammadi scriptures but in essence, tell of the same story of the time briefly described in Genesis, when the Nephilim came down from heaven and took human wives and worse, taught men agriculture, metal working, writing and so on. An A-level text for all "they came from outer space" nuts :)
June 4, 2016
Yes, I enjoyed it. Some parts were very thought provoking, some were a bit "out there", but all of it was interesting for being written as long ago as 300BC. Book 1 (The Watchers) is the one that seems to get the most press or mentions for its descriptions of the angels, the Watchers, and the Nephilim, but I actually enjoyed Book 2 (Parables) the most, with the Son of Man chapters and references. Book 3 (Astronomy) was less interesting, and Book 4 (Dreams) reminded me a lot of The Book of Revelations.
April 21, 2012
Ever ask Your self:"Who was the first Astronaut,really?"
The first and only mortal(recorded)to meet the "The Ones From the Heavens"
and live to tell about it.
One of Many books forbidden from The Bible.
The first and only mortal(recorded)to meet the "The Ones From the Heavens"
and live to tell about it.
One of Many books forbidden from The Bible.
Read
February 9, 2010very interesting.. not in the bible because it isn't recognised as scripture, not inspired by God.. but still a very interesting read..
February 7, 2022
when did this happen to me. what changed inside me to where i'm seeking out and paying $3 to properly read the book of fucking enoch. i'm rating the book of enoch 4 stars!! i had enough context from other things i've read to actually understand this work on some level and appreciate it. when did that happen?? my theological background was so lacking just a few months ago that i didn't even know what unleavened bread was. i tried reading inferno years ago and could barely understand any of it because i was so Religiously Illiterate. not to say i PROPERLY understood any of this. i'm still on the far left of a dunning kruger graph when it comes to theology but i want to know what happened that caused me to devour all this information on something i previously found so insanely boring. earlier today i ordered a book on a bunch of old pseudepigraphaical texts. good ʟᴏʀᴅ
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