1 Enoch 91
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1‘And now, my son Methuselah, call to me all thy brothers And gather together to me all the sons of thy mother; For the word calls me, And the spirit is poured out upon me, That I may show you everything That shall befall you for ever.’
2And thereupon Methuselah went and summoned to him all his brothers and assembled his relatives.
3And he spake unto all the children of righteousness and said: ‘Hear, ye sons of Enoch, all the words of your father, And hearken aright to the voice of my mouth; For I exhort you and say unto you, beloved:
4Love uprightness and walk therein. And draw not nigh to uprightness with a double heart, And associate not with those of a double heart, But walk in righteousness, my sons. And it shall guide you on good paths, And righteousness shall be your companion.
5For I know that violence must increase on the earth, And a great chastisement be executed on the earth, And all unrighteousness come to an end: Yea, it shall be cut off from its roots, And its whole structure be destroyed.
6And unrighteousness shall again be consummated on the earth, And all the deeds of unrighteousness and of violence And transgression shall prevail in a twofold degree.
7And when sin and unrighteousness and blasphemy And violence in all kinds of deeds increase, And apostasy and transgression and uncleanness increase, A great chastisement shall come from heaven upon all these, And the holy Lord will come forth with wrath and chastisement To execute judgement on earth.
8In those days violence shall be cut off from its roots, And the roots of unrighteousness together with deceit, And they shall be destroyed from under heaven.
9And all the idols of the heathen shall be abandoned, And the temples burned with fire, And they shall remove them from the whole earth, And they (i.e. the heathen) shall be cast into the judgement of fire, And shall perish in wrath and in grievous judgement for ever.
10And the righteous shall arise from their sleep, And wisdom shall arise and be given unto them.
11[And after that the roots of unrighteousness shall be cut off, and the sinners shall be destroyed by the sword ... shall be cut off from the blasphemers in every place, and those who plan violence and those who commit blasphemy shall perish by the sword.]
12And after that there shall be another, the eighth week, that of righteousness, And a sword shall be given to it that a righteous judgement may be executed on the oppressors, And sinners shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous.
13And at its close they shall acquire houses through their righteousness, And a house shall be built for the Great King in glory for evermore,
14And all mankind shall look to the path of uprightness. And after that, in the ninth week, the righteous judgement shall be revealed to the whole world, And all the works of the godless shall vanish from all the earth, And the world shall be written down for destruction.
15And after this, in the tenth week in the seventh part, There shall be the great eternal judgement, In which He will execute vengeance amongst the angels.
16And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, And a new heaven shall appear, And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold light.
17And after that there will be many weeks without number for ever, And all shall be in goodness and righteousness, And sin shall no more be mentioned for ever.
18And now I tell you, my sons, and show you The paths of righteousness and the paths of violence. Yea, I will show them to you again That ye may know what will come to pass.
19And now, hearken unto me, my sons, And walk in the paths of righteousness, And walk not in the paths of violence; For all who walk in the paths of unrighteousness shall perish for ever.’
The chapter, studied
A Father Gathers His Sons to Tell Them What Is Coming
Enoch calls Methuselah to summon all his brothers, so their father can tell them everything that is going to happen. He warns them not to walk with "a double heart" but to love uprightness, because violence will increase before it is finally cut off. He then looks ahead to the last three ages of world history: a sword given for righteous judgment, a house built for "the Great King," a final eternal judgment, and a new heaven replacing the old.
This chapter opens the Epistle of Enoch (chapters 91-108), the fifth and final major section of the book, and it opens the way a father's last charge should: Enoch gathers "all the sons of thy mother" and warns them against "a double heart" — trying to walk two paths at once. That two-ways ethic, righteousness against violence, becomes the organizing idea for everything that follows through chapter 105.
The second half of the chapter jumps ahead to the eighth, ninth, and tenth of a ten-week scheme of history: a sword "given" for righteous judgment (week eight), judgment "revealed to the whole world" (week nine), and "the great eternal judgement, in which He will execute vengeance amongst the angels," followed by a new heaven that gives "sevenfold light" (week ten). A careful reader will notice something odd about the order: chapter 93, which follows this one, goes back and numbers weeks one through seven: so the text as it stands tells the end of the story before it tells the beginning.
However that sequence came about, weeks eight through ten read here as Enoch's climax: judgment reaching both earth and "amongst the angels" (v.15), "the first heaven" departing, and sin no longer "mentioned for ever" (v.17). None of this is Scripture, but it shows a Second Temple writer picturing history as heading somewhere definite, under a righteous Judge who has already fixed the number of the days.
Doors into the 66
- Revelation 21:1 — "the first heaven shall depart and pass away, and a new heaven shall appear" stands beside John's vision of a new heaven and a new earth.
- Daniel 12:2 — "the righteous shall arise from their sleep" echoes Daniel's resurrection language of those who "sleep in the dust" waking.
- Isaiah 65:17 — the promise of a renewed heaven echoes Isaiah's "new heavens and a new earth," the former things not remembered.
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.
1‘And now, my son Methuselah, call to me all thy brothers And gather together to me all the sons of thy mother; For the word calls me, And the spirit is poured out upon me, That I may show you everything That shall befall you for ever.’
2And thereupon Methuselah went and summoned to him all his brothers and assembled his relatives.
3And he spake unto all the children of righteousness and said: ‘Hear, ye sons of Enoch, all the words of your father, And hearken aright to the voice of my mouth; For I exhort you and say unto you, beloved:
4Love uprightness and walk therein. And draw not nigh to uprightness with a double heart, And associate not with those of a double heart, But walk in righteousness, my sons. And it shall guide you on good paths, And righteousness shall be your companion.
5For I know that violence must increase on the earth, And a great chastisement be executed on the earth, And all unrighteousness come to an end: Yea, it shall be cut off from its roots, And its whole structure be destroyed.
6And unrighteousness shall again be consummated on the earth, And all the deeds of unrighteousness and of violence And transgression shall prevail in a twofold degree.
7And when sin and unrighteousness and blasphemy And violence in all kinds of deeds increase, And apostasy and transgression and uncleanness increase, A great chastisement shall come from heaven upon all these, And the holy Lord will come forth with wrath and chastisement To execute judgement on earth.
8In those days violence shall be cut off from its roots, And the roots of unrighteousness together with deceit, And they shall be destroyed from under heaven.
9And all the idols of the heathen shall be abandoned, And the temples burned with fire, And they shall remove them from the whole earth, And they (i.e. the heathen) shall be cast into the judgement of fire, And shall perish in wrath and in grievous judgement for ever.
10And the righteous shall arise from their sleep, And wisdom shall arise and be given unto them.
11[And after that the roots of unrighteousness shall be cut off, and the sinners shall be destroyed by the sword ... shall be cut off from the blasphemers in every place, and those who plan violence and those who commit blasphemy shall perish by the sword.]
12And after that there shall be another, the eighth week, that of righteousness, And a sword shall be given to it that a righteous judgement may be executed on the oppressors, And sinners shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous.
13And at its close they shall acquire houses through their righteousness, And a house shall be built for the Great King in glory for evermore,
14And all mankind shall look to the path of uprightness. And after that, in the ninth week, the righteous judgement shall be revealed to the whole world, And all the works of the godless shall vanish from all the earth, And the world shall be written down for destruction.
15And after this, in the tenth week in the seventh part, There shall be the great eternal judgement, In which He will execute vengeance amongst the angels.
16And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, And a new heaven shall appear, And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold light.
17And after that there will be many weeks without number for ever, And all shall be in goodness and righteousness, And sin shall no more be mentioned for ever.
18And now I tell you, my sons, and show you The paths of righteousness and the paths of violence. Yea, I will show them to you again That ye may know what will come to pass.
19And now, hearken unto me, my sons, And walk in the paths of righteousness, And walk not in the paths of violence; For all who walk in the paths of unrighteousness shall perish for ever.’
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.