Three Retellings in 1 Enoch (English) in: Near East – Hebrew
The fall of angels
6:1In those days, when the children of man had multiplied, it happened that there were born unto them handsome and beautiful daughters. 2 And the angels, the children of heaven, saw them and desired them; and they said to one another, “Come, let us choose wives for ourselves from among the daughters of man and beget us children.” 3 And Semyaz, being their leader, said unto them, “I fear that perhaps you will not consent that this deed should be done, and I alone will become (responsible) for this great sin.” 4 But they all responded to him, “Let us all swear an oath and bind everyone among us by a curse not to abandon this suggestion but to do the deed.” 5 Then they all swore together and bound one another by (the curse). 6 And they were altogether two hundred; and they descended into ‘Ardos, which is the summit of Hermon. And they called the mount Armon, for they swore and bound one another by a curse. 7 And their names are as follows: Semyaz, the leader of Arakeb, Rame’el, Tam’el, Ram’el, Dan’el, Ezeqel, Baraqyal, As’el, Armaros, Batar’el, Anan’el, Zaqe’el, Sasomasp e’el, Kestar’el, Tur’el, Yamayol, and Arazyal. 8 These are their chiefs of tens and of all the others with them.
7:1And they took wives unto themselves, and everyone (respectively) chose one woman for himself, and they began to go unto them. And they taught them magical medicine, incantations, the cutting of roots, and taught them (about) plants. 2 And the women became pregnant and gave birth to great giants whose heights were three hundred cubits. 3 These (giants) consumed the produce of all the people until the people detested feeding them. 4 So the giants turned against (the people) in order to eat them. 5 And they began to sin against birds, wild beasts, reptiles, and fish. And their flesh was devoured the one by the other, and they drank blood. 6 And then the earth brought an accusation against the oppressors.
8:1And Azaz’el taught the people (the art of) making swords and knives, and shields, and breastplates; and he showed to their chosen ones bracelets, decorations, (shadowing of the eye) with antimony, ornamentation, the beautifying of the eyelids, all kinds of precious stones, and all coloring tinctures and alchemy. 2 And there were many wicked ones and they committed adultery and erred, and all their conduct became corrupt. 3 Amasras taught incantation and the cutting of roots; and Armaros the resolving of incantations; and Baraqiyal astrology, and Kokarer’el (the knowledge of) the signs, and Tam’el taught the seeing of the stars, and Asder’el taught the course of the moon as well as the deception of man. 4 And (the people) cried and their voice reached unto heaven.
9:1Then Michael, Surafel, and Gabriel observed carefully from the sky and they saw much blood being shed upon the earth, and all the oppression being wrought upon the earth. 2 And they said to one another, “The earth, (from) her empty (foundation), has brought the cry of their voice unto the gates of heaven. 3 And now, [O] holy ones of heaven, the souls of people are putting their case before you pleading, ‘Bring our judgment before the Most High.’ ” 4 And they said to the Lord of the potentates, “For he is the Lord of lords, and the God of gods, and the King of kings, and the seat of his glory (stands) throughout all the generations of the world. Your name is holy, and blessed, and glorious throughout the whole world. 5 You have made everything and with you is the authority for everything. Everything is naked and open before your sight, and you see everything; and there is nothing which can hide itself from you. 6 You see what Azaz’el has done; how he has taught all (forms of) oppression upon the earth. And they revealed eternal secrets which are performed in heaven (and which) man learned. 7 (Moreover) Semyaz, to whom you have given power to rule over his companions, co-operating, they went in unto the daughters of the people on earth; and they lay together with them—with those women—and defiled themselves, and revealed to them every (kind of) sin. 9 As for the women, they gave birth to giants to the degree that the whole earth was filled with blood and oppression. 10 And now behold, the Holy One will cry, and those who have died will bring their suit up to the gate of heaven. Their groaning has ascended (into heaven), but they could not get out from before the face of the oppression that is being wrought on earth. 11 And you know everything (even) before it came to existence, and you see (this thing) (but) you do not tell us what is proper for us that we may do regarding it.”
10:1And then spoke the Most High, the Great and Holy One! And he sent Asuryal to the son of Lamech, (saying), 2 “Tell him in my name, ‘Hide yourself!’ and reveal to him the end of what is coming; for the earth and everything will be destroyed. And the Deluge is about to come upon all the earth; and all that is in it will be destroyed. 3 And now instruct him in order that he may flee, and his seed will be preserved for all generations.” 4 And secondly the Lord said to Raphael “Bind Azaz’el hand and foot (and) throw him into the darkness!” And he made a hole in the desert which was in Duda’el and cast him there; 5 he threw on top of him rugged and sharp rocks. And he covered his face in order that he may not see light; 6 and in order that he may be sent into the fire on the great day of judgment. 7 And give life to the earth which the angels have corrupted. And he will proclaim life for the earth: that he is giving life to her. And all the children of the people will not perish through all the secrets (of the angels), which they taught to their sons. 8 And the whole earth has been corrupted by Azaz’el’s teaching of his (own) actions; and write upon him all sin. 9 And to Gabriel the Lord said, “Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates and against the children of adultery; and destroy the children of adultery and expel the children of the Watchers from among the people. And send them against one another (so that) they may be destroyed in the fight, for length of days have they not. 10 They will beg you everything—for their fathers on behalf of themselves—because they hope to live an eternal life. (They hope) that each one of them will live a period of five hundred years.” 11 And to Michael God said, “Make known to Semyaza and the others who are with him, who fornicated with the women, that they will die together with them in all their defilement. 12 And when they and all their children have battled with each other, and when they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them for seventy generations underneath the rocks of the ground until the day of their judgment and of their consummation, until the eternal judgment is concluded. 13 In those days they will lead them into the bottom of the fire—and in torment—in the prison (where) they will be locked up forever. 14 And at the time when they will burn and die, those who collaborated with them will be bound together with them from henceforth unto the end of (all) generations. 15 And destroy all the souls of pleasure and the children of the Watchers, for they have done injustice to man. 16 Destroy injustice from the face of the earth. And every iniquitous deed will end, and the plant of righteousness and truth will appear forever and he will plant joy. 17 And then all the righteous ones will escape; and become the living ones until they multiply and become tens of hundreds; and all the days of their youth and the years of their retirement they will complete in peace. 18 And in those days the whole earth will be worked in righteousness, all of her planted with trees, and will find blessing. 19 And they shall plant pleasant trees upon her—vines. And he who plants a vine upon her will produce wine for plenitude. And every seed that is sown on her, one measure will yield a thousand (measures) and one measure of olives will yield ten measures of presses of oil. 20 And you cleanse the earth from all injustice, and from all defilement, and from all oppression, and from all sin, and from all iniquity which is being done on earth; remove them from the earth. 21 And all the children of the people will become righteous, and all nations shall worship and bless me; and they will all prostrate themselves to me. 22 And the earth shall be cleansed from all pollution, and from all sin, and from all plague, and from all suffering; and it shall not happen again that I shall send (these) upon the earth from generation to generation and forever.
11:1″And in those days I shall open the storerooms of blessing which are in the heavens, so that I shall send them down upon the earth, over the work and the toil of the children of man. 2 And peace and truth shall become partners together in all the days of the world, and in all the generations of the world.”
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54 (…)
The great judgment of the Flood
7 And in those days, the punishment of the Lord of the Spirits shall be carried out and they shall open all the storerooms of water in the heavens above, in addition to the fountains of water which are on earth. 8 And all the waters shall be united with (all) other waters. That which is from the heavens above is masculine water (whereas) that which is underneath the earth is feminine. 9 And they shall obliterate all those that dwell upon the earth as well as those that dwell underneath the ultimate ends of heaven. 10 On account of the fact that they did not recognize their oppressive deeds which they carried out on the earth, they shall be destroyed by (the Flood).
55:1And after that the Antecedent of Time repented and said, “In vain have I destroyed all those who dwell in the earth.” 2 And he swore by his own great name that from thenceforth he would not do (as he had done) to all who live upon the earth. (And he said), “I shall put up a sign in the heavens, and it shall become a (symbol) of faith between me and them forever, so long as heaven is above the earth, which is in accordance with my command.
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The Great Flood
89:1Then one of those four went to those snow-white bovids and taught (one of them)a secret: he was born a bovid but became a person; and he built for himself a big boat and dwelt upon it. Three cows dwelt together with him in that boat, and that boat was covered (over) them. 2 Again I raised my eyes toward heaven, and saw a lofty ceiling with seven cascading streams upon it; and those cascading streams flowed with much water into one enclosed area. 3 Again I saw, and behold, fountains were opened upon the ground of that great enclosed area, and the water began to swell and rise upon the ground; and I saw that enclosed area until the whole ground was (completely) covered with water. 4 Water, darkness, and mist accumulated heavily upon it; and I looked at the ascent of that water going up and up until it rose above that enclosed area, and was streaming above the enclosed area; thus it was standing above the ground. 5 And everything that was in the enclosed area; and (all those on the ground) were gathered together until I saw them sinking, being swallowed up, and perishing in that water. 6 Yet that boat was floating above the water, though all the cattle, elephants, camels, and donkeys were sinking to the bottom; so I could (no longer) see any one of the animals (for) they had no ability to come out but (only) to perish and sink into the deep water. 7 Again I kept seeing in the vision until those cascading streams were dissipated from that high ceiling, the fountains of the earth were normalized, and other pits were opened. 8 Then the water began to descend into them until the ground became visible, that boat settled upon the earth, the darkness vanished, and it became light. 9 Then the snow-white cow which became a man came out from that boat together with three cows. One of those three cows was snow-white, similar to that (first) cow, and one of them red like blood. Now that (first) snow-white cow departed from them.
(d.i) Ethiopian — (d.ii) Nickelsburg & VanderKam (2012) — (d.iii) Isaac (1983) — (d.iv) Charles (1912) — (d.v) Secondary sources
– Isaac, E., “1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) ENOCH”, in: Charlesworth, James H. (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature & Testaments, Volume 1, (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1983), pp. 15-19, 38, 64.
Flood Stories 