# What Is the Book of Enoch and Why Isn’t It in the Bible? > 1 Enoch is a composite book written in Enoch’s name. Jude 14–15 quotes 1 Enoch 1:9. The Jewish canon and the major Christian churches did not receive the book. The Ethiopian Orthodox narrower canon does. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/what-is-the-book-of-enoch - Religions: none - Denominations: none - Beliefs: Non-Canonical - Tags: enoch, canon, jude - Updated: 2026-10-11 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) 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 14–15](/bible/jude/1/14) [(2)](#ref-2) quotes a sentence that matches [1 Enoch 1:9](/non-canonical/book-of-enoch/1/9) [(1)](#ref-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)](#ref-5) - Charles’s [1 Enoch 1:9](/non-canonical/book-of-enoch/1/9) says, “He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones To execute judgement upon all.” The King James of [Jude 14](/bible/jude/1/14) 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)](#ref-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)](#ref-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)](#ref-8) - [Acts 17:28](/bible/acts/17/28) and [Titus 1:12](/bible/titus/1/12) 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](/non-canonical/book-of-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)](#ref-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)](#ref-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)](#ref-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 14–15](/bible/jude/1/14) [(2)](#ref-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. Charles’s line at [1 Enoch 1:9](/non-canonical/book-of-enoch/1/9) 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 17:28](/bible/acts/17/28) [(3)](#ref-3) cites poets for “we are also his offspring.” [Titus 1:12](/bible/titus/1/12) [(4)](#ref-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)](#ref-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)](#ref-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](/non-canonical/book-of-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)](#ref-8) Jubilees is not printed on this site. The [Apocrypha](/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)](#ref-6) [(7)](#ref-7) A quoted sentence can be true and the book still stay outside the canon, as with the poets in [Acts 17:28](/bible/acts/17/28). ### 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)](#ref-5) The page does not name a single author for the whole book. ### Where Is the Text on This Site? [1 Enoch](/non-canonical/book-of-enoch) is Charles’s 1917 translation, chapter by chapter. [1 Enoch 1:9](/non-canonical/book-of-enoch/1/9) is the verse Jude quotes. [Secrets of Enoch (2 Enoch)](/non-canonical/2-enoch) is a different book, with chapter pages and no reconstructed verses. [3 Enoch](/non-canonical/3-enoch) is an explainer, with no full text. [How Was the Bible Canon Decided?](/non-canonical/how-was-the-bible-canon-decided) is the longer list of Jewish and church decisions. ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) 1:9 R. H. Charles, 1917. > 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. ### Acts 17:28 King James Version. > For 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. ### Titus 1:12 King James Version. > One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. ### Jude 1:14–15 King James Version. > [1:14] And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, [1:15] To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [The Book of Enoch, 1:9](https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/book-of-enoch/1/9) (R. H. Charles, SPCK 1917, public domain.) 2. [Letter of Jude, 1:14–15](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/jude/1). King James Version 3. [Acts of the Apostles, 17:28](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/acts/17/28). King James Version 4. [Letter to Titus, 1:12](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/titus/1/12). King James Version 5. [Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “Implications of the New Enoch Literature from Qumran”, Theological Studies 38 (1977)](https://theologicalstudies.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/38.2.5.pdf) 6. [Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women, 1.3](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0402.htm) 7. [Augustine, The City of God, 15.23](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120115.htm) 8. [Gebre-Mikael M. Mikre-Sellassie, “The Bible and Its Canon in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church”, The Bible Translator 44.1 (1993)](https://translation.bible/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/mikre-sellassie-1993-the-bible-and-its-canon-in-the-ethiopian-orthodox-church.pdf) 9. [R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, Introduction](https://archive.org/details/bookofenoch0000unse) ## See Also - [3 Enoch (Hebrew Enoch)](https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/3-enoch) — 3 Enoch is a later Hebrew mystical book. Rabbi Ishmael ascends to the Merkabah, and Metatron says he is Enoch. It is not the Jewish Bible or the New Testament. This site prints no full text. - [How Was the Bible Canon Decided?](https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/how-was-the-bible-canon-decided) — Josephus counts twenty-two books. Athanasius, Jerome, Hippo and Carthage, Trent, Westminster, Article VI, and the Orthodox lists do not agree. Nicaea’s canons contain no book list. - [How Was the Bible Canon Decided, and What Is the Apocrypha?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/what-is-the-apocrypha) — Trent receives the longer Old Testament and anathematizes refusal. Westminster says the books called Apocrypha are no part of the canon. The Catechism says the Church discerned the list by Tradition. - [What Bible Do Catholics Use?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/what-bible-do-catholics-use) — The Catechism’s canon has 46 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books. Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and the books of Maccabees are in that Old Testament. - [The Lost Gospels: Thomas, Peter, Judas, and Mary](https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels) — Irenaeus argues for four Gospels. He names a Gospel of Judas. Hippolytus and Eusebius name Thomas. Serapion stopped the Gospel of Peter. Saying 114 of Thomas speaks of making Mary male. ## History [View history on GitHub](https://github.com/Apologetics-Wiki/apologetics-wiki/commits/main/src/content/articles/what-is-the-book-of-enoch.md)