1 Enoch 99
Study resource: not ScriptureR. H. Charles translation (1917) · public domain
1Woe to you who work godlessness, And glory in lying and extol them: Ye shall perish, and no happy life shall be yours.
2Woe to them who pervert the words of uprightness, And transgress the eternal law, And transform themselves into what they were not [into sinners]: They shall be trodden under foot upon the earth.
3In those days make ready, ye righteous, to raise your prayers as a memorial, And place them as a testimony before the angels, That they may place the sin of the sinners for a memorial before the Most High.
4In those days the nations shall be stirred up, And the families of the nations shall arise on the day of destruction.
5And in those days the destitute shall go forth and carry off their children, And they shall abandon them, so that their children shall perish through them: Yea, they shall abandon their children (that are still) sucklings, and not return to them, And shall have no pity on their beloved ones.
6And again I swear to you, ye sinners, that sin is prepared for a day of unceasing bloodshed.
7And they who worship stones, and grave images of gold and silver and wood and stone and clay, and those who worship impure spirits and demons, and all kinds of idols not according to knowledge, shall get no manner of help from them.
8And they shall become godless by reason of the folly of their hearts, And their eyes shall be blinded through the fear of their hearts And through visions in their dreams.
9Through these they shall become godless and fearful; For they shall have wrought all their work in a lie, And shall have worshipped a stone: Therefore in an instant shall they perish.
10But in those days blessed are all they who accept the words of wisdom, and understand them, And observe the paths of the Most High, and walk in the path of His righteousness, And become not godless with the godless; For they shall be saved.
11Woe to you who spread evil to your neighbours; For you shall be slain in Sheol.
12Woe to you who make deceitful and false measures, And (to them) who cause bitterness on the earth; For they shall thereby be utterly consumed.
13Woe to you who build your houses through the grievous toil of others, And all their building materials are the bricks and stones of sin; I tell you ye shall have no peace.
14Woe to them who reject the measure and eternal heritage of their fathers And whose souls follow after idols; For they shall have no rest.
15Woe to them who work unrighteousness and help oppression, And slay their neighbours until the day of the great judgement.
16For He shall cast down your glory, And bring affliction on your hearts, And shall arouse His fierce indignation And destroy you all with the sword; And all the holy and righteous shall remember your sins.
The chapter, studied
The Woe Against Idols of Stone and Wood and Clay
Enoch pronounces more woes on those who twist righteous words into lies and transgress "the eternal law." He warns of a coming day of unceasing bloodshed among the nations, and singles out those who worship idols of "gold and silver and wood and stone and clay" and impure spirits, promising such worship will bring them no help at all.
The idol-list in v.7: "stones, and graven images of gold and silver and wood and stone and clay" — reads almost like a checklist, and it is close to the same checklist the Old Testament uses again and again for idolatry: naming every material a thing could be made of is a way of saying no substance can hide the fact that the object is powerless.
v.8's diagnosis is psychological as much as religious: the worshippers "become godless by reason of the folly of their hearts," their eyes "blinded through the fear of their hearts." Idolatry here is not simple ignorance; it is fear driving people to trust something they can see and touch rather than the God they cannot.
The chapter closes with a genuine blessing tucked among the woes (v.10): those who "accept the words of wisdom," "walk in the path of His righteousness," and refuse to "become godless with the godless...shall be saved." Even in one of the bleakest runs of warning in the book, the door out is named plainly: it is a path, and it is still open.
Doors into the 66
- Revelation 9:20 — "idols of gold and silver and wood and stone and clay" nearly matches the idol-list of "idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood".
- Psalms 115:4 — "stones, and graven images" that cannot help their worshippers stands beside the Psalm's mockery of idols "the work of men's hands".
- Deuteronomy 4:28 — gods "which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell" stands behind this chapter's warning that idol worship "shall get no manner of help".
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.
1Woe to you who work godlessness, And glory in lying and extol them: Ye shall perish, and no happy life shall be yours.
2Woe to them who pervert the words of uprightness, And transgress the eternal law, And transform themselves into what they were not [into sinners]: They shall be trodden under foot upon the earth.
3In those days make ready, ye righteous, to raise your prayers as a memorial, And place them as a testimony before the angels, That they may place the sin of the sinners for a memorial before the Most High.
4In those days the nations shall be stirred up, And the families of the nations shall arise on the day of destruction.
5And in those days the destitute shall go forth and carry off their children, And they shall abandon them, so that their children shall perish through them: Yea, they shall abandon their children (that are still) sucklings, and not return to them, And shall have no pity on their beloved ones.
6And again I swear to you, ye sinners, that sin is prepared for a day of unceasing bloodshed.
7And they who worship stones, and grave images of gold and silver and wood and stone and clay, and those who worship impure spirits and demons, and all kinds of idols not according to knowledge, shall get no manner of help from them.
8And they shall become godless by reason of the folly of their hearts, And their eyes shall be blinded through the fear of their hearts And through visions in their dreams.
9Through these they shall become godless and fearful; For they shall have wrought all their work in a lie, And shall have worshipped a stone: Therefore in an instant shall they perish.
10But in those days blessed are all they who accept the words of wisdom, and understand them, And observe the paths of the Most High, and walk in the path of His righteousness, And become not godless with the godless; For they shall be saved.
11Woe to you who spread evil to your neighbours; For you shall be slain in Sheol.
12Woe to you who make deceitful and false measures, And (to them) who cause bitterness on the earth; For they shall thereby be utterly consumed.
13Woe to you who build your houses through the grievous toil of others, And all their building materials are the bricks and stones of sin; I tell you ye shall have no peace.
14Woe to them who reject the measure and eternal heritage of their fathers And whose souls follow after idols; For they shall have no rest.
15Woe to them who work unrighteousness and help oppression, And slay their neighbours until the day of the great judgement.
16For He shall cast down your glory, And bring affliction on your hearts, And shall arouse His fierce indignation And destroy you all with the sword; And all the holy and righteous shall remember your sins.
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.