1 Enoch 96
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1Be hopeful, ye righteous; for suddenly shall the sinners perish before you, And ye shall have lordship over them according to your desires.
2[And in the day of the tribulation of the sinners, Your children shall mount and rise as eagles, And higher than the vultures will be your nest, And ye shall ascend and enter the crevices of the earth, And the clefts of the rock for ever as coneys before the unrighteous, And the sirens shall sigh because of you—and weep.]
3Wherefore fear not, ye that have suffered; For healing shall be your portion, And a bright light shall enlighten you, And the voice of rest ye shall hear from heaven.
4Woe unto you, ye sinners, for your riches make you appear like the righteous, But your hearts convict you of being sinners, And this fact shall be a testimony against you for a memorial of (your) evil deeds.
5Woe to you who devour the finest of the wheat, And drink wine in large bowls, And tread under foot the lowly with your might.
6Woe to you who drink water from every fountain, For suddenly shall ye be consumed and wither away, Because ye have forsaken the fountain of life.
7Woe to you who work unrighteousness And deceit and blasphemy: It shall be a memorial against you for evil.
8Woe to you, ye mighty, Who with might oppress the righteous; For the day of your destruction is coming. In those days many and good days shall come to the righteous—in the day of your judgement.
The chapter, studied
The Riches That Will Not Save You
Enoch tells the righteous to be hopeful, because their oppressors will suddenly perish, and promises healing, light, and rest for those who have suffered. He then pronounces more woes against sinners who devour the finest food, oppress the lowly, and drink from every fountain while forsaking "the fountain of life."
The chapter opens on comfort before it returns to warning: "healing shall be your portion, and a bright light shall enlighten you, and the voice of rest ye shall hear from heaven" (v.3). The rhythm of the whole Epistle shows up here in miniature: grief and warning for the wicked, wrapped around real comfort for the suffering righteous.
The woes that follow paint a very physical picture of oppression: devouring "the finest of the wheat," drinking "wine in large bowls," treading "under foot the lowly." This is not abstract theology; it is table-luxury built on someone else's hunger, the same social sin the classical prophets condemned by name.
v.6 is worth pausing on: sinners "drink water from every fountain" yet "have forsaken the fountain of life" itself. That exact contrast, drinking everywhere while abandoning the one true spring, is close kin to Jeremiah's charge that his people had "forsaken me the fountain of living waters." Whichever came first, or whether both simply reach for the same natural image, the moral point lands the same way: life has one true source, and it cannot be swapped out.
Doors into the 66
- Jeremiah 2:13 — "forsaken the fountain of life" stands beside Jeremiah's charge that Judah "forsaken me the fountain of living waters".
- Amos 6:6 — "drink wine in large bowls" while treading down the lowly matches Amos's oracle against those who "drink wine in bowls" undisturbed by the ruin of their people.
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.
1Be hopeful, ye righteous; for suddenly shall the sinners perish before you, And ye shall have lordship over them according to your desires.
2[And in the day of the tribulation of the sinners, Your children shall mount and rise as eagles, And higher than the vultures will be your nest, And ye shall ascend and enter the crevices of the earth, And the clefts of the rock for ever as coneys before the unrighteous, And the sirens shall sigh because of you—and weep.]
3Wherefore fear not, ye that have suffered; For healing shall be your portion, And a bright light shall enlighten you, And the voice of rest ye shall hear from heaven.
4Woe unto you, ye sinners, for your riches make you appear like the righteous, But your hearts convict you of being sinners, And this fact shall be a testimony against you for a memorial of (your) evil deeds.
5Woe to you who devour the finest of the wheat, And drink wine in large bowls, And tread under foot the lowly with your might.
6Woe to you who drink water from every fountain, For suddenly shall ye be consumed and wither away, Because ye have forsaken the fountain of life.
7Woe to you who work unrighteousness And deceit and blasphemy: It shall be a memorial against you for evil.
8Woe to you, ye mighty, Who with might oppress the righteous; For the day of your destruction is coming. In those days many and good days shall come to the righteous—in the day of your judgement.
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.