1 Enoch 25
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And he said unto me: ‘Enoch, why dost thou ask me regarding the fragrance of the tree, and why dost thou wish to learn the truth?’
2Then I answered him saying: ‘I wish to know about everything, but especially about this tree.’
3And he answered saying: ‘This high mountain which thou hast seen, whose summit is like the throne of God, is His throne, where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when He shall come down to visit the earth with goodness.
4And as for this fragrant tree no mortal is permitted to touch it till the great judgement, when He shall take vengeance on all and bring (everything) to its consummation for ever. It shall then be given to the righteous and holy.
5Its fruit shall be for food to the elect: it shall be transplanted to the holy place, to the temple of the Lord, the Eternal King.
6Then shall they rejoice with joy and be glad, And into the holy place shall they enter; And its fragrance shall be in their bones, And they shall live a long life on earth, Such as thy fathers lived: And in their days shall no sorrow or plague Or torment or calamity touch them.’
7Then blessed I the God of Glory, the Eternal King, who hath prepared such things for the righteous, and hath created them and promised to give to them.
The chapter, studied
The Tree No Hand May Touch
Michael explains that the throne-mountain is where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit when he comes to visit the earth in goodness. The fragrant tree is reserved, no one may touch it until the great judgment, and will then be moved to the temple, its fruit given to the righteous, who will live long, joyful lives free of sorrow.
This chapter makes explicit what chapter 24 only implied: the mountain is a throne reserved for God's own future visitation, and the tree is reserved fruit for "the elect." The line "no mortal is permitted to touch it till the great judgement" keeps the tree under the same eschatological hold as the star-prisoners of chapter 21: access delayed until a fixed future reckoning.
"Its fruit shall be for food to the elect: it shall be transplanted to the holy place, to the temple of the Lord" reads like an early sketch of the tree of life standing in the New Jerusalem in Revelation, feeding the redeemed. The promise of a long life "such as thy fathers lived," with "no sorrow or plague or torment or calamity," reaches for the same restored-Eden hope Isaiah's vision of a renewed creation voices.
Enoch's closing blessing: "the God of Glory, the Eternal King, who hath prepared such things for the righteous" — is the recurring beat of the whole tour: each revelation ends not merely in information but in worship, worth noticing for how differently this ancient apocalyptic literature handles disclosed mystery compared to modern speculation.
Doors into the 66
- Revelation 22:2 — echoes the tree of life yielding fruit for the healing of the nations
- Revelation 2:7 — echoes the promise 'to eat of the tree of life' given to the one who overcomes
- Isaiah 65:17 — stands beside the new heavens and new earth where weeping is heard no more
- Genesis 3:22 — stands beside the tree of life guarded and withheld after the fall
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.
1And he said unto me: ‘Enoch, why dost thou ask me regarding the fragrance of the tree, and why dost thou wish to learn the truth?’
2Then I answered him saying: ‘I wish to know about everything, but especially about this tree.’
3And he answered saying: ‘This high mountain which thou hast seen, whose summit is like the throne of God, is His throne, where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when He shall come down to visit the earth with goodness.
4And as for this fragrant tree no mortal is permitted to touch it till the great judgement, when He shall take vengeance on all and bring (everything) to its consummation for ever. It shall then be given to the righteous and holy.
5Its fruit shall be for food to the elect: it shall be transplanted to the holy place, to the temple of the Lord, the Eternal King.
6Then shall they rejoice with joy and be glad, And into the holy place shall they enter; And its fragrance shall be in their bones, And they shall live a long life on earth, Such as thy fathers lived: And in their days shall no sorrow or plague Or torment or calamity touch them.’
7Then blessed I the God of Glory, the Eternal King, who hath prepared such things for the righteous, and hath created them and promised to give to 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.