1 Enoch 55
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And after that the Head of Days repented and said: ‘In vain have I destroyed all who dwell on the earth.’
2And He sware by His great name: ‘Henceforth I will not do so to all who dwell on the earth, and I will set a sign in the heaven: and this shall be a pledge of good faith between Me and them for ever, so long as heaven is above the earth. And this is in accordance with My command.
3When I have desired to take hold of them by the hand of the angels on the day of tribulation and pain because of this, I will cause My chastisement and My wrath to abide upon them, saith God, the Lord of Spirits.
4Ye mighty kings who dwell on the earth, ye shall have to behold Mine Elect One, how he sits on the throne of glory and judges Azâzêl, and all his associates, and all his hosts in the name of the Lord of Spirits.’
The chapter, studied
God's Oath Never Again: The Head of Days Repents
God, called "the Head of Days," is said to repent of the destruction already worked on the earth and swears "by His great name" never again to destroy "all who dwell on the earth," setting "a sign in the heaven" as a pledge of good faith. Yet the chastisement is not cancelled outright: it is reserved for "the day of tribulation and pain." The chapter closes with kings summoned to watch "Mine Elect One" judge Azazel and his hosts from the throne of glory.
This short chapter opens the second half of the Second Parable and works as a hinge between the flood-judgment material just given in chapter 54 and the future judgment that follows. The oath "by His great name" and the "sign in the heaven" as "a pledge of good faith" plainly borrow the shape of the Noahic covenant, applying its no-more-flood language to a still-future judgment rather than only the past one.
The chapter holds two things together without contradiction: no more destruction "to all who dwell on the earth" in general, and a specific, targeted "chastisement" reserved for "the day of tribulation and pain." Mercy toward creation as a whole does not erase judgment on the guilty.
Naming Azazel directly as the one "Mine Elect One" judges "in the name of the Lord of Spirits" ties this scene back to the Watchers narrative that opens the book, and forward to the fuller judgment scenes still to come in this Parable.
Azazel, named directly, is judged here by the Elect One "in the name of the Lord of Spirits": the Book of Parables reaching back to the Watchers whose fall opens 1 Enoch, the same fallen "sons of God" of Genesis 6:1-4 that Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 describe as kept for judgment.
Doors into the 66
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 after that the Head of Days repented and said: ‘In vain have I destroyed all who dwell on the earth.’
2And He sware by His great name: ‘Henceforth I will not do so to all who dwell on the earth, and I will set a sign in the heaven: and this shall be a pledge of good faith between Me and them for ever, so long as heaven is above the earth. And this is in accordance with My command.
3When I have desired to take hold of them by the hand of the angels on the day of tribulation and pain because of this, I will cause My chastisement and My wrath to abide upon them, saith God, the Lord of Spirits.
4Ye mighty kings who dwell on the earth, ye shall have to behold Mine Elect One, how he sits on the throne of glory and judges Azâzêl, and all his associates, and all his hosts in the name of 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.