1 Enoch 77
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And the first quarter is called the east, because it is the first: and the second, the south, because the Most High will descend there, yea, there in quite a special sense will He who is blessed for ever descend.
2And the west quarter is named the diminished, because there all the luminaries of the heaven wane and go down.
3And the fourth quarter, named the north, is divided into three parts: the first of them is for the dwelling of men: and the second contains seas of water, and the abysses and forests and rivers, and darkness and clouds; and the third part contains the garden of righteousness.
4I saw seven high mountains, higher than all the mountains which are on the earth: and thence comes forth hoar-frost, and days, seasons, and years pass away.
5I saw seven rivers on the earth larger than all the rivers: one of them coming from the west pours its waters into the Great Sea.
6And these two come from the north to the sea and pour their waters into the Erythraean Sea in the east.
7And the remaining four come forth on the side of the north to their own sea, two of them to the Erythraean Sea, and two into the Great Sea and discharge themselves there [and some say: into the desert].
8Seven great islands I saw in the sea and in the mainland: two in the mainland and five in the Great Sea.
The chapter, studied
The Garden Still Standing in the North
Enoch names the four quarters of the earth and what each contains: the south is where "the Most High will descend," the west is called "the diminished" because the lights fade there, and the north holds human dwelling, seas and rivers, and "the garden of righteousness." He then catalogues seven great mountains, seven great rivers, and seven great islands.
This is geography read as theology. Calling the west "the diminished" because "all the luminaries of the heaven wane and go down" there turns compass directions into a moral map, and placing "the garden of righteousness" — clearly meant to recall Eden — inside the northern quarter gives the reader a picture that the primeval garden still exists somewhere in the ordered world rather than having vanished from it.
The line "the Most High will descend there" attached to the south echoes the direction biblical theophanies repeatedly come from: the LORD rising from Sinai and shining forth from Paran with "ten thousands of saints" — a southern approach for the divine glory that this chapter's geography quietly shares.
The sevens (mountains, rivers, islands) match the book's fondness for patterned numbers elsewhere, giving the created world a symmetry that mirrors the orderliness the whole Astronomical Book insists on for the sky.
Doors into the 66
- Deuteronomy 33:2 — Moses pictures the LORD coming "from Sinai" and shining "from mount Paran" — the same southern approach of the divine glory this chapter's geography assumes.
- Genesis 2:10 — "A river went out of Eden to water the garden" — the watered garden this chapter's "garden of righteousness" stands beside.
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 the first quarter is called the east, because it is the first: and the second, the south, because the Most High will descend there, yea, there in quite a special sense will He who is blessed for ever descend.
2And the west quarter is named the diminished, because there all the luminaries of the heaven wane and go down.
3And the fourth quarter, named the north, is divided into three parts: the first of them is for the dwelling of men: and the second contains seas of water, and the abysses and forests and rivers, and darkness and clouds; and the third part contains the garden of righteousness.
4I saw seven high mountains, higher than all the mountains which are on the earth: and thence comes forth hoar-frost, and days, seasons, and years pass away.
5I saw seven rivers on the earth larger than all the rivers: one of them coming from the west pours its waters into the Great Sea.
6And these two come from the north to the sea and pour their waters into the Erythraean Sea in the east.
7And the remaining four come forth on the side of the north to their own sea, two of them to the Erythraean Sea, and two into the Great Sea and discharge themselves there [and some say: into the desert].
8Seven great islands I saw in the sea and in the mainland: two in the mainland and five in the Great Sea.
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.