Editing Book of Enoch

The '''Book of Enoch''' (also '''1 Enoch''';መጽሐፈ ሄኖክ, [[Ge'ez]]:maṣḥafa hēnok) is an [[Second Temple Judaism|ancient Hebrew]] [[Apocalyptic literature|apocalyptic]] religious text, ascribed by tradition to [[Enoch (Biblical figure)|Enoch]], the great-grandfather of [[Noah]]. Enoch contains bizarre material on the origins of [[demons]] and [[Nephilim]], why some [[fallen angel|angels]] fell from heaven, an alternate explanation of why the [[Genesis flood narrative|Genesis flood]] was morally necessary, and prophetic exposition of the [[Millennialism|thousand-year reign of the Messiah]].

The older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) of the text are estimated to date from about 300–200 BC, and the latest part (Book of Parables) to 100 BC. But these are guesses. 

Various [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] fragments found in the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], as well as [[Koine Greek]] and [[Latin]] fragments, show that the Book of Enoch may have been known by Jews and early [[Near Eastern]] Christians. This book was also quoted by some 1st and 2nd century authors as in the [[Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs]]. Authors of the [[New Testament]] were also familiar with some content of the story. A short section of 1 Enoch (1:9) is either cited in the New Testament [[Epistle of Jude]], [[Jude 1:14]]–[[Jude 1:14|15]], or copied from the NT into Enoch, and is attributed there to "Enoch the Seventh from Adam", although this section of 1 Enoch is a [[midrash]] on [[Deuteronomy 33:2]]. Several copies of the earlier sections of 1 Enoch were preserved among the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]].

It is not part of the [[biblical canon]] used by [[Jews]], apart from [[Beta Israel]] ([[Ethiopian Jews]]). While the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] and [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] consider the Book of Enoch as [[Christian biblical canons|canonical]], other [[Christianity|Christian]] groups regard it as non-canonical or non-inspired, but may accept it as having some historical or theological interest.

It is today wholly extant only in the Ethiopian [[Ge'ez]] language, with earlier [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] fragments from the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] and a few [[Koine Greek|Greek]] and [[Latin]] fragments. For this and other reasons, the traditional Ethiopian belief is that the original language of the work was Ge'ez, whereas modern scholars argue that it was first written in either [[Aramaic]] or [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], the languages first used for Jewish texts; [[Ephraim Isaac]] suggests that the Book of Enoch, like the [[Book of Daniel]], was composed partially in Aramaic and partially in Hebrew. No Hebrew version is known to have survived. The book itself asserts that its author was Enoch, before the biblical flood.

The most complete Book of Enoch comes from Ethiopic manuscripts, ''maṣḥafa hēnok'' (መጽሐፈ ሄኖክ), written in Ge'ez, which were brought to Europe by [[James Bruce]] in the late 18th century and were translated into English in the 19th century.

==Content==
The first part of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the [[Watcher (angel)|Watchers]], the [[angel]]s who fathered the angel-human hybrids called [[Nephilim]]. The remainder of the book describes Enoch's revelations and his visits to heaven in the form of travels, visions, and dreams.

The book consists of five quite distinct major sections (see each section for details):
# The [[#The Book of the Watchers|Book of the Watchers]] (1 Enoch 1–36)
# The [[#Book of Parables|Book of Parables of Enoch]] (1 Enoch 37–71) (also called the Similitudes of Enoch)
# The [[#The Astronomical Book|Astronomical Book]] (1 Enoch 72–82) (also called the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries or Book of Luminaries)
# The [[#The Dream Visions|Book of Dream Visions]] (1 Enoch 83–90) (also called the Book of Dreams)
# The [[#The Epistle of Enoch|Epistle of Enoch]] (1 Enoch 91–108)

Most scholars believe that these five sections were originally independent works (with different dates of composition), themselves a product of much editorial arrangement, and were only later [[redaction|redacted]] into what is now called 1 Enoch.

==Canonicity==
:''See also: [[Reception of the book of Enoch before modern times]]''

===Judaism===
Although evidently widely known during the [[development of the Hebrew Bible canon]], 1 Enoch was excluded from both the formal canon of the [[Tanakh]] and the typical canon of the [[Septuagint]] and therefore, also from the writings known today as the [[Deuterocanonical books|Deuterocanon]]. One possible reason for Jewish rejection of the book might be the textual nature of several early sections of the book that make use of material from the [[Torah]]; for example, 1 En 1 is a [[midrash]] of [[Deuteronomy 33]]. The content, particularly detailed descriptions of [[fallen angel]]s, would also be a reason for rejection from the Hebrew canon at this period;– as illustrated by the comments of [[Justin Martyr#Dialogue with Trypho|Trypho the Jew]] when debating with [[Justin Martyr]] on this subject: "The utterances of God are holy, but your expositions are mere contrivances, as is plain from what has been explained by you; nay, even blasphemies, for you assert that angels sinned and revolted from God." Today, the Ethiopic [[Beta Israel]] community of [[Haymanot|Haymanot Jews]] is the only Jewish group that accepts the Book of Enoch as canonical and still preserves it in its liturgical language of Ge'ez where it plays a central role in worship and the liturgy.

==External links==
;Text
* [https://pseudepigrapha.org/docs/text/1En Book of the Watchers] (Chapters 1–36): Ge'ez text and fragments in Greek, Aramaic, and Latin at the Online Critical Pseudepigrapha
* [http://www.tau.ac.il/~hacohen/Henoch/Henoch%201.html Ethiopic text online] (all 108 chapters)
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/index.htm R H Charles 1917 Translation]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=vwA3AAAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AYyzN29xKYR0C&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false R.H. Charles 1893 edition]
* [http://christianelibrary.googlepages.com/schodde_enoch.pdf George H. Schodde 1882 Translation] ([[portable document format|PDF]] format)
* [http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/enoch.html Richard Laurence 1883 Translation]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181006021949/http://enoksbok.se/ Book of Enoch Interlinear] (''Including three English and two Swedish translations'')
* [http://www.biblicalaudio.com/enoch.htm Book of Enoch New 2012 Translation with Audio Drama]
* August Dillmann (1893). ''The Book of Enoch'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160811142032/http://www.filbluz.ca/resources/1Enoch_Dillmann.pdf 1Enoch]) translated from Geez, መጽሐፈ ፡ ሄኖክ ።.
* William Morfill (1896). ''The Book of the Secrets of Enoch'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160810174446/http://www.filbluz.ca/resources/Book-of-Secrets-of-Enoch(slavonic)%2Cby-Morfill-1896.pdf 2Enoch]) translated from Slavic languages (Russian and Serbian - Mss. Codex Chludovianus and Codex Belgradensis Serbius)
* [[Hugh Nibley]] (1986). (''[https://web.archive.org/web/20190328063543/https://publications.mi.byu.edu/book/enoch-the-prophet/ Enoch the Prophet]'')
* Hugo Odeberg (1928). ''The Hebrew Book of Henoc'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160811092514/http://www.filbluz.ca/resources/3Enoch.pdf 3Enoch]), from a Rabbinic perspective and experiment.
* Rev. D. A. De Sola (1852).  ''Signification of the [[iarchive:significationofp00sola|Proper Names]] occurring in the Book of Enoch'' from the Hebrew and Chaldee languages.
* [http://www.patrologia-lib.ru/apocryph/vetus/index.htm Apocryphi testamenti veteris], access to the Ethiopic Greek, a Latin translation, and [[3 Enoch]] in Hebrew and English.

;Introductions and others
* [http://michaellanglois.org/publications/the-first-manuscript-of-the-book-of-enoch-an-epigraphical-and-philological-study-of-the-aramaic-fragments-of-4q201-from-qumran_le-premier-manuscrit-du-livre-dhenoch-etude-epigraphique-et-philologi The First Manuscript of the Book of Enoch. An Epigraphical and Philological Study of the Aramaic Fragments of 4Q201 from Qumran by Michael Langlois]
* [http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/ Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism: An interdisciplinary seminar at Marquette University]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of Enoch}}
[[Category:Book of Enoch| ]]
[[Category:1st-century BC books]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC books]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC books]]
[[Category:4th-century BC books]]
[[Category:Enoch (ancestor of Noah)]]
[[Category:Uriel]]
[[Category:Old Testament pseudepigrapha|Enoch 1]]
[[Category:Texts in Ge'ez]]
[[Category:Works of unknown authorship]]
[[Category:Jewish apocrypha]]