1 Enoch 54
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And I looked and turned to another part of the earth, and saw there a deep valley with burning fire.
2And they brought the kings and the mighty, and began to cast them into this deep valley.
3And there mine eyes saw how they made these their instruments, iron chains of immeasurable weight.
4And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: ‘For whom are these chains being prepared?’
5And he said unto me: ‘These are being prepared for the hosts of Azâzêl, so that they may take them and cast them into the abyss of complete condemnation, and they shall cover their jaws with rough stones as the Lord of Spirits commanded.
6And Michael, and Gabriel, and Raphael, and Phanuel shall take hold of them on that great day, and cast them on that day into the burning furnace, that the Lord of Spirits may take vengeance on them for their unrighteousness in becoming subject to Satan and leading astray those who dwell on the earth.’
7And in those days shall punishment come from the Lord of Spirits, and He will open all the chambers of waters which are above the heavens, and of the fountains which are beneath the earth.
8And all the waters shall be joined with the waters: that which is above the heavens is the masculine, and the water which is beneath the earth is the feminine.
9And they shall destroy all who dwell on the earth and those who dwell under the ends of the heaven.
10And when they have recognized their unrighteousness which they have wrought on the earth, then by these shall they perish.’
The chapter, studied
Chains for Azazel's Host: The Watchers' Judgment Completed
Enoch sees another valley, this one burning, where kings and the mighty are cast in, bound with "iron chains of immeasurable weight." His guide explains these particular chains are for "the hosts of Azâzêl," to be thrown into "the abyss of complete condemnation," where Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Phanuel will seize them and cast them into a burning furnace. The chapter ends with God opening the "chambers of waters" above the heavens and beneath the earth to bring judgment on all who dwell there.
This chapter names Azazel directly and ties the chains and abyss language back to the Watchers narrative from earlier in the book: the same fallen host whose leader Azazel is bound and judged in 1 Enoch's opening chapters is judged again here, with all four named archangels carrying it out together. The closing image, of the waters above the heavens and beneath the earth being opened together to destroy "all who dwell on the earth," deliberately echoes the flood language most students already know from Genesis, reusing that vocabulary of judgment for a still-future scene.
The chapter's closing note, that the wicked perish only "when they have recognized their unrighteousness which they have wrought on the earth", insists judgment is not blind destruction but comes with the guilty party's own recognition of what they did.
Azazel's host, bound in "iron chains of immeasurable weight" and cast into "the abyss of complete condemnation," is the Book of Parables' own return to the Watchers whose fall opens 1 Enoch: the same reading MannaFest holds on Genesis 6, where the "sons of God" of Genesis 6:1-4 are fallen angelic Watchers, witnessed in the New Testament by Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4.
Doors into the 66
- Genesis 7:11 — The "chambers of waters which are above the heavens, and of the fountains which are beneath the earth" being opened directly echoes the windows of heaven and fountains of the great deep breaking open at the Flood.
- Jude 1:6 — Azazel's host bound and held "in the abyss of complete condemnation" stands beside Jude's angels "which kept not their first estate," reserved in "everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."
- 2 Peter 2:4 — The archangels casting Azazel's host into judgment echoes Peter's statement that God "cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."
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 looked and turned to another part of the earth, and saw there a deep valley with burning fire.
2And they brought the kings and the mighty, and began to cast them into this deep valley.
3And there mine eyes saw how they made these their instruments, iron chains of immeasurable weight.
4And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: ‘For whom are these chains being prepared?’
5And he said unto me: ‘These are being prepared for the hosts of Azâzêl, so that they may take them and cast them into the abyss of complete condemnation, and they shall cover their jaws with rough stones as the Lord of Spirits commanded.
6And Michael, and Gabriel, and Raphael, and Phanuel shall take hold of them on that great day, and cast them on that day into the burning furnace, that the Lord of Spirits may take vengeance on them for their unrighteousness in becoming subject to Satan and leading astray those who dwell on the earth.’
7And in those days shall punishment come from the Lord of Spirits, and He will open all the chambers of waters which are above the heavens, and of the fountains which are beneath the earth.
8And all the waters shall be joined with the waters: that which is above the heavens is the masculine, and the water which is beneath the earth is the feminine.
9And they shall destroy all who dwell on the earth and those who dwell under the ends of the heaven.
10And when they have recognized their unrighteousness which they have wrought on the earth, then by these shall they perish.’
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.