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1 Enoch

About this book

The Rebellion of the Watchers

Chapter 6

1 And when the population of humans had increased during those times, beautiful and attractive daughters were born to them.⁠ 2 And the angels, the children of heaven, saw them and desired them,⁠ and said to each other: 'Come, let us choose wives from among the humans and father children.'⁠ 3 And Semjâzâ, their leader, said to them: 'I fear that you will not actually agree to do this, and I alone will have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' 4 And they all replied to him and said: 'Let us all take an oath, and all bind ourselves with a solemn promise not to abandon this plan but to carry out this act.' 5 Then they all took an oath together and bound themselves with a solemn promise to do so. 6 And there were in total two hundred who descended on the summit of Mount Hermon⁠ in the days of Jared, and they named it Mount Hermon because they had taken an oath and bound themselves with solemn promises there. 7 And these are the names of their leaders:⁠ Samîazâz, their leader,⁠ Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl.⁠ 8 These are their chiefs of tens.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 6:2 and Hegemonius, Archelaus Acts of the Disputation with Manes 32

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

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Summary

The Christian theologian Archelaus draws on the narrative of 1 Enoch where angels desired human women and took them as wives, showing how Christian tradition incorporated 1 Enoch and used it as an authoritative source of theology.

Passages

1 Enoch 6:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And when the population of humans had increased during those times, beautiful and attractive daughters were born to them. 2 And the angels, the children of heaven, saw them and desired them, and said to each other: 'Come, let us choose wives from among the humans and father children.' 3 And Semjâzâ, their leader, said to them: 'I fear that you will not actually agree to do this, and I alone will have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' 4 And they all replied to him and said: 'Let us all take an oath, and all bind ourselves with a solemn promise not to abandon this plan but to carry out this act.' 5 Then they all took an oath together and bound themselves with a solemn promise to do so.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Hegemonius, Archelaus Acts of the Disputation with Manes 32

Early Christian · Acta Archelai
And certainly whosoever will, may keep the commandments; and whosoever shall despise them, and turn aside to what is contrary to them, shall yet without doubt have to face this law of judgment. Hence also certain of the angels, refusing to submit themselves to the commandment of God, resisted His will; and one of them indeed fell like a flash of lightning upon the earth, while others, harassed by the dragon, sought their felicity in intercourse with the daughters of men, and thus brought on themselves the merited award of the punishment of eternal fire. And that angel who was cast down to earth, finding no further admittance into any of the regions of heaven, now flaunts about among men, deceiving them, and luring them to become transgressors like himself, and even to this day he is an adversary to the commandments of God.
313–348 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hegemonius, Acts of Archelaus

References

"... These parallels are mostly from the second century CE, one from the early third century and one each from the fourth and fifth centuries. The citations, allusions, or word parallels are few and reflect widespread circulation in early Christianity (Alexandria, Constantinople, Caesarea, Athens, Egypt, northern Israel). 1 Enoch follows the Book of Job in the Old Testament of the Abyssinian Church. Parallels in Gnostic and apocryphal literature there are some parallels between 1 Enoch and some Gnostic and apocryphal literature. only one of these references has some similarity with the Parables of Enoch (Book of Adam and Eve). 1. Pistis Sophia (Third century CE) (compare 1 Enoch 32:3, 6; 7:1; 8:3). 2. Acts of Thomas (c. Early to mid-third century, Syriac, Likely Edessa); (1 Enoch 6:6; 86:3; 7:2, 4). 3. Acts of the “Disputation of Archelaus with Manes” (Early fourth century) (1 Enoch 86:1, 3; 7:1; 15:3; 18:11-12) ..."
Lee Martin McDonald, “The Parables of Enoch in Early Christianity,” in Parables of Enoch: A Paradigm Shift, ed. James H. Charlesworth and Darrell L. Bock, Jewish and Christian Texts in Context and Related Studies 11 (London: T&T Clark, 2013), 369.

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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1 Enoch 6:2 and Hegemonius, Archelaus Acts of the Disputation with Manes 32

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