1 Enoch 39
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1[And it shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children will descend from the high heaven, and their seed will become one with the children of men.
2And in those days Enoch received books of zeal and wrath, and books of disquiet and expulsion.] And mercy shall not be accorded to them, saith the Lord of Spirits.
3And in those days a whirlwind carried me off from the earth, And set me down at the end of the heavens.
4And there I saw another vision, the dwelling-places of the holy, And the resting-places of the righteous.
5Here mine eyes saw their dwellings with His righteous angels, And their resting-places with the holy. And they petitioned and interceded and prayed for the children of men, And righteousness flowed before them as water, And mercy like dew upon the earth: Thus it is amongst them for ever and ever.
6And in that place mine eyes saw the Elect One of righteousness and of faith, And righteousness shall prevail in his days, And the righteous and elect shall be without number before Him for ever and ever.
7And I saw his dwelling-place under the wings of the Lord of Spirits. And all the righteous and elect before Him shall be strong as fiery lights, And their mouth shall be full of blessing, And their lips extol the name of the Lord of Spirits, And righteousness before Him shall never fail, [And uprightness shall never fail before Him.]
8There I wished to dwell, And my spirit longed for that dwelling-place: And there heretofore hath been my portion, For so has it been established concerning me before the Lord of Spirits.
9In those days I praised and extolled the name of the Lord of Spirits with blessings and praises, because He hath destined me for blessing and glory according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits.
10For a long time my eyes regarded that place, and I blessed Him and praised Him, saying: ‘Blessed is He, and may He be blessed from the beginning and for evermore.
11And before Him there is no ceasing. He knows before the world was created what is for ever and what will be from generation unto generation.
12Those who sleep not bless Thee: they stand before Thy glory and bless, praise, and extol, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits: He filleth the earth with spirits.”’
13And here my eyes saw all those who sleep not: they stand before Him and bless and say: ‘Blessed be Thou, and blessed be the name of the Lord for ever and ever.’
14And my face was changed; for I could no longer behold.
The chapter, studied
Under the Wings of the Lord of Spirits
Enoch is carried off "in a whirlwind" to the ends of the heavens, where he sees the dwelling places of the holy and righteous, interceding and praying for humanity while "righteousness flowed before them as water." He sees "the Elect One" for the first time, and hears the angels who "sleep not" cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits."
This chapter is a guided tour of the heavenly realm rather than a discourse: Enoch is shown, not told. The intercession of the righteous dead and the angels ("they petitioned and interceded and prayed for the children of men") pictures heaven as actively engaged on behalf of earth, not indifferent to it.
The threefold cry "Holy, holy, holy" is the chapter's high point, and it is worth noticing that Enoch reports his own reaction plainly: "my face was changed; for I could no longer behold." The vision overwhelms him rather than instructs him from a safe distance.
The opening lines about "elect and holy children" who "descend from the high heaven" and whose "seed will become one with the children of men" are marked in the source as a difficult, likely displaced fragment; the text itself signals the material is disordered here, and a careful reader treats it that way rather than building doctrine on it.
Doors into the 66
- Isaiah 6:3 — The angels' cry "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits" echoes the seraphim's cry before the throne in Isaiah's temple vision.
- Revelation 4:8 — The same threefold "holy, holy, holy" is heard again around God's throne in Revelation's vision.
- Psalms 91:4 — Dwelling "under the wings of the Lord of Spirits" stands beside the Psalmist's picture of trusting refuge under God's 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.
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.
1[And it shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children will descend from the high heaven, and their seed will become one with the children of men.
2And in those days Enoch received books of zeal and wrath, and books of disquiet and expulsion.] And mercy shall not be accorded to them, saith the Lord of Spirits.
3And in those days a whirlwind carried me off from the earth, And set me down at the end of the heavens.
4And there I saw another vision, the dwelling-places of the holy, And the resting-places of the righteous.
5Here mine eyes saw their dwellings with His righteous angels, And their resting-places with the holy. And they petitioned and interceded and prayed for the children of men, And righteousness flowed before them as water, And mercy like dew upon the earth: Thus it is amongst them for ever and ever.
6And in that place mine eyes saw the Elect One of righteousness and of faith, And righteousness shall prevail in his days, And the righteous and elect shall be without number before Him for ever and ever.
7And I saw his dwelling-place under the wings of the Lord of Spirits. And all the righteous and elect before Him shall be strong as fiery lights, And their mouth shall be full of blessing, And their lips extol the name of the Lord of Spirits, And righteousness before Him shall never fail, [And uprightness shall never fail before Him.]
8There I wished to dwell, And my spirit longed for that dwelling-place: And there heretofore hath been my portion, For so has it been established concerning me before the Lord of Spirits.
9In those days I praised and extolled the name of the Lord of Spirits with blessings and praises, because He hath destined me for blessing and glory according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits.
10For a long time my eyes regarded that place, and I blessed Him and praised Him, saying: ‘Blessed is He, and may He be blessed from the beginning and for evermore.
11And before Him there is no ceasing. He knows before the world was created what is for ever and what will be from generation unto generation.
12Those who sleep not bless Thee: they stand before Thy glory and bless, praise, and extol, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits: He filleth the earth with spirits.”’
13And here my eyes saw all those who sleep not: they stand before Him and bless and say: ‘Blessed be Thou, and blessed be the name of the Lord for ever and ever.’
14And my face was changed; for I could no longer behold.
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.