1 Enoch 100
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And in those days in one place the fathers together with their sons shall be smitten And brothers one with another shall fall in death Till the streams flow with their blood.
2For a man shall not withhold his hand from slaying his sons and his sons’ sons, And the sinner shall not withhold his hand from his honoured brother: From dawn till sunset they shall slay one another.
3And the horse shall walk up to the breast in the blood of sinners, And the chariot shall be submerged to its height.
4In those days the angels shall descend into the secret places And gather together into one place all those who brought down sin, And the Most High will arise on that day of judgement To execute great judgement amongst sinners.
5And over all the righteous and holy He will appoint guardians from amongst the holy angels To guard them as the apple of an eye, Until He makes an end of all wickedness and all sin, And though the righteous sleep a long sleep, they have nought to fear.
6And (then) the children of the earth shall see the wise in security, And shall understand all the words of this book, And recognize that their riches shall not be able to save them In the overthrow of their sins.
7Woe to you, Sinners, on the day of strong anguish, Ye who afflict the righteous and burn them with fire: Ye shall be requited according to your works.
8Woe to you, ye obstinate of heart, Who watch in order to devise wickedness: Therefore shall fear come upon you And there shall be none to help you.
9Woe to you, ye sinners, on account of the words of your mouth, And on account of the deeds of your hands which your godlessness has wrought, In blazing flames burning worse than fire shall ye burn.
10And now, know ye that from the angels He will inquire as to your deeds in heaven, from the sun and from the moon and from the stars in reference to your sins because upon the earth ye execute judgement on the righteous.
11And He will summon to testify against you every cloud and mist and dew and rain; for they shall all be withheld because of you from descending upon you, and they shall be mindful of your sins.
12And now give presents to the rain that it be not withheld from descending upon you, nor yet the dew, when it has received gold and silver from you that it may descend.
13When the hoar-frost and snow with their chilliness, and all the snow-storms with all their plagues fall upon you, in those days ye shall not be able to stand before them.
The chapter, studied
Brother Against Brother, Angels Guarding the Righteous Like the Apple of an Eye
Enoch describes a coming slaughter so severe that even families turn against each other and blood flows like a flood. Angels descend to gather up those responsible for spreading sin, while other angels are appointed to guard the righteous "as the apple of an eye." The chapter closes by warning sinners that the sun, moon, stars, clouds, and even the frost and snow will testify against them.
The opening battle-scene is deliberately extreme: "the horse shall walk up to the breast in the blood of sinners, and the chariot shall be submerged to its height" (v.3): hyperbole meant to communicate total scale rather than a literal measurement, the kind of overwhelming-blood image apocalyptic writing reaches for to say: this judgment touches everything.
Against that violence, v.5 sets a gentler, older image: God appoints "guardians from amongst the holy angels to guard them as the apple of an eye." That phrase for careful, precious protection goes back to the Torah's own language for how God kept His people, and it recasts the chapter's violence: judgment falls on the guilty, but the righteous are watched over individually and tenderly even inside it.
The chapter's last section personifies creation as a witness for the prosecution: clouds, mist, dew, rain, frost, and snow are all said to testify against oppressors and to be withheld because of their sins (vv.10-13). Even gold and silver offered to buy the rain's return (v.12) cannot bribe a natural order that keeps a moral memory.
Doors into the 66
- Revelation 14:20 — blood "submerged to its height" of the chariot echoes the blood that came out of the winepress "even unto the horse bridles".
- Deuteronomy 32:10 — "guard them as the apple of an eye" matches the Song of Moses' own picture of God keeping Israel "as the apple of his eye".
- Psalms 17:8 — "as the apple of an eye" echoes the psalmist's own plea, "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings".
Teachers on this ground
R. H. Charles
The Book of Enoch (1917)
The public-domain translation this shelf reads, with the critical introduction the field still builds on.
Johnny Enlow
The Book of Enoch: Paraphrase and Commentary (2025)
A living teacher's paraphrase of the whole book with his own running commentary, from the prophetic stream.
1And in those days in one place the fathers together with their sons shall be smitten And brothers one with another shall fall in death Till the streams flow with their blood.
2For a man shall not withhold his hand from slaying his sons and his sons’ sons, And the sinner shall not withhold his hand from his honoured brother: From dawn till sunset they shall slay one another.
3And the horse shall walk up to the breast in the blood of sinners, And the chariot shall be submerged to its height.
4In those days the angels shall descend into the secret places And gather together into one place all those who brought down sin, And the Most High will arise on that day of judgement To execute great judgement amongst sinners.
5And over all the righteous and holy He will appoint guardians from amongst the holy angels To guard them as the apple of an eye, Until He makes an end of all wickedness and all sin, And though the righteous sleep a long sleep, they have nought to fear.
6And (then) the children of the earth shall see the wise in security, And shall understand all the words of this book, And recognize that their riches shall not be able to save them In the overthrow of their sins.
7Woe to you, Sinners, on the day of strong anguish, Ye who afflict the righteous and burn them with fire: Ye shall be requited according to your works.
8Woe to you, ye obstinate of heart, Who watch in order to devise wickedness: Therefore shall fear come upon you And there shall be none to help you.
9Woe to you, ye sinners, on account of the words of your mouth, And on account of the deeds of your hands which your godlessness has wrought, In blazing flames burning worse than fire shall ye burn.
10And now, know ye that from the angels He will inquire as to your deeds in heaven, from the sun and from the moon and from the stars in reference to your sins because upon the earth ye execute judgement on the righteous.
11And He will summon to testify against you every cloud and mist and dew and rain; for they shall all be withheld because of you from descending upon you, and they shall be mindful of your sins.
12And now give presents to the rain that it be not withheld from descending upon you, nor yet the dew, when it has received gold and silver from you that it may descend.
13When the hoar-frost and snow with their chilliness, and all the snow-storms with all their plagues fall upon you, in those days ye shall not be able to stand before them.
The language it was written in
Aramaic (the Qumran fragments' language); parts possibly Hebrew. The Parables (chs. 37–71) have no Qumran witness and their original language is debated.
What survives, and where
Aramaic: Dead Sea Scrolls
Eleven fragmentary manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4 covering every section except the Parables (3rd c. BC – 1st c. AD).
Greek
Substantial portions: chs. 1–32 (Codex Panopolitanus), quotations in Syncellus, and the Chester Beatty papyrus of the Epistle.
Ge’ez (Ethiopic)
The only complete text, preserved by the Ethiopian church, whose canon receives the book; the base of every full translation.
What you are reading here
R. H. Charles's 1917 English translation, made from the Ge’ez against the Greek and Aramaic evidence then known — public domain, quotable in full.
No tagged word floor exists for the Aramaic or Ge’ez text; word-by-word study on this shelf awaits a future ingest. What stands here is the manuscript story itself.