1 Enoch 43
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And I saw other lightnings and the stars of heaven, and I saw how He called them all by their names and they hearkened unto Him.
2And I saw how they are weighed in a righteous balance according to their proportions of light: (I saw) the width of their spaces and the day of their appearing, and how their revolution produces lightning: and (I saw) their revolution according to the number of the angels, and (how) they keep faith with each other.
3And I asked the angel who went with me who showed me what was hidden: ‘What are these?’
4And he said to me: ‘The Lord of Spirits hath showed thee their parabolic meaning (lit. 'their parable'): these are the names of the holy who dwell on the earth and believe in the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.’
The chapter, studied
The Stars Have Names: A Parable of the Faithful
Enoch sees stars and lightnings "weighed in a righteous balance" by their brightness and asks his angel guide what they mean. He is told this is "their parable": the stars stand for "the names of the holy who dwell on the earth and believe in the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever."
The chapter is explicit that this is a parable: the stars are not merely admired for their order but are told to Enoch as a coded picture of the faithful on earth, "weighed" for their proportion of light exactly as human deeds were weighed in chapter 41. The astronomical and moral threads of the book are woven together here on purpose.
Doors into the 66
- Daniel 12:3 — "They that turn many to righteousness" shining "as the stars for ever and ever" matches the chapter's picture of the righteous named as stars.
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.
1And I saw other lightnings and the stars of heaven, and I saw how He called them all by their names and they hearkened unto Him.
2And I saw how they are weighed in a righteous balance according to their proportions of light: (I saw) the width of their spaces and the day of their appearing, and how their revolution produces lightning: and (I saw) their revolution according to the number of the angels, and (how) they keep faith with each other.
3And I asked the angel who went with me who showed me what was hidden: ‘What are these?’
4And he said to me: ‘The Lord of Spirits hath showed thee their parabolic meaning (lit. 'their parable'): these are the names of the holy who dwell on the earth and believe in the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.’
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.