What Is the Book of Enoch and Why Isn’t It in the Bible?

1 Enoch is a composite book written in the name of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, and it is not in the Jewish canon or in the Bible of the major Christian churches. Jude 14–15CloseAnd Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,Jude 1:14 · King James VersionOpen source (2) quotes a sentence that matches 1 Enoch 1:9Close

And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy ⌈all⌉ the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works ⌈of their ungodliness⌉ which they have ungodly committed, ⌈And of all the hard things which⌉ ungodly sinners ⌈have spoken⌉ against Him.Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) 1:9 · R. H. Charles, 1917Open source (1). The Ethiopian Orthodox narrower canon is the local exception that receives the book.

Key Points

• Fitzmyer divides the book into the Watchers (chapters 1–36), the Parables (37–71), the Astronomical Book (72–82), Dreams (83–90), and the Epistle (91–108), and he reports that the Parables are absent from Qumran. (5)
• Charles’s 1 Enoch 1:9CloseAnd behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy ⌈all⌉ the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works ⌈of their ungodliness⌉ which they have ungodly committed, ⌈And of all the hard things which⌉ ungodly sinners ⌈have spoken⌉ against Him.Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) 1:9 · R. H. Charles, 1917Open source says, “He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones To execute judgement upon all.” The King James of Jude 14CloseAnd Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,Jude 1:14 · King James VersionOpen source says, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.”
• Tertullian calls it the Scripture of Enoch and writes that it “is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either.” (6)
• Augustine grants that Jude implies Enoch left some divine writings, and he says “it was impossible to ascertain whether these were his genuine writings.” (7)
• Mikre-Sellassie places Enoch and Jubilees in the Ethiopian narrower canon, while the Fetha Negest names 81 books and lists 73, and its list omits them. (8)
• Acts 17:28CloseFor in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.Acts 17:28 · King James VersionOpen source and Titus 1:12CloseOne of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.Titus 1:12 · King James VersionOpen source quote poets and a Cretan writer. Those quotations do not add the poems to the canon.

What the Book Is

The chapters on 1 Enoch are R. H. Charles’s 1917 translation. Fitzmyer treats the work as five compositions. He reports seven Aramaic manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4, from the early 2nd century BC to the late 1st century BC, and four Astronomical manuscripts from the late 3rd century BC to the early 1st century AD. (5)

He reports Milik’s dates for the Astronomical Book (Persian period), the Book of the Watchers (3rd century BC), and the Book of Dreams (about 164 BC). He also reports Milik’s date for the Parables, a Christian work not before the 5th century AD. (5) This page does not supply a different date for the Parables.

Charles notes that Greek chapters 1–32 were found at Akhmim in 1886–87. (9) He rearranges verses in chapters 5, 39, 90, 91, and 106. The pages on this site follow that order.

Jude 14–15 and 1 Enoch 1:9

Jude 14–15CloseAnd Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,Jude 1:14 · King James VersionOpen source (2):

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all.

Jude 1:14–15 · King James Version

Charles’s line at 1 Enoch 1:9Close

And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy ⌈all⌉ the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works ⌈of their ungodliness⌉ which they have ungodly committed, ⌈And of all the hard things which⌉ ungodly sinners ⌈have spoken⌉ against Him.Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) 1:9 · R. H. Charles, 1917Open source is the matching sentence: “And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones To execute judgement upon all.” The brackets are Charles’s.

The letter uses the sentence. It does not list 1 Enoch among the Scriptures. Acts 17:28CloseFor in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.Acts 17:28 · King James VersionOpen source (3) cites poets for “we are also his offspring.” Titus 1:12CloseOne of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.Titus 1:12 · King James VersionOpen source (4) cites a Cretan writer. Paul names them as someone else’s words.

Why the Major Churches Did Not Receive It

Tertullian wanted the book read. His own sentence records the refusal: some did not receive it, because the Jewish canon did not admit it either. (6) Augustine’s reason is authenticity. Jude shows that Enoch left some divine writing. The books circulating under that name could not be shown to be his. (7)

The book is written in Enoch’s name and is made of later layers. That is the issue with the book, beside the canon lists. The history, the manuscript dates, and the issues are on the 1 Enoch book page.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Canon

Mikre-Sellassie writes that the Ethiopian count is traditionally 81 books, that the Fetha Negest names 81 while listing 73, and that Enoch and Jubilees belong to the narrower canon of church practice. The Fetha Negest list and its commentary omit them. (8) Jubilees is not printed on this site. The Apocrypha is a different set: churches that call those books deuterocanonical receive them, and 1 Enoch is not one of the fourteen King James Apocrypha books.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 1 Enoch Scripture Because Jude Quotes It?

Jude quotes one sentence. Tertullian already says some rejected the book for its absence from the Jewish canon. Augustine treats the books under Enoch’s name as unproven. (6) (7) A quoted sentence can be true and the book still stay outside the canon, as with the poets in Acts 17:28CloseFor in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.Acts 17:28 · King James VersionOpen source.

Who Wrote 1 Enoch?

The speaker is Enoch. Fitzmyer’s five parts, and the dates he reports from the Qumran copies and from Milik, are centuries after the flood narrative. (5) The page does not name a single author for the whole book.

Where Is the Text on This Site?

1 Enoch is Charles’s 1917 translation, chapter by chapter. 1 Enoch 1:9Close

And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy ⌈all⌉ the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works ⌈of their ungodliness⌉ which they have ungodly committed, ⌈And of all the hard things which⌉ ungodly sinners ⌈have spoken⌉ against Him.Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) 1:9 · R. H. Charles, 1917Open source is the verse Jude quotes. Secrets of Enoch (2 Enoch) is a different book, with chapter pages and no reconstructed verses. 3 Enoch is an explainer, with no full text. How Was the Bible Canon Decided? is the longer list of Jewish and church decisions.