1 Enoch 18
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1I saw the treasuries of all the winds: I saw how He had furnished with them the whole creation and the firm foundations of the earth.
2And I saw the corner-stone of the earth: I saw the four winds which bear [the earth and] the firmament of the heaven.
3And I saw how the winds stretch out the vaults of heaven, and have their station between heaven and earth: these are the pillars of the heaven.
4I saw the winds of heaven which turn and bring the circumference of the sun and all the stars to their setting.
5I saw the winds on the earth carrying the clouds: I saw the paths of the angels. I saw at the end of the earth the firmament of the heaven above.
6And I proceeded and saw a place which burns day and night, where there are seven mountains of magnificent stones, three towards the east, and three towards the south.
7And as for those towards the east, one was of coloured stone, and one of pearl, and one of jacinth, and those towards the south of red stone.
8But the middle one reached to heaven like the throne of God, of alabaster, and the summit of the throne was of sapphire.
9And I saw a flaming fire.
10And beyond these mountains Is a region the end of the great earth: there the heavens were completed.
11And I saw a deep abyss, with columns of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns of fire fall, which were beyond measure alike towards the height and towards the depth.
12And beyond that abyss I saw a place which had no firmament of the heaven above, and no firmly founded earth beneath it: there was no water upon it, and no birds, but it was a waste and horrible place.
13I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I inquired regarding them,
14The angel said: ‘This place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars and the host of heaven.
15And the stars which roll over the fire are they which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their appointed times.
16And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time when their guilt should be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.’
The chapter, studied
The Cornerstone of the Earth, and a Prison Built for Fallen Stars
Enoch is shown the treasuries of the winds, the earth's cornerstone, and the pillars that hold up heaven. He sees seven mountains of jeweled stone with a throne-like central peak, and beyond them a desolate place with no firmament or foundation: a prison for stars that broke their appointed courses and did not rise at their proper time.
The chapter continues the cosmic-geography tour begun in chapter 17, but its final scene turns the astronomical imagery back toward the book's central theme. The seven jeweled mountains, one "of alabaster" reaching "to heaven like the throne of God" with a summit "of sapphire," recall the crystal throne of chapter 14 in miniature, planted now in the physical landscape rather than the heavenly court.
The chapter's last scene is its most pointed: seven stars "like great burning mountains" bound in a desolate place because they "transgressed the commandment of the Lord... and did not come forth at their appointed times." The angel explains plainly that this is a prison, and that the stars are held there until their guilt is consummated. Stars standing for disobedient angels is not incidental imagery in this book: chapter 21 will return to it directly, and the same figure surfaces independently in the New Testament.
Read against chapters 2-5's opening argument: that the luminaries "do not change their orbits" and never "transgress" their order: this closing image lands hard: even among the stars, held up earlier as creation's most faithful witnesses, a few have broken rank, and they answer for it exactly as the Watchers do.
The disobedient stars bound here for breaking their appointed order are this book's astronomical figure for the fallen Watchers themselves, the same beings bound in chapter 10, reinforcing the site's reading of Genesis 6 as an account of real angelic transgression rather than a merely human dynastic dispute.
Doors into the 66
- Job 38:4 — "Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?" and the cornerstone of the earth in Job's whirlwind speech stand beside Enoch being shown the same cornerstone and pillars of heaven.
- Jude 1:13 — Jude's "wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever" echoes the same figure of disobedient stars bound in a dark prison until judgment.
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.
Michael S. Heiser
A Companion to the Book of Enoch: A Reader's Commentary, Vol. I — The Book of the Watchers (2019)
A verse-by-verse reader's commentary on chapters 1–36: the closest thing in print to a study Bible for this section.
1I saw the treasuries of all the winds: I saw how He had furnished with them the whole creation and the firm foundations of the earth.
2And I saw the corner-stone of the earth: I saw the four winds which bear [the earth and] the firmament of the heaven.
3And I saw how the winds stretch out the vaults of heaven, and have their station between heaven and earth: these are the pillars of the heaven.
4I saw the winds of heaven which turn and bring the circumference of the sun and all the stars to their setting.
5I saw the winds on the earth carrying the clouds: I saw the paths of the angels. I saw at the end of the earth the firmament of the heaven above.
6And I proceeded and saw a place which burns day and night, where there are seven mountains of magnificent stones, three towards the east, and three towards the south.
7And as for those towards the east, one was of coloured stone, and one of pearl, and one of jacinth, and those towards the south of red stone.
8But the middle one reached to heaven like the throne of God, of alabaster, and the summit of the throne was of sapphire.
9And I saw a flaming fire.
10And beyond these mountains Is a region the end of the great earth: there the heavens were completed.
11And I saw a deep abyss, with columns of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns of fire fall, which were beyond measure alike towards the height and towards the depth.
12And beyond that abyss I saw a place which had no firmament of the heaven above, and no firmly founded earth beneath it: there was no water upon it, and no birds, but it was a waste and horrible place.
13I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I inquired regarding them,
14The angel said: ‘This place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars and the host of heaven.
15And the stars which roll over the fire are they which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their appointed times.
16And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time when their guilt should be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.’
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.