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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 99

1 Woe to you who engage in godlessness, and glory in lying and praise them: You shall perish, and no happy life shall be yours. 2 Woe to those who distort the words of truth, and violate the eternal law,⁠ and transform themselves into what they were not [into sinners]: They shall be trodden underfoot upon the earth. 3 In those days, prepare yourselves, righteous ones, to raise your prayers as a memorial, and set them as a testimony before the angels, so that they may present the sins of the sinners as a memorial before the Most High.⁠ 4 In those days the nations shall be stirred up, and the families of the nations shall rise on the day of destruction.⁠ 5 And in those days the impoverished shall go forth and carry off their children, and they shall abandon them, so that their children shall perish through them: Yes, they shall abandon their suckling children and not return to them, and shall have no pity on their loved ones. 6 And again I swear to you, sinners, that sin is prepared for a day of unceasing bloodshed.⁠ 7 And those who worship stones, and carved images of gold, silver, wood, stone, and clay, and those who worship impure spirits and demons, and all kinds of idols not according to knowledge, shall receive no help from them.⁠ 8 And they shall become godless by reason of the folly of their hearts, and their eyes shall be blinded through the fear of their hearts and through visions in their dreams.⁠ 9 Through these, they shall become godless and fearful; for they shall have conducted all their work in a lie, and shall have worshiped a stone: Therefore, they shall perish instantly. 10 But in those days, blessed are all who accept the words of wisdom, understand them, observe the paths of the Most High, and walk in the path of His righteousness, and do not become godless with the godless; for they shall be saved. 11 Woe to you who spread evil to your neighbors; for you shall be slain in Sheol. 12 Woe to you who make deceitful and false measures, and to those who cause bitterness on the earth; for they shall be utterly consumed. 13 Woe to you who build your houses through the grievous toil of others, and all their building materials are the bricks and stones of sin; I tell you, you shall have no peace. 14 Woe to those who reject the measure and eternal heritage of their fathers and whose souls follow after idols; for they shall have no rest. 15 Woe to those who commit unrighteousness, aid oppression, and slay their neighbors until the day of the great judgment. 16 For He shall cast down your glory, inflict affliction on your hearts, arouse His fierce indignation, and destroy you all with the sword; and all the holy and righteous shall remember your sins.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 99:6 and Tertullian, On Idolatry 4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

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Summary

The Christian theologian Tertullian connects the worship of idols to the rebellion of angels described in 1 Enoch, showing how early Christian tradition used 1 Enoch as an authentic and authoritative source of theology.

Passages

1 Enoch 99:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
4 In those days the nations shall be stirred up, and the families of the nations shall rise on the day of destruction. 5 And in those days the impoverished shall go forth and carry off their children, and they shall abandon them, so that their children shall perish through them: Yes, they shall abandon their suckling children and not return to them, and shall have no pity on their loved ones. 6 And again I swear to you, sinners, that sin is prepared for a day of unceasing bloodshed. 7 And those who worship stones, and carved images of gold, silver, wood, stone, and clay, and those who worship impure spirits and demons, and all kinds of idols not according to knowledge, shall receive no help from them. 8 And they shall become godless by reason of the folly of their hearts, and their eyes shall be blinded through the fear of their hearts and through visions in their dreams.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Tertullian, On Idolatry 4

Early Christian
Enoch had already predicted that the demons and the spirits of the apostate angels would turn all the elements, the whole stock of the world, whatever is contained in heaven, in the sea, and on earth, into idolatry, so that they would be consecrated as God against God. So human error worships all things except the founder of all things Himself. Their images are idols; the consecration of the images is idolatry. Whatever idolatry commits must be charged to every maker of any idol whatever. Indeed, the same Enoch condemns in advance, in his threat, both the worshipers and the makers of idols together. And again: “I swear to you, sinners, that for the day of blood and of destruction sorrow is prepared. You who serve stones, and you who make images of gold and silver and wood and stone and clay, and serve phantoms and demons and infernal spirits and all errors not according to knowledge, you will find no help from them.” And Isaiah says: “You are witnesses whether there is a God besides me.
200–210 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tertullian, On Idolatry

References

"... Tertullian has several references to the teaching of the fallen angels, some closely dependent on 1 Enoch chapters 7-8, and chapter 36, as in "On Women's Apparel" book 1, chapter 2; book 2, chapter 10, where the details of the magic arts, metallurgy, and especially the arts of female adornment are culled from the Greek version of 1 Enoch chapters 7-8. Astrology is also mentioned in "On Women's Apparel" book 1, chapter 2; "On Idolatry" chapter 9. But, like Irenaeus, Tertullian also attributes idolatry to the fallen angels, or rather, revealing his dependence on 1 Enoch chapter 19, verse 1, to "the demons and the spirits of the angelic apostates" ("On Idolatry" chapter 4; compare chapter 3; and also compare "The Apology" chapter 22 on the demonic offspring of the fallen angels as the source of both diseases and pagan religious healings) ..."
Richard Bauckham, “The Fall of the Angels as the Source of Philosophy in Hermias and Clement of Alexandria,” VC 39.4 (1985): 320.

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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1 Enoch 99:6 and Tertullian, On Idolatry 4

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