1 Enoch

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Chapter 7

1 And all the others together with them took wives for themselves, each choosing one for himself, and they began to unite with them and defiled themselves with them.⁠ They taught them sorcery, spells, and the art of extracting medicinal substances from plants.⁠ 2 The women became pregnant and gave birth to enormous giants,⁠ whose height was three thousand ells.⁠ 3 These giants consumed everything humans produced. 4 And when humans could no longer support them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind.⁠ 5 They began to sin against birds, beasts, reptiles, and fish, eating each other’s flesh and drinking the blood.⁠ 6 Then the earth brought charges against these lawbreakers.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 7:2 and 3 Maccabees 2:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Deuterocanon

Summary

The giants mentioned in 3 Maccabees appear in a list of sinners judged by God, a pattern followed in Sirach and Baruch. Their inclusion matches the narrative in 1 Enoch, where giants born from divine-human unions became violent and caused the flood.

Passages

1 Enoch 7:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

1 And all the others together with them took wives for themselves, each choosing one for himself, and they began to unite with them and defiled themselves with them. They taught them sorcery, spells, and the art of extracting medicinal substances from plants. 2 The women became pregnant and gave birth to enormous giants, whose height was three thousand ells. 3 These giants consumed everything humans produced. 4 And when humans could no longer support them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind.

300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

3 Maccabees 2:4

Deuterocanon

3 It is you, the Creator of all, the Lord of the universe, who are a righteous Governor, and judge all who act with pride and insolence. 4 It was you who destroyed the former workers of unrighteousness, among whom were the giants, who trusted in their strength and daring, by covering them with a measureless flood. 5 It was you who made the Sodomites, those workers of exceeding iniquity, men notorious for their vices, an example to later generations, when you covered them with fire and brimstone.

100 BCE – 70 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Maccabees

References

"... 1 Enoch 7:3-5 ... In later literature, the giants' wickedness and God's punishment of it become proverbial, more so than the example of their fathers, the watchers. In Jubilees 7:22-23 the present passage is paraphrased with an emphasis on their violence. Sirach 16:7 speaks of their rebellion. They are one of a series of examples of God's not pardoning or showing pity to sinners. Similarly, 3 Maccabees 2:4 mentions them (as in Sirach 16:7, followed immediately by Sodom) in a catalog of sinners who were punished. Another such catalog of sinners appears in the Damascus Document 2:17-3:12. The giants and their fathers are said to have fallen, perhaps a play on the name nephilim. Wisdom of Solomon 14:6 mentions in passing that they were arrogant. In 1 Baruch 3:26-28 the giants are the example par excellence, and the only example, of folly ... the passage appears to depend both on Genesis 6:4 and the Enochic version with its reference to their destruction ..."

George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 186.

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

1 Enoch108 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 7:2 and 3 Maccabees 2:4

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 7:2

3 Maccabees 2:4

References

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