Go to Related Reading
About this book

1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 69

1 After this judgment, they will be terrified and shaken because they revealed these things to those who live on the earth. 2 Here are the names of these angels: the first is Samjâzâ, the second Artâqîfâ, the third Armên, the fourth Kôkabêl, the fifth Tûrâêl, the sixth Rûmjâl, the seventh Dânjâl, the eighth Nêqâêl, the ninth Barâqêl, the tenth Azâzêl, the eleventh Armârôs, the twelfth Batarjâl, the thirteenth Busasêjal, the fourteenth Hanânêl, the fifteenth Tûrêl, the sixteenth Simâpêsîêl, the seventeenth Jetrêl, the eighteenth Tumâêl, the nineteenth Tûrêl, the twentieth Rûmâêl, and the twenty-first Azâzêl. 3 These are the chiefs of their angels and their names, and they command hundreds, fifties, and tens. 4 The first angel, Jeqôn, led all the sons of God astray and brought them down to the earth, misleading them with the daughters of men. 5 The second, Asbeêl, gave evil counsel to the holy sons of God, leading them to defile themselves with the daughters of men. 6 The third, Gâdreêl, showed the children of men all the deadly strikes, led Eve astray,⁠ and introduced the weapons of death to the sons of men, including the shield, the coat of mail, the sword, and other weapons. 7 From his hand these have been used against those who live on the earth from that day and forever. 8 The fourth, Pênemûe, taught the children of men the difference between bitter and sweet, revealing all the secrets of their wisdom. 9 He taught mankind how to write with ink and paper, which led many to sin from then until today. 10 For men were not created to confirm their promises with pen and ink. 11 For humans were created exactly like the angels, so that they might remain pure and righteous,⁠ and death, which corrupts everything, could not have touched them. But through this knowledge they perish, and through this power it is consuming me. 12 The fifth, Kâsdejâ, revealed to the children of men all the evil afflictions of spirits and demons, the striking of embryos in the womb to cause a miscarriage, the bites of the serpent, and the afflictions that come at noon, the son of the serpent named Tabâ'ět. 13 This was the task of Kâsbeêl, the chief of the oath, which he showed to the holy ones when he lived high above in glory. Its name is Bîqâ. 14 This angel asked Michael to reveal the hidden name so that he could declare it in the oath, causing those who revealed secrets to the children of men to tremble before it.⁠ 15 This is the power of this oath; it is mighty and strong, and he placed this oath Akâe in the hand of Michael.⁠ 16 And these secrets are powerful through his oath: the heavens were suspended before the world was created and will be forever.⁠ 17 By this oath the earth was founded upon water, and from the hidden depths of the mountains come beautiful waters, from the creation of the world and on forever. 18 By this oath the sea was created, and as its foundation He set for it the sand against the time of its fury, and it dare not pass beyond it from the creation of the world and on forever. 19 By this oath the depths are made firm, remaining calm and undisturbed from eternity to eternity. 20 By this oath the sun and moon complete their courses and do not turn aside from their ordained paths from eternity to eternity. 21 By this oath the stars complete their courses, and He calls them by their names, and they answer Him from eternity to eternity. 22 The same is true of the spirits of water and winds, and all the breezes in every direction. 23 The voices of thunder and the light of the lightnings are kept, along with the storerooms of hail, frost, mist, rain, and dew.⁠ 24 All these acknowledge and give thanks before the Lord of Spirits, glorifying Him with all their power; their sustenance comes from their acts of thanksgiving, as they praise, glorify, and exalt the name of the Lord of Spirits forever and ever. 25 And this oath prevails over them, keeping their paths secure and ensuring their actions are not destroyed. 26 There was great joy among them, and they blessed, glorified, and exalted the name of the Son of Man that had been revealed to them.⁠ 27 He sat on the throne of his glory, the whole of judgment was given to the Son of Man,⁠ and he caused the sinners to vanish from the face of the earth, along with those who had misled the world.⁠ 28 They will be bound in chains, confined to their place of destruction, and all their works will disappear from the face of the earth. 29 From now on nothing corruptible will exist; the Son of Man has appeared, has taken his seat on the throne of his glory, and all evil will vanish before his face. His word will go out and be strong before the Lord of Spirits. This is the Third Parable of Enoch.

Texts in conversation

The Angel Behind the Serpent in Genesis 3 and 1 Enoch 69

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

Share:

Summary

1 Enoch 69 expands the Eden story by identifying the serpent as a specific angelic being named Gadrael. This detail is not found in Genesis and is used to place the deception of Eve within a wider story of rebellious divine figures.
Read more about this (opens in a new tab)

Passages

Genesis 3:4

Hebrew Bible
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

1 Enoch 69:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
5 The second, Asbeêl, gave evil counsel to the holy sons of God, leading them to defile themselves with the daughters of men. 6 The third, Gâdreêl, showed the children of men all the deadly strikes, led Eve astray, and introduced the weapons of death to the sons of men, including the shield, the coat of mail, the sword, and other weapons. 7 From his hand these have been used against those who live on the earth from that day and forever.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Notice as well that Eve is being contrasted with Mary in 1 Timothy 2:14–15, for we have the reference to woman being saved through “the childbearing.” The curse is reversed through Mary. That rhetorical comparison leads to a long discussion of the one found in Romans 5:12–21 (see below). It is interesting that while Sirach is prepared to blame Eve entirely for the fall (see Sirach 25:24) as does the Apocalypse of Moses: The Life of Adam and Eve (9:2; 14:2; 21:2, 6; 24:1), Paul is not prepared to go there. Indeed, he places the blame squarely on Adam in Romans 5. In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul expresses his fear that just as the serpent deceived Eve with his cunning, so also the Corinthians were being deceived by the devil through Paul’s opponents. The tradition of the deception of Eve had come to be developed to a remarkable degree in the intertestamental period (see 1 Enoch 69:6; 2 Enoch 36:6; Apocalypse of Abraham 23). In some of this material Eve is said to be seduced by the serpent, but Paul never suggests this either here or in 1 Timothy 2, if it is by Paul. Paul is concerned with the corruption of the minds of the Corinthians ..."
Ben Witherington, Torah Old and New: Exegesis, Intertextuality, and Hermeneutics (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2018), 60.

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

Tags

Your feedback

Genesis 3:4 and 1 Enoch 69:6

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library