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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 6:6 and Jubilees 4:15

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Jubilees follows a Watchers tradition not found in 1 Enoch, describing their descent as intending to teach humanity justice before they rebelled and took human wives. In contrast, 1 Enoch depicts the descent of the Watchers as evil from the beginning.

Passages

1 Enoch 6:6

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

Jubilees 4:15

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
15 And in the second week of the tenth jubilee [449-55] Mahalalel married Dinah, the daughter of Barakiel the daughter of his father's brother, and she bore him a son in the third week in the sixth year, [461] and he named him Jared, for in his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the Watchers, that they should instruct the human beings, and that they should act justly and uprightly on the earth. 16 And in the eleventh jubilee [491-539] Jared married a woman named Baraka, the daughter of Râsûjâl, a daughter of his father's brother, in the fourth week of this jubilee, [512-18] and she bore him a son in the fifth week, in the fourth year of the jubilee [522], and he named him Enoch.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

"... The book of Jubilees (4:15) reports that the Watchers descended in order to 'instruct the children of men.' This is an interesting survival of the idea, not found in 1 Enoch, that the original purpose of the descent of the Watchers, before they sinned, was to communicate knowledge to men, i.e. God sent them (compare Jubilees 5:6) to be culture-heroes in the positive sense. In the event, since the angels apostatized, Jubilees assigns this role to Enoch (4:17, 21). A reference to the actual teaching of the Watchers is found in 8:3, according to which their astrological teaching was found, after the Flood, carved on a rock. Probably this story is intended to show that Chaldean astrology derived from the sinful teaching of the Watchers ..."
Richard Bauckham, “The Fall of the Angels as the Source of Philosophy in Hermias and Clement of Alexandria,” VC 39.4 (1985): 313–330.

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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Comments

  • What does it actually say?

    Agnes Namaganda, March 23, 2025

1 Enoch 6:6 and Jubilees 4:15

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