1 Enoch 94
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1And now I say unto you, my sons, love righteousness and walk therein; For the paths of righteousness are worthy of acceptation, But the paths of unrighteousness shall suddenly be destroyed and vanish.
2And to certain men of a generation shall the paths of violence and of death be revealed, And they shall hold themselves afar from them, And shall not follow them.
3And now I say unto you the righteous: Walk not in the paths of wickedness, nor in the paths of death, And draw not nigh to them, lest ye be destroyed.
4But seek and choose for yourselves righteousness and an elect life, And walk in the paths of peace, And ye shall live and prosper.
5And hold fast my words in the thoughts of your hearts, And suffer them not to be effaced from your hearts; For I know that sinners will tempt men to evilly-entreat wisdom, So that no place may be found for her, And no manner of temptation may minish.
6Woe to those who build unrighteousness and oppression And lay deceit as a foundation; For they shall be suddenly overthrown, And they shall have no peace.
7Woe to those who build their houses with sin; For from all their foundations shall they be overthrown, And by the sword shall they fall. [And those who acquire gold and silver in judgement suddenly shall perish.]
8Woe to you, ye rich, for ye have trusted in your riches, And from your riches shall ye depart, Because ye have not remembered the Most High in the days of your riches.
9Ye have committed blasphemy and unrighteousness, And have become ready for the day of slaughter, And the day of darkness and the day of the great judgement.
10Thus I speak and declare unto you: He who hath created you will overthrow you, And for your fall there shall be no compassion, And your Creator will rejoice at your destruction.
11And your righteous ones in those days shall be A reproach to the sinners and the godless.
The chapter, studied
Two Paths, and the Woe Against Houses Built on Sin
Enoch urges his sons to choose righteousness and stay far from "the paths of violence and of death." He begins a long series of "Woe" pronouncements against those who build their lives on unrighteousness and deceit, warning that the rich who trusted in their riches instead of remembering God will fall by the sword and find no compassion.
Chapter 94 opens the long central section of the Epistle, roughly chapters 94 through 105, built almost entirely from paired "woe" oracles addressed to the rich and violent, set against short calls to "the righteous." The two-ways language from chapter 91: "the paths of righteousness" against "the paths of unrighteousness" — becomes the whole section's organizing idea; every woe assumes a reader who still has a real choice to make.
The charge against "the rich" is not wealth itself but misplaced trust: "ye have trusted in your riches, and from your riches shall ye depart, because ye have not remembered the Most High in the days of your riches" (v.8). That is a moral diagnosis, and it lines up closely with the woe the Gospel of Luke pronounces on the rich and comfortable.
The repeated form: "Woe to those who..." — is worth noticing on its own. It is a recognizable prophetic hammer, the same rhetorical shape the classical prophets used against oppressors, and it reappears in the Gospels in Jesus' own series of woes against the religious leaders of His day.
Doors into the 66
- Luke 6:24 — "Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation" stands close beside this chapter's woe against those who trusted their riches.
- Matthew 23:13 — Jesus' own repeated "Woe unto you" sayings stand beside this chapter's woe-form, a shared prophetic pattern rather than a quotation.
- Isaiah 5:8 — the prophetic woe oracles of Isaiah against those who build their houses on injustice are the same form Enoch is using here.
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 I say unto you, my sons, love righteousness and walk therein; For the paths of righteousness are worthy of acceptation, But the paths of unrighteousness shall suddenly be destroyed and vanish.
2And to certain men of a generation shall the paths of violence and of death be revealed, And they shall hold themselves afar from them, And shall not follow them.
3And now I say unto you the righteous: Walk not in the paths of wickedness, nor in the paths of death, And draw not nigh to them, lest ye be destroyed.
4But seek and choose for yourselves righteousness and an elect life, And walk in the paths of peace, And ye shall live and prosper.
5And hold fast my words in the thoughts of your hearts, And suffer them not to be effaced from your hearts; For I know that sinners will tempt men to evilly-entreat wisdom, So that no place may be found for her, And no manner of temptation may minish.
6Woe to those who build unrighteousness and oppression And lay deceit as a foundation; For they shall be suddenly overthrown, And they shall have no peace.
7Woe to those who build their houses with sin; For from all their foundations shall they be overthrown, And by the sword shall they fall. [And those who acquire gold and silver in judgement suddenly shall perish.]
8Woe to you, ye rich, for ye have trusted in your riches, And from your riches shall ye depart, Because ye have not remembered the Most High in the days of your riches.
9Ye have committed blasphemy and unrighteousness, And have become ready for the day of slaughter, And the day of darkness and the day of the great judgement.
10Thus I speak and declare unto you: He who hath created you will overthrow you, And for your fall there shall be no compassion, And your Creator will rejoice at your destruction.
11And your righteous ones in those days shall be A reproach to the sinners and the godless.
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.