Texts in Conversation
1 Enoch 7:6 echoes Genesis 4:10 by portraying the earth as bearing witness to violence through the cries of the slain. In Genesis, Abel’s blood calls out from the ground after his murder, while in 1 Enoch, the earth similarly responds to widespread violence caused by the Nephilim.
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Genesis 4:10
Hebrew Bible
8 Cain spoke to his brother Abel.21 While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 So now you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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1 Enoch 7:6
Pseudepigrapha
2 The women became pregnant and gave birth to enormous giants, whose height was three thousand ells. 3 These giants consumed everything humans produced. And when humans could no longer support them, 4 the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. 5 They began to sin against birds, beasts, reptiles, and fish, eating each other’s flesh and drinking the blood. 6 Then the earth brought charges against these lawbreakers.
Date: 200-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 1 Enoch Chapters 7-8 explain how the Watchers chose wives and had children with them. Their children were the Nephilim or giants, and these giants devoured the supplies of food that were available to men to the point that they began to kill and eat men, birds, insects, fish, and even each other. This causes the earth to accuse the Nephilim to heaven, reminiscent of Abel’s blood crying from the ground in Genesis 4:10. The Watchers teach all the mysteries to their wives and children, and as men are dying their cries reach to heaven ..."
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