1 Enoch 74
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And I saw another course, a law for her, (and) how according to that law she performs her monthly revolution.
2And all these Uriel, the holy angel who is the leader of them all, showed to me, and their positions, and I wrote down their positions as he showed them to me, and I wrote down their months as they were, and the appearance of their lights till fifteen days were accomplished.
3In single seventh parts she accomplishes all her light in the east, and in single seventh parts accomplishes all her darkness in the west.
4And in certain months she alters her settings, and in certain months she pursues her own peculiar course.
5In two months the moon sets with the sun: in those two middle portals the third and the fourth.
6She goes forth for seven days, and turns about and returns again through the portal where the sun rises, and accomplishes all her light: and she recedes from the sun, and in eight days enters the sixth portal from which the sun goes forth.
7And when the sun goes forth from the fourth portal she goes forth seven days, until she goes forth from the fifth and turns back again in seven days into the fourth portal and accomplishes all her light: and she recedes and enters into the first portal in eight days.
8And she returns again in seven days into the fourth portal from which the sun goes forth.
9Thus I saw their position—how the moons rose and the sun set in those days.
10And if five years are added together the sun has an overplus of thirty days, and all the days which accrue to it for one of those five years, when they are full, amount to 364 days.
11And the overplus of the sun and of the stars amounts to six days: in 5 years 6 days every year come to 30 days: and the moon falls behind the sun and stars to the number of 30 days.
12And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days.
13In 3 years there are 1,092 days, and in 5 years 1,820 days, so that in 8 years there are 2,912 days.
14For the moon alone the days amount in 3 years to 1,062 days, and in 5 years she falls 50 days behind: [i.e. to the sum (of 1,770) there is to be added (1,000 and) 62 days.]
15And in 5 years there are 1,770 days, so that for the moon the days in 8 years amount to 2,832 days.
16[For in 8 years she falls behind to the amount of 80 days], all the days she falls behind in 8 years are 80.
17And the year is accurately completed in conformity with their world-stations and the stations of the sun, which rise from the portals through which it (the sun) rises and sets 30 days.
The chapter, studied
The Reckoning That Will Not Bend
Enoch records the moon's monthly course as shown to him by the angel Uriel, tracking how many days her light takes to fill and empty through each portal. Over three, five, and eight-year spans he works out exactly how far the moon falls behind the sun and stars: thirty days in five years. He states that the sun and stars complete the year "with perfect justice in 364 days," never advancing or delaying "by a single day unto eternity."
This is the driest, most numerical chapter in the book, and that is the point: chapter 74 is the Astronomical Book's clearest statement of its own thesis, that the true calendar runs by the sun's 364 days, not the moon's shorter cycle. Uriel is named again as the one who "showed to me" these positions: the book roots its authority in angelic instruction rather than human observation.
The arithmetic, 1,092 days in 3 years, 1,820 in 5, 2,912 in 8 for the sun; 2,832 for the moon over the same 8 years, is presented as fixed and unwavering: the luminaries "do not advance or delay their position by a single day." For a community that prized a fixed sacred calendar, this insistence on exactness carried real weight: a wrong calendar meant feasts kept on the wrong day.
A Christian reader should notice what the chapter is defending against, even without naming it outright: a lunar or lunisolar reckoning that "falls behind" the true one. Genesis itself grounds the calendar in the luminaries "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" without specifying which cycle governs: the dispute this chapter is arguing is one the Bible itself does not settle.
Doors into the 66
- Genesis 1:14 — The luminaries set "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" is the mandate this chapter's calendar arithmetic is trying to work out precisely.
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.
1And I saw another course, a law for her, (and) how according to that law she performs her monthly revolution.
2And all these Uriel, the holy angel who is the leader of them all, showed to me, and their positions, and I wrote down their positions as he showed them to me, and I wrote down their months as they were, and the appearance of their lights till fifteen days were accomplished.
3In single seventh parts she accomplishes all her light in the east, and in single seventh parts accomplishes all her darkness in the west.
4And in certain months she alters her settings, and in certain months she pursues her own peculiar course.
5In two months the moon sets with the sun: in those two middle portals the third and the fourth.
6She goes forth for seven days, and turns about and returns again through the portal where the sun rises, and accomplishes all her light: and she recedes from the sun, and in eight days enters the sixth portal from which the sun goes forth.
7And when the sun goes forth from the fourth portal she goes forth seven days, until she goes forth from the fifth and turns back again in seven days into the fourth portal and accomplishes all her light: and she recedes and enters into the first portal in eight days.
8And she returns again in seven days into the fourth portal from which the sun goes forth.
9Thus I saw their position—how the moons rose and the sun set in those days.
10And if five years are added together the sun has an overplus of thirty days, and all the days which accrue to it for one of those five years, when they are full, amount to 364 days.
11And the overplus of the sun and of the stars amounts to six days: in 5 years 6 days every year come to 30 days: and the moon falls behind the sun and stars to the number of 30 days.
12And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days.
13In 3 years there are 1,092 days, and in 5 years 1,820 days, so that in 8 years there are 2,912 days.
14For the moon alone the days amount in 3 years to 1,062 days, and in 5 years she falls 50 days behind: [i.e. to the sum (of 1,770) there is to be added (1,000 and) 62 days.]
15And in 5 years there are 1,770 days, so that for the moon the days in 8 years amount to 2,832 days.
16[For in 8 years she falls behind to the amount of 80 days], all the days she falls behind in 8 years are 80.
17And the year is accurately completed in conformity with their world-stations and the stations of the sun, which rise from the portals through which it (the sun) rises and sets 30 days.
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.