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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 15

1 And He answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: 'Fear not, Enoch, you righteous man and scribe of righteousness: come closer and hear my voice. 2 And go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent you to intercede for them:⁠ "You should be interceding for men, not men for you:" 3 Why have you left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves⁠ with the daughters of men, taken yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and fathered giants as your sons? 4 And though you were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women,⁠ and fathered children with the blood of flesh, and, like the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those also do who die and perish. 5 Therefore I have given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and beget children by them, that thus nothing might be lacking to them on earth. 6 But you were formerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world. 7 And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for the spiritual ones of heaven, in heaven is their dwelling.⁠ 8 And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and their dwelling shall be on the earth.⁠ 9 Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men, and their beginning and primal origin is from the holy Watchers; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and they shall be called evil spirits. 10 As for the spirits of heaven, their dwelling shall be in heaven, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, their dwelling shall be on the earth. 11 And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses. 12 And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 6:9 and 1 Enoch 15:1

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch follows the prophetic commissioning pattern from Isaiah, using the “go and say” language to place Enoch in the same line of divine messengers. By following this pattern, it describes Enoch as a prophet and a scribe who carries God’s message.

Passages

Isaiah 6:9

Hebrew Bible
8 I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” I answered, “Here I am, send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell these people: “‘Listen continually, but don’t understand. Look continually, but don’t perceive.’ 10 Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind. Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 15:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And He answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: 'Fear not, Enoch, you righteous man and scribe of righteousness: come closer and hear my voice. 2 And go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent you to intercede for them: "You should be interceding for men, not men for you:" 3 Why have you left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men, taken yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and fathered giants as your sons?
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... here, the title “scribe” is followed by the command to “Go and say.” As we learn from 13:10–14:1, what he says here is the contents of the document he has written. The formula “Go and say” is a typical introductory formula for prophetic commissionings. Compare Isaiah 6:9; Jeremiah 1:7; 2:2; Ezekiel 3:4, 11. The imperative “go” by itself occurs in a multitude of nonprophetic commissionings. Thus, one aspect of Enoch’s scribal function is to play the role of a prophet, which he does in response to a commissioning modeled after biblical prophetic commissionings ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 271.

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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Isaiah 6:9 and 1 Enoch 15:1

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