Go to Related Reading
About this book

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 1 Enoch 15:4 and Jubilees 7:21

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

Share:

Summary

1 Enoch 15 describes the Watchers who abandoned their place in heaven by taking human wives and producing giant children. Jubilees follows this in its retelling of Genesis, identifying them with the Sons of God in Genesis 6 and their children as demons.

Passages

1 Enoch 15:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
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.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Jubilees 7:21

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
21 For because of these three things the flood came upon the earth, namely, because of the sexual immorality in which the Watchers against the commandments prescribed for them pursued sexual relations with human women, and married whichever women they chose: and they began the practice of impurity. 22 And they fathered sons, the Nephilim, and they were all unlike, and they devoured one another: and the Giants killed the Naphil, and the Naphil killed the Eljo, and the Eljo humanity, and one man another. 23 And everyone sold himself to do evil and to shed much blood, and the earth was filled with iniquity.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

"... The ‘Sons of God’ of Genesis 6:1-4 are described in the Pseudepigraphical Jewish literature as being - ‘evil angels’, ‘demons’ (Jubilees 10:2), ‘Watchers’ (1 Enoch 10-16; Jubilees 7:21; 10:5; and Testament of Naphtali 3:5), ‘stars’, ‘spirits’ (pneumata, see 1 Enoch 15:4-10, 16:1 and Jubilees 10:3, 7) and ‘spirits of the angels’ (1 Enoch 19:1). Their illegitimate offspring, the Nephilim, are also described as ‘(evil) spirits’ (1 Enoch 15:8-12; 16:1 and Jubilees 10:3-5) or ‘demons’ (Jubilees 7:22; 10:1f) ..."
D. N. Campbell and Fika J. van Rensburg, “A History of the Interpretation of 1 Peter 3:18–22,” Acta Patristica et Byzantina 19.1 (2008): 73–96.

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

Your feedback

Comments

  • Maybe they were referring to people that didn’t follow their particular religion? Everyone is a son/daughter of god, neither holy or evil, but live a life without one overcoming the other & find an inner peace of harmonious duality … is that not the reason they both exist in us ... that is what inne ...

    Jamie, October 24, 2025

1 Enoch 15:4 and Jubilees 7:21

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library