1 Enoch 79
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And now, my son, I have shown thee everything, and the law of all the stars of the heaven is completed.
2And he showed me all the laws of these for every day, and for every season of bearing rule, and for every year, and for its going forth, and for the order prescribed to it every month and every week:
3And the waning of the moon which takes place in the sixth portal: for in this sixth portal her light is accomplished, and after that there is the beginning of the waning:
4And the waning which takes place in the first portal in its season, till one hundred and seventy-seven days are accomplished: reckoned according to weeks, twenty-five (weeks) and two days.
5She falls behind the sun and the order of the stars exactly five days in the course of one period, and when this place which thou seest has been traversed.
6Such is the picture and sketch of every luminary which Uriel the archangel, who is their leader, showed unto me.
The chapter, studied
The Sketch Is Finished
Uriel confirms to Enoch that he has now shown him the complete law governing every star, for every day, season, year, and month. The chapter restates the moon's waning cycle: beginning in the sixth portal, running one hundred seventy-seven days, and falling five days behind the sun's order each period. Enoch calls it "the picture and sketch of every luminary" that the archangel Uriel, "their leader," has shown him.
Chapter 79 functions as a closing summary before the book turns to its final calendrical chapters: a deliberate "everything, and the law of all the stars of the heaven is completed" that signals the astronomical instruction proper is winding down. Naming Uriel as "the archangel… their leader" once more anchors the whole section to a single angelic source rather than to Enoch's own observation.
The repeated numbers, the moon's one hundred seventy-seven day cycle, her five-day lag, are less new data than a recap meant to fix the totals in the reader's mind, the same pedagogical habit seen through the earlier chapters.
The chapter's quiet claim is that heaven's motions are knowable, teachable, and complete, nothing left mysterious in the sky's schedule, which sets up the sharper contrast in chapter 80, where that very order is said to unravel "in the days of the sinners."
Doors into the 66
- Psalms 19:1 — "The heavens declare the glory of God" — the same confidence that the sky's order is knowable and speaks plainly, which this closing summary claims to have set down in full.
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 now, my son, I have shown thee everything, and the law of all the stars of the heaven is completed.
2And he showed me all the laws of these for every day, and for every season of bearing rule, and for every year, and for its going forth, and for the order prescribed to it every month and every week:
3And the waning of the moon which takes place in the sixth portal: for in this sixth portal her light is accomplished, and after that there is the beginning of the waning:
4And the waning which takes place in the first portal in its season, till one hundred and seventy-seven days are accomplished: reckoned according to weeks, twenty-five (weeks) and two days.
5She falls behind the sun and the order of the stars exactly five days in the course of one period, and when this place which thou seest has been traversed.
6Such is the picture and sketch of every luminary which Uriel the archangel, who is their leader, showed unto me.
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.