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 Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 25

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

Summary

The Christian theologian Athenagoras draws on 1 Enoch's story of angels who took wives and fathered giants. He identifies the giants' disembodied souls as demons who mislead people, while the fallen angels themselves are responsible for false religion.

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

Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 25

Early Christian · Embassy for the Christians

These angels, then, who have fallen from heaven, and haunt the air and the earth, and are no longer able to rise to heavenly things, and the souls of the giants, which are the demons who wander about the world, perform actions similar, the one (that is, the demons) to the natures they have received, the other (that is, the angels) to the appetites they have indulged. But the prince of matter, as may be seen merely from what transpires, exercises a control and management contrary to the good that is in God: Ofttimes this anxious thought has crossed my mind, Whether 'tis chance or deity that rules The small affairs of men; and, spite of hope As well as justice, drives to exile some Stripped of all means of life, while others still Continue to enjoy prosperity.

175–180 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians

References

"... Much of the segment in question, from the Embassy 24-25, was quoted above in the first part of this chapter. The apologist uses the Watcher story much as Justin did: the angels who sinned with women became the fathers of giants; the souls of these giants are the demons who mislead people and, along with the angels, give rise to false religion ..."

James C. VanderKam and William Adler, eds., The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity, CRINT 3.4 (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1993), 65.

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 Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 25

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 7:2

Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 25

References

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