1 Enoch 59
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1[In those days mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightnings, and of the lights, and the judgements they execute (lit. ‘their judgement’): and they lighten for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of Spirits willeth.
2And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, and how when it resounds above in the heaven, the sound thereof is heard, and he caused me to see the judgements executed on the earth, whether they be for well-being and blessing, or for a curse according to the word of the Lord of Spirits.
3And after that all the secrets of the lights and lightnings were shown to me, and they lighten for blessing and for satisfying.]
The chapter, studied
The Secrets of Lightning and Thunder
In a short, bracketed section, Enoch is shown the secrets of lightning and thunder: how they resound in the heavens and execute divine judgments on earth, whether for blessing or for a curse, entirely "according to the word of the Lord of Spirits."
This brief chapter is marked in the source itself as uncertain material, yet it fits the pattern already established earlier in the Parables of pairing cosmic phenomena with moral order: even lightning and thunder are not random but "lighten for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of Spirits willeth."
The chapter's brevity gives it the character of a preview: a short reminder of the astronomical secrets that will occupy the whole of the Astronomical Book once the Parables conclude at chapter 71.
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.
1[In those days mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightnings, and of the lights, and the judgements they execute (lit. ‘their judgement’): and they lighten for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of Spirits willeth.
2And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, and how when it resounds above in the heaven, the sound thereof is heard, and he caused me to see the judgements executed on the earth, whether they be for well-being and blessing, or for a curse according to the word of the Lord of Spirits.
3And after that all the secrets of the lights and lightnings were shown to me, and they lighten for blessing and for satisfying.]
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.