1 Enoch 106

After some days my son Methuselah took a wife for his son Lamech, and she became pregnant by him and gave birth to a son.

1And after some days my son Methuselah took a wife for his son Lamech, and she became pregnant by him and bore a son.

NoteThe speaker throughout is Enoch himself. The family line runs Enoch, then his son Methuselah, then Methuselah's son Lamech, then the child born here. "Took a wife for his son" describes the normal arrangement, in which a father chose the bride and settled the match on his son's behalf. Chapters 106 and 107 are a short separate piece about the birth of Noah, attached at the end of the book; a version of the same story survives among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

2His body was white as snow and red as a rose in bloom, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool, and his eyes were beautiful. When he opened his eyes, he lit up the whole house like the sun, and the whole house was very bright.

2And his body was white as snow and red as the blooming of a rose, and the hair of his head †and his long locks were white as wool, and his eyes beautiful†. And when he opened his eyes, he lighted up the whole house like the sun, and the whole house was very bright.

NoteWhite skin with red coloring was a stock way of describing striking good looks in ancient writing and is not in itself strange. What alarms the family is the rest: white hair on a newborn, and eyes that light a room, are how this literature describes heavenly beings, not babies. Charles put daggers around part of this verse in his translation to show that the Ethiopic manuscripts are damaged or disagree there, so the wording is a best guess.

3Then he stood up in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and spoke with the Lord of righteousness.

3And thereupon he arose in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and †conversed with† the Lord of righteousness.

NoteA newborn cannot stand or speak, which is the whole point of the sentence. "The Lord of righteousness" is one of this book's regular titles for God. Charles marked "conversed with" as textually uncertain; some copies have the child praising God rather than talking with him, which is how verse 11 reports the same moment.

4His father Lamech was afraid of him and ran away, and came to his father Methuselah.

4And his father Lamech was afraid of him and fled, and came to his father Methuselah.

5He said to him: "I have fathered a strange son. He is different from a human being and not like one, and he looks like the sons of the God of heaven. His nature is different and he is not like us. His eyes are like the rays of the sun, and his face is full of glory.

5And he said unto him: ‘I have begotten a strange son, diverse from and unlike man, and resembling the sons of the God of heaven; and his nature is different and he is not like us, and his eyes are as the rays of the sun, and his countenance is glorious.

Note"The sons of the God of heaven" is this book's phrase for angels, taken from the line in Genesis about "the sons of God" who took human wives. "Strange" in the older wording means foreign or alien, belonging to another kind, not simply odd.

6It seems to me that he did not come from me but from the angels, and I am afraid that in his days some wonder may be done on the earth.

6And it seems to me that he is not sprung from me but from the angels, and I fear that in his days a wonder may be wrought on the earth.

NoteA "wonder" here means a portent: an event read as a signal that something large, and usually frightening, is about to happen. Lamech is not admiring the child, he is reading him as a warning.

7And now, my father, I am here to ask you and to beg you to go to Enoch, our father, and to learn the truth from him, because his home is among the angels."

7And now, my father, I am here to petition thee and implore thee that thou mayst go to Enoch, our father, and learn from him the truth, for his dwelling-place is amongst the angels.’

NoteGenesis says Enoch did not die but was taken away by God. In this book that means he now lives at the far edge of the world among the angels, which is why Methuselah has to make a journey to reach him and why he is the one who can settle the question.

8When Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me at the ends of the earth, for he had heard that I was there. He called out loudly, and I heard his voice and came to him. I said to him: "Here I am, my son. Why have you come to me?"

8And when Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me to the ends of the earth; for he had heard that I was there, and he cried aloud, and I heard his voice and I came to him. And I said unto him: ‘Behold, here am I, my son, wherefore hast thou come to me?’

NoteThe ends of the earth are a real place in this book's geography, the outer rim of the world, which Enoch toured in earlier chapters.

9He answered and said: "I have come to you because of something that worries me greatly, and I have come near because of a disturbing vision.

9And he answered and said: ‘Because of a great cause of anxiety have I come to thee, and because of a disturbing vision have I approached.

10And now, my father, listen to me. A son has been born to my son Lamech, and there is no one like him. His nature is not like a human being's nature. The color of his body is whiter than snow and redder than a rose in bloom. The hair of his head is whiter than white wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun. He opened his eyes, and at once he lit up the whole house.

10And now, my father, hear me: unto Lamech my son there hath been born a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like man’s nature, and the colour of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose, and the hair of his head is whiter than white wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun, and he opened his eyes and thereupon lighted up the whole house.

NoteMethuselah repeats Lamech's description back to Enoch almost word for word. This kind of near-verbatim repetition is a normal storytelling technique in ancient narrative, not a copying error.

11He stood up in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and blessed the Lord of heaven.

11And he arose in the hands of the midwife, and opened his mouth and blessed the Lord of heaven.

Note"Blessed" here means praised or spoke well of. A person blessing God is offering praise, not granting him a favor.

12His father Lamech became afraid and ran to me. He did not believe that the child came from him, but that he was in the likeness of the angels of heaven. And now I have come to you so that you may make the truth known to me."

12And his father Lamech became afraid and fled to me, and did not believe that he was sprung from him, but that he was in the likeness of the angels of heaven; and behold I have come to thee that thou mayst make known to me the truth.’

13And I, Enoch, answered and said to him: "The Lord will do a new thing on the earth. I have already seen this in a vision, and I make it known to you: in the generation of my father Jared some of the angels of heaven broke the word of the Lord.

13And I, Enoch, answered and said unto him: ‘The Lord will do a new thing on the earth, and this I have already seen in a vision, and make known to thee that in the generation of my father Jared some of the angels of heaven transgressed the word of the Lord.

NoteJared was Enoch's father, three generations back from the newborn. The angels' revolt in Jared's lifetime is the long story told in chapters 6 through 11 of this book: a band of heavenly Watchers came down to earth, took human wives, and taught people knowledge they were not meant to have.

14And look, they are sinning and breaking the law. They have joined themselves with women and sin with them, and they have married some of them and have had children by them.

14And behold they commit sin and transgress the law, and have united themselves with women and commit sin with them, and have married some of them, and have begot children by them.

NoteThe present tense is deliberate. In the story's timeline the angels' offense is still under way as Enoch speaks, and the flood he goes on to describe is the answer to it.

15Yes, a great destruction will come over the whole earth. There will be a flood and a great destruction for one year.

15Yea, there shall come a great destruction over the whole earth, and there shall be a deluge and a great destruction for one year.

NoteThe flood of Genesis, where the account also runs about a year from the first rain to dry ground.

16And this son who has been born to you will be left on the earth, and his three children will be saved with him. When all the people who are on the earth die, he and his sons will be saved.

16And this son who has been born unto you shall be left on the earth, and his three children shall be saved with him: when all mankind that are on the earth shall die he and his sons shall be saved.

NoteThe three children are Shem, Ham and Japheth, named in Genesis as the sons who came through the flood with Noah along with their wives.

17And they will bring giants into the world, not according to the spirit but according to the flesh. There will be a great punishment on the earth, and the earth will be washed clean of everything unclean.

17And they shall produce on the earth giants not according to the spirit, but according to the flesh, and there shall be a great punishment on the earth, and the earth shall be cleansed from all impurity.

Note"They" means the angels and the women of verse 14. "Giants" renders the term used in Genesis for the Nephilim, the oversized offspring of those unions. The contrast between spirit and flesh is compressed and disputed: it may mean the giants were produced by bodily union rather than in the manner of spirits, or that although their fathers were spirits the children came out as creatures of flesh. The translation leaves the difficulty standing rather than deciding it.

18And now tell your son Lamech that the one who has been born is truly his son, and name him Noah. He will be left to you, and he and his sons will be saved from the destruction that will come on the earth. That destruction will come because of all the sin and all the wrongdoing that will be carried through to the end on the earth in his days.

18And now make known to thy son Lamech that he who has been born is in truth his son, and call his name Noah; for he shall be left to you, and he and his sons shall be saved from the destruction, which shall come upon the earth on account of all the sin and all the unrighteousness, which shall be consummated on the earth in his days.

NoteIn Genesis, Lamech names the child Noah and explains the name by saying he will bring relief from hard work; the Hebrew name sounds like the word for rest or comfort. Here the explanation runs on a different sound-alike: Noah is the one who will be left over, the survivor. "Consummated" in the older wording means carried through to full completion, not merely stopped.

19And after that there will be still more wrongdoing than the wrongdoing that was first carried through to the end on the earth. I know the secrets of the holy ones, because he, the Lord, has showed me and told me, and I have read them in the heavenly tablets."

19And after that there shall be still more unrighteousness than that which was first consummated on the earth; for I know the mysteries of the holy ones; for He, the Lord, has showed me and informed me, and I have read (them) in the heavenly tablets.

Note"The holy ones" normally means the angels in this book. The heavenly tablets are a recurring idea here and in the related book of Jubilees: a permanent record kept in heaven on which the whole course of history and the deeds of every person are already written down. That is why Enoch can report the future as something he read rather than something he guessed.