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1 Enoch

About this book

Enoch's Interaction with the Fallen Watchers

Chapter 12

1 Before these things, Enoch was hidden, and no one among the children of men knew where he was hidden, where he lived, or what had happened to him.⁠ 2 His dealings were with the Watchers, and he spent his days among the holy ones. 3 And I, Enoch, was praising the Lord of majesty and the King of the ages, and look! the Watchers called me⁠ - Enoch the scribe - and said to me:⁠ 4 'Enoch, you scribe of righteousness, go, tell the Watchers of heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have acted as the children of earth do, and have taken wives for themselves:⁠ 5 You have caused great destruction on the earth: and you shall have no peace or forgiveness of sin; and as much as they delight in their children, 6 They will witness the murder of their beloved ones, and they will mourn over the destruction of their children, and they will plead forever, but you will not find mercy or peace.'

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 12:3 and Jubilees 4:22

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Jubilees presents Enoch as a scribe who is uniquely called by God to become a divine advocate, drawing on the same traditions behind 1 Enoch. Both describe his separation from human life, building on the obscure reference in Genesis 5.

Passages

1 Enoch 12:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 Before these things, Enoch was hidden, and no one among the children of men knew where he was hidden, where he lived, or what had happened to him. 2 His dealings were with the Watchers, and he spent his days among the holy ones. 3 And I, Enoch, was praising the Lord of majesty and the King of the ages, and look! the Watchers called me - Enoch the scribe - and said to me: 4 'Enoch, you scribe of righteousness, go, tell the Watchers of heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have acted as the children of earth do, and have taken wives for themselves:
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Jubilees 4:22

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
20 And in the twelfth jubilee, [582-88] in its seventh week, he married a woman named Edna, the daughter of Danel, the daughter of his father's brother, and in the sixth year in this week [587] she bore him a son and he named him Methuselah. 21 And he was moreover with the angels of God these six jubilees of years, and they showed him everything which is on earth and in the heavens, the rule of the sun, and he wrote down everything. 22 And he testified to the Watchers, who had sinned with the daughters of men; for these had begun to unite themselves, so as to be defiled, with the daughters of men, and Enoch testified against (them) all. 23 And he was taken from among the human beings, and we led him into the Garden of Eden in majesty and honor, and there he writes down the condemnation and judgment of the world, and all the wickedness of the human beings.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

"... According to Jub. 4:21–23, whose language indicates familiarity with these chapters, after Enoch begat Methuselah at age 65, he spent six jubilees (294 years) with the angels. Thus he would have thereafter returned to earth a short time before he was taken to paradise ( Jub. 5:23). 2 Enoch 1:1 states that the patriarch’s cosmic journey took place in the last year of his life. Both traditions are roughly consonant with 1 Enoch 81:5–10 ..."
Michael S. Heiser, A Companion to the Book of Enoch: A Reader's Commentary (Crane, MO: Defender, 2019), 1:129.

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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  • I would like to know more.

    Samuel Howard, September 19, 2026

1 Enoch 12:3 and Jubilees 4:22

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