1 Enoch 37

This is the second vision that he saw, the vision of wisdom. Enoch saw it, Enoch the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam.

1The second vision which he saw, the vision of wisdom—which Enoch the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw.

Note"The second vision" marks the start of a new book. Chapters 1 to 36 of 1 Enoch make up the first vision; chapters 37 to 71 are a separate composition, usually called the Book of Parables or the Similitudes, and this verse is its opening. The list of fathers runs backward from Enoch to Adam and matches the line given in Genesis 5, which places Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam. Cainan and Enos are older English spellings of the names printed as Kenan and Enosh in most modern Bibles.

2And this is how the words of wisdom begin, the words I raised my voice to speak and say to those who live on earth: Listen, you people of long ago, and look, you who come after them, at the words of the Holy One that I will speak in front of the Lord of Spirits.

2And this is the beginning of the words of wisdom which I lifted up my voice to speak and say to those which dwell on earth: Hear, ye men of old time, and see, ye that come after, the words of the Holy One which I will speak before the Lord of Spirits.

NoteEnoch is presented as living before the flood, so "people of long ago" means the generations of his own day and before it, and "you who come after them" means every later generation, the reader included. "The Holy One" and "the Lord of Spirits" are both titles for God. "Lord of Spirits" is the characteristic name for God in this part of 1 Enoch, used well over a hundred times in these chapters and almost nowhere else in the book; the spirits are the angels, and the title is close in form to the Hebrew one usually translated "Lord of hosts," meaning the commander of the armies of heaven.

3It would be better to tell these words only to the people of long ago. But even from those who come after them we will not hold back the beginning of wisdom.

3It were better to declare (them only) to the men of old time, but even from those that come after we will not withhold the beginning of wisdom.

Note"The beginning of wisdom" is a set phrase from Hebrew wisdom writing, as at Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." The word covers both senses of first: the starting point of wisdom, and its chief or best part. The logic of this verse is compressed in the Ethiopic, and translators have to supply connecting words; the point of who should hear and who should not is left unresolved in the text itself.

4Up to this day the Lord of Spirits has never given wisdom like the wisdom I have received, according to my understanding and according to what pleased the Lord of Spirits, who has given me my share of life that never ends.

4Till the present day such wisdom has never been given by the Lord of Spirits as I have received according to my insight, according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits by whom the lot of eternal life has been given to me.

Note"My share of life that never ends" renders a phrase built on the word for a lot, meaning the portion assigned to a person, as land was parceled out by casting lots. To be given a lot is to have something allotted to you as your own. Standing behind the line is Genesis 5:24, which says of Enoch that he "walked with God: and he was not; for God took him," understood to mean that he was taken away alive rather than dying.

5Now three Parables were handed on to me, and I raised my voice and told them to those who live on the earth.

5Now three Parables were imparted to me, and I lifted up my voice and recounted them to those that dwell on the earth.

Note"Parables" is capitalized because it names the three long sections that follow: chapters 38 to 44, 45 to 57, and 58 to 69. The word behind it, Ethiopic mesale, and behind that the Hebrew mashal, is far wider than the English "parable." It can mean a proverb, a riddle, a comparison, a taunt, or an extended piece of figurative speech or oracle. These three are visionary discourses, not short illustrative stories of the kind told in the Gospels.