1 Enoch 10

Then the Most High spoke, the Holy and Great One, and he sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him:

1Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: 2. 〈’Go to Noah and〉 tell him in my name “Hide thyself!” and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it.

NoteUriel is one of the chief angels of this book; the name means something like 'God is my light.' 'The son of Lamech' is Noah (Genesis 5:28-29). The line that named him outright, printed by Charles as verse 2, is not carried over here, so this phrase is the chapter's only clue to who is being warned.

3Now teach him what to do, so that he may escape, and so that his offspring may be kept safe for all the generations of the world.'

3And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.’

4And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Tie Azazel's hands and feet, and throw him into the darkness. Make an opening in the desert that is in Dudael, and throw him in there.

4And again the Lord said to Raphael: ‘Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl, and cast him therein.

NoteRaphael is another of the chief angels; the name means 'God heals,' which is why he is the one ordered in verse 7 to heal the earth. Azazel is one of the leaders of the fallen angels in chapters 6 to 8, the one who taught people to make weapons and taught women to paint their faces. In Leviticus 16 the same name belongs to the wilderness destination of the goat that carries Israel's sins away, and the picture here of a pit in the desert is built on that. Dudael is a place name; its location is unknown and the meaning of the word is disputed, with 'cauldron of God' among the guesses.

5Put rough, jagged rocks on top of him, and cover him with darkness, and let him stay there forever, and cover his face so that he cannot see light.

5And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light.

6And on the day of the great judgment he will be thrown into the fire.

6And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire.

NoteThe punishment comes in two stages in this book: the offenders are shut away now, and the fire comes only at the final judgment at the end of the world. The pit of verses 4 and 5 is the holding cell, not the sentence.

7And heal the earth, which the angels have ruined, and announce the healing of the earth, so that they may heal the plague, and so that all the children of men may not die because of all the secret things that the Watchers have revealed and have taught to their sons.

7And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons.

NoteThe Watchers are the angels of chapters 6 to 8 who came down and took human wives. The name renders a word meaning 'the wakeful ones,' angels who never sleep; it is used of angels in Daniel 4:13-17. 'The plague' is the wound inflicted on the earth rather than a disease in the modern sense. The 'secret things' are the skills listed in chapters 7 and 8: metalworking and weapons, cosmetics and dyes, sorcery, the cutting of roots, and the reading of the stars.

8The whole earth has been ruined by the practices that were taught by Azazel. Charge all sin to him.'

8And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl: to him ascribe all sin.’

Note'Ascribe' here is a bookkeeper's word: charge the whole account to this one party. The instruction also settles something the earlier chapters leave loose, since chapter 6 makes Semjaza the leader of the Watchers while chapter 8 makes Azazel the teacher of the worst of the arts.

9And the Lord said to Gabriel: 'Go against the children born out of wedlock and the rejected ones and the children of sexual sin. Destroy the children of sexual sin and the children of the Watchers from among people, and make them go out. Send them against one another so that they destroy each other in battle, for they will not have long lives.

9And to Gabriel said the Lord: ‘Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy the children of fornication and the children of the Watchers from amongst men and cause them to go forth: send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have.

NoteGabriel is a third chief angel, named in Daniel 8 and 9. The three labels all describe one group, the giants born to the Watchers and human women in chapter 7. 'Bastards' translates a word for the children of a forbidden union; 'reprobates' means the rejected, those refused by God; 'children of fornication' points at the union itself as illicit. 'Cause them to go forth' is obscure in the manuscripts, and seems to mean drive them out into the open, where they will turn on each other.

10And no request that they, that is, their fathers, make of you will be granted to their fathers on their behalf, for they hope to live forever, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.'

10And no request that they (i.e. their fathers) make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers on their behalf; for they hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.’

NoteThe fathers are the Watchers, petitioning on behalf of their sons; in chapter 13 they ask Enoch to carry exactly such a petition up to heaven for them, and it is refused. Five hundred years is the lifespan the giants expect as their due. Compare Genesis 6:3, where after the same episode human life is cut back to a hundred and twenty years.

11And the Lord said to Michael: 'Go, tie up Semjaza and those who are with him, who have joined themselves with women so that they made themselves unclean with them in all their uncleanness.

11And the Lord said unto Michael: ‘Go, bind Semjâzâ and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness.

NoteMichael is the fourth of the chief angels, named in Daniel 10 and 12. Semjaza is the leader of the two hundred Watchers who swore an oath together and came down in chapter 6. 'Uncleanness' is ritual language for defilement, a matter of crossing a forbidden boundary, and is not a remark about hygiene.

12And when their sons have killed one another, and they have seen the destruction of the ones they love, tie them up tightly for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, until the day of their judgment and of their end, until the judgment that lasts forever and ever is finished.

12And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated.

NoteSeventy generations is a fixed term rather than an endless one: it is the sentence to be served before the final judgment described in the next verse. 'Consummation' in Charles's English means completion, the point at which something is carried through to its end; it has nothing to do with marriage.

13In those days they will be led away to the pit of fire, to the torment and the prison where they will be shut in forever.

13In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: 〈and〉 to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever.

14And whoever is condemned and destroyed will from that time on be bound together with them, until the end of all generations.

14And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations.

15And destroy all the spirits of the rejected ones and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged human beings.

15And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind.

NoteThe giants' bodies are killed in battle back in verse 9, but chapter 15 explains that their spirits outlive their bodies and become the evil spirits that afflict people on earth. That is why the spirits have to be dealt with separately here.

16Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth, and let every evil work come to an end. Let the plant of righteousness and truth appear, and it will turn out to be a blessing. The works of righteousness and truth will be planted in truth and joy forever.

16Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear: and it shall prove a blessing; the works of righteousness and truth shall be planted in truth and joy for evermore.

NoteThe plant of righteousness and truth is a recurring image in this book for a righteous line of people planted by God and expected to grow. The prophets use planting the same way for Israel, as in Isaiah 60:21. Here it appears to mean the humanity descended from Noah after the flood.

17And then all the righteous will escape, and they will live until they have thousands of children, and all the days of their youth and of their old age they will finish in peace.

17And then shall all the righteous escape, And shall live till they beget thousands of children, And all the days of their youth and their old age Shall they complete in peace.

NoteThe point is length of life rather than a thousand births at once: these people live long enough to see thousands of descendants born, as the long-lived figures of Genesis 5 do.

18And then the whole earth will be farmed in righteousness, and all of it will be planted with trees and will be full of blessing.

18And then shall the whole earth be tilled in righteousness, and shall all be planted with trees and be full of blessing.

19And every kind of desirable tree will be planted on it, and they will plant vines on it. The vine that they plant on it will produce wine in great amounts. As for all the seed that is sown on it, each measure of it will bear a thousand, and each measure of olives will yield ten presses of oil.

19And all desirable trees shall be planted on it, and they shall plant vines on it: and the vine which they plant thereon shall yield wine in abundance, and as for all the seed which is sown thereon each measure (of it) shall bear a thousand, and each measure of olives shall yield ten presses of oil.

NoteA 'measure' is a standard container of grain used as a unit, roughly a bushel; the exact size varied from place to place. In the ancient world a tenfold return on the seed sown counted as a good harvest, so a thousandfold is a figure for abundance beyond nature, not an estimate. A 'press' is one full pressing of a vat of olives, so ten presses from a single measure of fruit is the same kind of extravagance.

20And you, clean the earth of all oppression, and of all wrongdoing, and of all sin, and of all godlessness. Destroy from the earth all the uncleanness that is done on it.

20And cleanse thou the earth from all oppression, and from all unrighteousness, and from all sin, and from all godlessness: and all the uncleanness that is wrought upon the earth destroy from off the earth.

21And all the children of men will become righteous, and all nations will bow down and will praise me, and all will worship me.

21And all the children of men shall become righteous, and all nations shall offer adoration and shall praise Me, and all shall worship Me.

Note'Offer adoration' in Charles's English means to bow down bodily, the posture of a subject before a king. It does not describe an inward feeling of fondness.

22And the earth will be cleansed of all filth, and of all sin, and of all punishment, and of all torment, and I will never again send these on it, from generation to generation and forever.

22And the earth shall be cleansed from all defilement, and from all sin, and from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send (them) upon it from generation to generation and for ever.

NoteThe parentheses mark a word the translator supplied. The text says only 'I will never again send upon it,' without naming what is not to be sent; from the list just given, it means the punishments and torments. Compare the promise after the flood in Genesis 8:21 and 9:11.