1 Enoch 8
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures.
2And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.
3Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Êzêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon.
4And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
The chapter, studied
Azazel's Curriculum: Swords, Cosmetics, and Godlessness
Azazel teaches men to forge weapons and armor and to work metal, along with jewelry and eye-cosmetics; humanity grows godless and corrupt as a result. The chapter lists other Watchers by name, each credited with teaching a different forbidden art: enchantments, astrology, reading the clouds, the signs of sun and moon.
Where chapter 7 tracked the physical devastation the giants caused, chapter 8 diagnoses a second corruption running alongside it: forbidden knowledge. Azazel's list is oddly specific: weapons and armor first ("swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates"), then metallurgy, then jewelry and "the beautifying of the eyelids." The pairing is not accidental: the chapter treats both the tools of violence and the tools of vanity as part of the same corrupting transfer of knowledge that humanity was not ready to hold.
Verse 3 divides the remaining teaching by specialist: Semjaza again for enchantments and root-cutting, others for resolving spells, astrology, reading constellations and clouds, and the courses of sun and moon. The effect is to make godlessness look less like a single act and more like an entire counter-education, delivered angel by angel, until "there arose much godlessness" across the earth (v. 2).
The chapter ends where chapter 9 will pick up: the cry of the perishing "went up to heaven," setting up the appeal that four archangels bring before God.
Doors into the 66
- Leviticus 16:8 — The name Azazel also appears in Leviticus 16:8 for the scapegoat sent into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement: a shared name across two very different texts, not a claim that they describe the same figure.
- Genesis 6:5 — The spread of godlessness described here stands beside Genesis 6:5's summary that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
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. I — The Book of the Watchers (2019)
A verse-by-verse reader's commentary on chapters 1–36: the closest thing in print to a study Bible for this section.
Michael S. Heiser
Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ (2017)
How the Watchers story of these chapters stands behind New Testament theology.
Gary Wayne
The Genesis 6 Conspiracy (2014)
A topical case for the Watchers reading these chapters narrate: giants, bloodlines, and the seed war.
Timothy Alberino
Birthright: The Coming Posthuman Apocalypse and the Usurpation of Adam's Dominion on Planet Earth (2020)
Reads the Watchers rebellion of these chapters into the Bible's larger dominion story.
1And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures.
2And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.
3Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Êzêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon.
4And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
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.