1 Enoch

About this book

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 Genesis 6:4 and 1 Enoch 7:2 and Baruch 3:26

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Deuterocanon

Summary

1 Enoch and Baruch echo Genesis 6 and similarly reshape the story of the giants into a warning. Genesis describes the Nephilim as ancient warriors, and these later texts portray them as figures of arrogance whose downfall highlights divine judgment.

Passages

Genesis 6:4

Hebrew Bible

3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men. 5 But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

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

Baruch 3:26

Deuterocanon

24 O Israel, how great is the house of God! How large is the place of his possession! 25 It is great and has no end. It is high and unmeasurable. 26 Giants were born that were famous of old, great of stature, and expert in war. 27 God didn’t choose these, nor did he give the way of knowledge to them, 28 so they perished, because they had no wisdom. They perished through their own foolishness.

200–50 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Baruch

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 Genesis 6:4 and 1 Enoch 7:2 and Baruch 3:26

Summary

Passages

Genesis 6:4

1 Enoch 7:2

Baruch 3:26

References

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