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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 10

1 Then the Most High, the Holy and Great One spoke, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, saying to him:⁠ 2 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name to hide himself and reveal to him that the end is near: the entire earth will be destroyed, a deluge is about to cover the whole earth and will wipe out everything on it.⁠ 3 And now instruct him so that he may escape and his descendants may be preserved for all future generations.' 4 And the Lord also said to Raphael: 'Bind Azâzêl hand and foot,⁠ and cast him into the darkness: make a hole in the desert in Dûdâêl, and throw him in.⁠ 5 Place upon him rough and jagged rocks, cover him with darkness, and let him remain there forever, and cover his face so he may not see light.⁠ 6 On the day of great judgment he shall be thrown into the fire.⁠ 7 And restore the earth which the angels have corrupted, and announce the restoration of the earth, so that the plague may be healed, and all the children of men may not perish due to the secrets that the Watchers have revealed and taught their children.' 8 The entire earth has been corrupted by the deeds taught by Azâzêl: attribute all sin to him.'⁠ 9 And to Gabriel, the Lord said: 'Proceed against the bastards, the outcasts, and the children of fornication: and destroy the children of the Watchers from among men; make them fight one another, so they may destroy each other in battle: for they shall not have long lives. 10 And no request made by their fathers on their behalf will be granted; for they hope to live an eternal life, and each one of them thinks he will live five hundred years.' 11 And the Lord said to Michael: 'Go, bind Semjâzâ and his companions who have joined with women and defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness.⁠ 12 And when their sons have killed each other, and they have seen the destruction of their loved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, until the day of their judgment and their ultimate end,⁠ until the judgment that lasts forever is completed. 13 In those days they will be taken to the abyss of fire: to the torment and the prison where they will be confined forever.⁠ 14 And whoever is condemned and destroyed will from then on be bound together with them till the end of all ages. 15 And destroy all the spirits of the corrupt and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. 16 Remove all evil from the face of the earth and let every wicked deed end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth emerge; and it will be a blessing. The deeds of righteousness and truth will be planted in truth and joy forever.⁠ 17 And then all the righteous will escape, And shall live until they beget thousands of children, And all the days of their youth and their old age Shall be completed in peace.⁠ 18 And then the whole earth will be cultivated in righteousness, and will be entirely planted with trees and filled with blessings.⁠ 19 And all desirable trees will be planted on it, and they will plant vines on it: the vine they plant will produce abundant wine, and for every measure of seeds sown on it, a thousand will be harvested, and every measure of olives will produce ten presses of oil.⁠ 20 And cleanse the earth from all oppression, from all injustice, from all sin, and from all godlessness: and all the uncleanness that has been committed upon the earth, remove it from the earth. 21 'And all the children of men shall become righteous, and all nations shall worship and praise Me, and all shall worship Me.⁠ 22 And the earth shall be cleansed from all contamination, from all sin, from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send these upon it from generation to generation and forever.'

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 16:10 and 1 Enoch 10:4

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch portrays Azazel as an evil figure who brings violence and secret knowledge to humans and is later imprisoned as judgment. The portrayal draws on Leviticus 16, where a goat is sent away to Azazel on the Day of Atonement.

Passages

Leviticus 16:10

Hebrew Bible
8 and Aaron is to cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel. 9 Aaron must then present the goat which has been designated by lot for the Lord, and he is to make it a sin offering, 10 but the goat which has been designated by lot for Azazel is to be stood alive before the Lord to make atonement on it by sending it away into the desert to Azazel. 11 “Aaron is to present the sin-offering bull which is for himself, and he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. He is to slaughter the sin-offering bull which is for himself, 12 and take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and a full double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring them inside the curtain.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

1 Enoch 10:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name to hide himself and reveal to him that the end is near: the entire earth will be destroyed, a deluge is about to cover the whole earth and will wipe out everything on it. 3 And now instruct him so that he may escape and his descendants may be preserved for all future generations.' 4 And the Lord also said to Raphael: 'Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: make a hole in the desert in Dûdâêl, and throw him in. 5 Place upon him rough and jagged rocks, cover him with darkness, and let him remain there forever, and cover his face so he may not see light.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Apart from Aramaic fragments and an incomplete Greek manuscript found at Qumran, 1 Enoch survives only in Ethiopic translation. Nickelsburg and Vanderkam’s opinion is that the original was probably written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. However, caution may be required in drawing conclusions from the Ethiopic version of 1 Enoch as to the development of the Aramaic original, as the Ethiopic text may represent a considerable recasting of the Aramaic. It is a composite work, and the likely dates of composition of its parts vary widely. Overall, its sections demonstrate developing stages in the Enochic tradition, expressing a common world view that the present age is evil and unjust and in need of divine judgment and renewal. The authority of these sections rests on the claim that they transmit divine revelation given to the very early patriarch Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24). As noted above, the idea of a goat of departure in Leviticus 16:10 is taken up in 1 Enoch where the notion is extended to refer to a demon ... Why does Azazel deserve this fate? Azazel is identified in 1 Enoch 8:1 as the one who “taught men to make swords of iron and weapons and shields and breastplates and every instrument of war”. In 1 Enoch 9:6 Azazel is the one who “taught all iniquity upon the earth, and has revealed the eternal mysteries which are in heaven, which the sons of men were striving to learn” ..."
Chris Armitage, “Atonement and Ethics in 1 John: A Peacemaking Hermeneutic” (PhD diss., Charles Sturt University, 2014), 117–118.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 16:10 and 1 Enoch 10:4

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