1 Enoch 37
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1The second vision which he saw, the vision of wisdom—which Enoch the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw.
2And this is the beginning of the words of wisdom which I lifted up my voice to speak and say to those which dwell on earth: Hear, ye men of old time, and see, ye that come after, the words of the Holy One which I will speak before the Lord of Spirits.
3It were better to declare (them only) to the men of old time, but even from those that come after we will not withhold the beginning of wisdom.
4Till the present day such wisdom has never been given by the Lord of Spirits as I have received according to my insight, according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits by whom the lot of eternal life has been given to me.
5Now three Parables were imparted to me, and I lifted up my voice and recounted them to those that dwell on the earth.
The chapter, studied
The Second Vision Opens: Wisdom for Those Who Come After
Enoch introduces "the second vision which he saw, the vision of wisdom," tracing his own line back through Jared, Mahalalel, Cainan, Enos, Seth, and Adam. He says he was given "three Parables" and lifts his voice to speak them to everyone who dwells on earth, not only to "the men of old time" but to those who come after.
This chapter is the doorway into the Book of Parables (also called the Similitudes), the second of 1 Enoch's five sections: Watchers (1-36), Parables (37-71), Astronomical Book (72-82), Dream Visions (83-90), and the Epistle (91-108). The tone changes here: the giant-and-flood narrative of the Watchers section gives way to a throne-room and judgment vision built around three "Parables," or discourses, of which chapters 38-44 form the first.
A fair note for the student: no copy of the Parables has ever turned up among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, unlike most of the rest of 1 Enoch. Scholars date this section anywhere from the late first century BC to the first century AD, and its composition history remains debated. That uncertainty does not erase its value as a witness to Second Temple Jewish expectation: it simply means the material should be handled with an honest hand rather than treated as settled in date or authorship.
Enoch's insistence that the wisdom is "not withheld" from later generations sets the missionary tone for everything that follows: this vision is written down precisely so it can travel forward in time to readers who were not there to hear it firsthand.
Doors into the 66
- Luke 3:37 — Enoch's line through Jared, Mahalalel, Cainan, Enos, Seth, and Adam matches the same names in Luke's genealogy of Jesus, run in reverse.
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. II — The Parables of Enoch (2020)
The reader's commentary continued into the Son of Man visions of these chapters.
1The second vision which he saw, the vision of wisdom—which Enoch the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw.
2And this is the beginning of the words of wisdom which I lifted up my voice to speak and say to those which dwell on earth: Hear, ye men of old time, and see, ye that come after, the words of the Holy One which I will speak before the Lord of Spirits.
3It were better to declare (them only) to the men of old time, but even from those that come after we will not withhold the beginning of wisdom.
4Till the present day such wisdom has never been given by the Lord of Spirits as I have received according to my insight, according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits by whom the lot of eternal life has been given to me.
5Now three Parables were imparted to me, and I lifted up my voice and recounted them to those that dwell on the earth.
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.