1 Enoch 88
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And I saw one of those four who had come forth first, and he seized that first star which had fallen from the heaven, and bound it hand and foot and cast it into an abyss: now that abyss was narrow and deep, and horrible and dark.
2And one of them drew a sword, and gave it to those elephants and camels and asses: then they began to smite each other, and the whole earth quaked because of them.
3And as I was beholding in the vision, lo, one of those four who had come forth stoned (them) from heaven, and gathered and took all the great stars whose privy members were like those of horses, and bound them all hand and foot, and cast them in an abyss of the earth.
The chapter, studied
Bound and Cast Into the Abyss
One of the four heavenly beings seizes the fallen star, binds it hand and foot, and casts it into a narrow, deep, dark abyss. Another gives a sword to the elephants, camels, and asses, and they turn on each other while the earth shakes. A third of the four then gathers up all the great stars whose members were "like those of horses" and binds them all, casting them likewise into an abyss in the earth.
Chapter 88 is the judgment scene the previous chapter set up, and its structure is deliberately parallel to a punishment scripture itself describes in almost identical terms. Here the first fallen star is "bound… hand and foot" and cast into "an abyss… narrow and deep, and horrible and dark," and the remaining fallen stars receive the same binding and casting shortly after.
The giants themselves are turned against each other with a sword given by the angel rather than destroyed directly by heaven: the text lets the corruption's own offspring consume itself, echoing how the flood account has the earth's violence, once loosed, run its course before God intervenes decisively.
This picture of angels bound and confined pending final judgment, rather than destroyed outright, matches the New Testament's own language closely. The chapter is not scripture's source, but it is the clearest extra-biblical picture available of the same doctrine the site holds on Genesis 6.
The binding and casting of the fallen star and its companions into a dark abyss to await judgment is the clearest statement in the whole book of what the site holds on Genesis 6: real angelic beings judged and confined for their trespass, matching Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 almost point for point.
Doors into the 66
- Jude 1:6 — Angels who "kept not their first estate" are reserved "in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" — near-exact language for what happens to the fallen star here.
- 2 Peter 2:4 — "God spared not the angels that sinned, but… delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" — the same binding-for-judgment picture this chapter dramatizes.
- Genesis 6:13 — "The end of all flesh is come before me" is the verdict this chapter's violent, self-devouring giants are already living out before the flood arrives.
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 one of those four who had come forth first, and he seized that first star which had fallen from the heaven, and bound it hand and foot and cast it into an abyss: now that abyss was narrow and deep, and horrible and dark.
2And one of them drew a sword, and gave it to those elephants and camels and asses: then they began to smite each other, and the whole earth quaked because of them.
3And as I was beholding in the vision, lo, one of those four who had come forth stoned (them) from heaven, and gathered and took all the great stars whose privy members were like those of horses, and bound them all hand and foot, and cast them in an abyss of the earth.
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.