1 Enoch 50
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And in those days a change shall take place for the holy and elect, And the light of days shall abide upon them, And glory and honour shall turn to the holy,
2On the day of affliction on which evil shall have been treasured up against the sinners. And the righteous shall be victorious in the name of the Lord of Spirits: And He will cause the others to witness (this) That they may repent And forgo the works of their hands.
3They shall have no honour through the name of the Lord of Spirits, Yet through His name shall they be saved, And the Lord of Spirits will have compassion on them, For His compassion is great.
4And He is righteous also in His judgement, And in the presence of His glory unrighteousness also shall not maintain itself: At His judgement the unrepentant shall perish before Him.
5And from henceforth I will have no mercy on them, saith the Lord of Spirits.
The chapter, studied
Mercy Even for the Witnesses of Judgment
A change comes for the holy and elect, whose honor turns to glory on the day of affliction reserved for sinners. God will let some witness the elects' victory so that they might repent, and though such latecomers "shall have no honour" through God's name, the chapter says "through His name shall they be saved," for God's compassion is great: while the unrepentant still perish under righteous judgment.
The chapter allows for a surprising note of mercy inside a judgment scene: witnesses to the elects' vindication are given a chance to "repent and forgo the works of their hands," and some of these late repenters are said to be saved "through His name" even without receiving the honor the elect receive. This is corporate, scene-specific mercy language rather than a developed doctrine of individual salvation, and it should be read in that setting rather than imported wholesale into New Testament categories.
The chapter closes by holding both truths together without softening either: God's compassion is great, and yet "the unrepentant shall perish before Him." Mercy extended is not mercy owed.
Doors into the 66
- Acts 4:12 — "Through His name shall they be saved" stands beside Peter's declaration that salvation is found in no other name than Jesus': though 1 Enoch's "name" here is the Lord of Spirits within its own scene, not a claim about Jesus.
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 in those days a change shall take place for the holy and elect, And the light of days shall abide upon them, And glory and honour shall turn to the holy,
2On the day of affliction on which evil shall have been treasured up against the sinners. And the righteous shall be victorious in the name of the Lord of Spirits: And He will cause the others to witness (this) That they may repent And forgo the works of their hands.
3They shall have no honour through the name of the Lord of Spirits, Yet through His name shall they be saved, And the Lord of Spirits will have compassion on them, For His compassion is great.
4And He is righteous also in His judgement, And in the presence of His glory unrighteousness also shall not maintain itself: At His judgement the unrepentant shall perish before Him.
5And from henceforth I will have no mercy on them, saith the Lord of Spirits.
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.