1 Enoch 97
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1Believe, ye righteous, that the sinners will become a shame And perish in the day of unrighteousness.
2Be it known unto you (ye sinners) that the Most High is mindful of your destruction, And the angels of heaven rejoice over your destruction.
3What will ye do, ye sinners, And whither will ye flee on that day of judgement, When ye hear the voice of the prayer of the righteous?
4Yea, ye shall fare like unto them, Against whom this word shall be a testimony: “Ye have been companions of sinners.”
5And in those days the prayer of the righteous shall reach unto the Lord, And for you the days of your judgement shall come.
6And all the words of your unrighteousness shall be read out before the Great Holy One, And your faces shall be covered with shame, And He will reject every work which is grounded on unrighteousness.
7Woe to you, ye sinners, who live on the mid ocean and on the dry land, Whose remembrance is evil against you.
8Woe to you who acquire silver and gold in unrighteousness and say: ‘We have become rich with riches and have possessions; And have acquired everything we have desired.
9And now let us do what we purposed: For we have gathered silver, And many are the husbandmen in our houses.’ And our granaries are (brim) full as with water,
10Yea and like water your lies shall flow away; For your riches shall not abide But speedily ascend from you; For ye have acquired it all in unrighteousness, And ye shall be given over to a great curse.
The chapter, studied
The Books Are Read Before the Great Holy One
Enoch warns sinners that the Most High already knows their coming destruction, and that the angels themselves rejoice over it. He pictures a courtroom scene where "all the words of your unrighteousness shall be read out before the Great Holy One," and mocks those who boast of hoarded silver and gold, since their gains will vanish "like water."
The chapter stages an actual courtroom: sinners' own words "read out before the Great Holy One," their faces "covered with shame," every "work which is grounded on unrighteousness" rejected outright. Judgment here is a hearing with a transcript, not a vague future doom.
The self-quotation in vv.8-9: sinners saying "we have become rich with riches...and now let us do what we purposed" — works the way a fool's own words work in the wisdom literature and in Jesus' parable of the rich man tearing down his barns: the speaker convicts himself before judgment even arrives.
The closing image, "like water your lies shall flow away," returns to water as a picture of something that looks abundant but cannot actually be held onto: an image this whole section of the book keeps reaching for.
Doors into the 66
- Revelation 20:12 — the books "read out before the Great Holy One" stand beside the books opened before the throne, out of which the dead are judged.
- Luke 12:19 — the self-satisfied boast of vv.8-9, riches gathered, purposes made, stands beside the rich fool's own words before his sudden death.
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.
1Believe, ye righteous, that the sinners will become a shame And perish in the day of unrighteousness.
2Be it known unto you (ye sinners) that the Most High is mindful of your destruction, And the angels of heaven rejoice over your destruction.
3What will ye do, ye sinners, And whither will ye flee on that day of judgement, When ye hear the voice of the prayer of the righteous?
4Yea, ye shall fare like unto them, Against whom this word shall be a testimony: “Ye have been companions of sinners.”
5And in those days the prayer of the righteous shall reach unto the Lord, And for you the days of your judgement shall come.
6And all the words of your unrighteousness shall be read out before the Great Holy One, And your faces shall be covered with shame, And He will reject every work which is grounded on unrighteousness.
7Woe to you, ye sinners, who live on the mid ocean and on the dry land, Whose remembrance is evil against you.
8Woe to you who acquire silver and gold in unrighteousness and say: ‘We have become rich with riches and have possessions; And have acquired everything we have desired.
9And now let us do what we purposed: For we have gathered silver, And many are the husbandmen in our houses.’ And our granaries are (brim) full as with water,
10Yea and like water your lies shall flow away; For your riches shall not abide But speedily ascend from you; For ye have acquired it all in unrighteousness, And ye shall be given over to a great curse.
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.