I am becoming increasingly convinced that The Book of Enoch is important for an understanding of our present day. This book was known and quoted by the prophets of the Old Testament as well as Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament; and yet, for some reason, it was not included in the official canon of the Western Christian churches. The Ethiopian Christian Church, however, did include The Book of Enoch in its canon. The Books of Enoch were among the scrolls found in the caves of Nag Hamadi in 1945. It would seem it is fitting that this book would be rediscovered in our current age because The Book of Enoch begins thus:
The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect ⌈⌈and⌉⌉ righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked ⌈⌈and godless⌉⌉ are to be removed.
So it would appear that the Book of Enoch was addressed to us.
The Book of Enoch helps to clarify the meaning of passages such as Genesis 6:1-4:
1. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
In The Book of Enoch, it becomes clear that the “sons of God” from Genesis 6:2 refers to non-humans. From 1 Enoch 6:1-2:
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.’
But the sins of these angels go further than the mixing of the DNA and the creation of giants. These angels taught knowledge that led to the corruption of humans. From 1 Enoch 8:1-2:
1. And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures.
2. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl, (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, 〈Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun〉, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
And so 1 Enoch tells us that these fallen angels taught mankind the skills of seduction, war-making, sorcery, and astrology. And, if we are to believe the myths of Atlantis, they must have also taught genetic modification and the mixing of species. All of these are considered by God to be abominations.
For scholarly analysis of the information found in the Book of Enoch and what it means for us in the current day, I refer you to Michael Heiser‘s Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ. (other books by Michael Heiser)
There are a few versions of the Books of Enoch available online. Here are links to some of them along with archive copies of them. (Stuff on the Internet doesn’t always remain on the Internet.)
Translations from the Ethiopian texts found on Archive.org:
- All the books of Enoch (Enoch 1, Enoch 2, Enoch 3)
Translation by M. Knibb of the Ethiopian text in the S.O.A.S. Library at the University of London. Trans. 1979?
(Local: Knibb_All-Books-of-Enoch) - The Book Of Enoch
R. H. Charles, D.Litt., D.D. Translations of Early Documents Series I: Palestinian Jewish Texts (Pre-Rabbinic). 1917.
(Local: Charles_The-Book-of-Enoch; or, you can read this version online on Sacred-Texts.com.) - The Book of Enoch
Richard Laurence, LL.D., Archbishop of Cashel, Translated from an Ehtiopic MS. in the Bodleian Library. 1883.
(Local: Laurence_Book-of-Enoch)
Translation from Nag Hammadi scroll (incomplete and missing fragments due to age and poor archiving methods):