Ancient Texts
Enoch literature: Ancient texts
Ancient Texts pages that draw on Enoch literature, each with the sources shown. Start with 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch (Secrets of Enoch), Azazel, Gadreel.
Texts · Enoch literature; Ethiopian Orthodox canon1 EnochA book quoted by name in the New Testament dropped out of nearly every Bible, yet stayed whole for over a thousand years in Ge'ez, the classical language of Ethiopia. Parts of it, written under Enoch's name, were later found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. It tells of fallen angels, giants and journeys through heaven. Why was it lost?Texts · Enoch literature (Slavonic)2 Enoch (Secrets of Enoch)This account of Enoch's tour through the heavens survives only in medieval Slavonic copies, and no ancient fragment has turned up. It has two enormous shining escorts and silent Grigori. The longer version ends with a baby born from his dead mother with the priestly badge already on his chest. Is it a first-century Jewish work, or later?Beings · Enoch literature; LeviticusAzazelA strange word in an ancient ritual tells priests to send one goat into the wilderness "for Azazel," and the text never says who that is. Centuries later the Enoch writers answered: a fallen Watcher who taught swords, metalwork and makeup, locked in a named desert prison. Did they find a being, or invent one?Beings · Enoch literatureGadreelOne angel gets two crimes in a single sentence. According to a Jewish text from around the turn of the era, Gadreel handed humanity the shield, the coat of mail and the sword, and he also led Eve astray in Eden. He is named only once. Was he the serpent, or a later add-on to the story?Beings · Enoch literatureSemjaza (Shemihazah)Before two hundred angels came down to take human wives, their leader got cold feet. He feared he alone would pay for the sin, so the others swore an oath to bind themselves together. One medieval retelling says he later hung himself upside down between heaven and earth, and still hangs there. This is the page about him.Beings · Enoch literatureThe Watchers (Grigori)The story says some angels who never sleep came down to a real mountain summit, picked up human wives, and taught people metalworking, spells and astronomy. Their leaders are named, each in charge of ten others. The same word shows up in the Book of Daniel as a heavenly council. So who exactly were the Watchers?Beings · Enoch literature; 2 EsdrasUrielThe oldest part of the Book of Enoch reads less like a prophecy than an astronomy textbook, and its teacher is an angel named Uriel. He explains a 364-day calendar, the gates the sun rises through, and the phases of the moon. Why would anyone give a calendar dispute an angel as the authority?
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