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

Giants Born From Fallen Angels and Women in 1 Enoch 7 and Tertullian

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

Summary

The Christian theologian Tertullian refers to giants born from the union of angels and women as the origin of sin, following the narrative in 1 Enoch, demonstrating how early Christian tradition used it as an authoritative source of history and theology.

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. 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.

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

Tertullian, Apology 22

Early Christian

For it also pronounces Satan, the prince of this evil race, with the same word of execration, from the soul's own awareness. Even Plato did not deny angels. The magicians too are at hand as witnesses to both names. But how from certain angels, corrupted of their own will, a more corrupt race of demons arose, condemned by God together with the authors of their race and with that prince we have named, is explained in sequence in the holy writings. For now it will be enough to set out their activity. Their activity is the ruin of man.

197 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tertullian, Apology

References

"... Whether Justin drew directly from the Book of the Watchers is impossible to say with certainty, but it seems most likely that he was dependent upon something closely akin to the work we know by that name. The book’s early composition and widespread circulation from the second century bce on (as documented in Qumran manuscripts), its early translation into Greek, its use as an authoritative source in some of the earliest Christian writings (Jude, 1 Peter, 2 Peter), and Tertullian’s express dependence on “the Scripture of Enoch” for the same traditions (On the Apparel of Women 2-3; see also Apology 22; On Idolatry 4) make it the most likely conduit of the Watchers myth to Justin. Dependence on oral transmission and written materials now lost except as embedded in the extant Enochic works cannot be excluded, but neither should it be privileged over a well-documented literary channel, especially in view of the detail and specificity with which Justin’s presentation of the myth parallels that in the Book of the Watchers ..."

Randall D. Chesnutt, “The Descent of the Watchers and Its Aftermath According to Justin Martyr,” in The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Angela Kim Harkins et al. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014), 167–180.

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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How did the giants sin with birds?

Mackson, January 12, 2024
They did not sin with birds but against birds. What this means is that they ate the flesh and drank the blood of birds which was against the law.

Madge, February 10, 2026

1 Enoch108 chapters

Giants Born From Fallen Angels and Women in 1 Enoch 7 and Tertullian

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 7:2

Tertullian, Apology 22

References

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