1 Enoch / Chapter 107

1 Enoch 107

3 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

The continuation and conclusion of the Birth of Noah narrative. Enoch confirms what he has read in the heavenly tablets: in the generation after Noah, a new and greater unrighteousness will arise. Only the righteous will be saved. The chapter closes by affirming that Enoch has revealed everything to Methuselah and that these revelations are trustworthy.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

The chapter's prediction that wickedness will return after the flood is theologically significant — it acknowledges that the flood did not permanently solve the problem of evil. This 'post-diluvian pessimism' sets the stage for the entire apocalyptic worldview: if the flood could not cleanse sin permanently, only an eschatological intervention can. The text essentially argues that Noah was a temporary solution; the final solution still awaits.

Translation Friction

The brevity of this chapter — only three verses — suggests it may be a fragment or that material has been lost. The transition from the Noah narrative to the Epilogue (chapter 108) is abrupt.

Connections

Genesis 8:21 — 'the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth' (God's post-flood assessment). Genesis 9:20-27 — Noah's drunkenness, showing sin's persistence after the flood. 2 Peter 2:5 — Noah as 'a herald of righteousness.' 2 Peter 3:5-7 — the parallel between the flood judgment and the coming fire judgment.

1 Enoch 107:1

Ge'ez: wa-ba-we'etu — 'and in those days'

After that, there will be even more unrighteousness than what was first completed on the earth. For I know the mysteries of the holy ones — the Lord has shown me and informed me, and I have read them in the heavenly tablets.

REF And after that there shall be still more unrighteousness than that which was first consummated on the earth; for I know the mysteries of the holy ones; for He, the Lord, has showed me and informed me, and I have read them in the heavenly tablets.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The heavenly tablets — a recurring motif in 1 Enoch (81:1-2, 93:2) — are the definitive record of past and future. Enoch's authority rests on having read these tablets directly, not on human reasoning or tradition.

1 Enoch 107:2

Ge'ez: wa-re'iku — 'and I saw written'

I saw written on them that generation after generation will transgress, until a generation of righteousness arises. Then transgression will be destroyed, sin will pass away from the earth, and every kind of goodness will come upon it.

REF And I saw written on them that generation upon generation shall transgress, till a generation of righteousness arises, and transgression is destroyed and sin passes away from the earth, and all manner of good comes upon it.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The phrase 'generation of righteousness' is the eschatological community — the final righteous remnant. The heavenly tablets reveal the full arc of history: ongoing transgression followed by definitive redemption. Compare Romans 8:19-21 — creation itself 'will be set free from its bondage to corruption.'

1 Enoch 107:3

Ge'ez: wa-ye'zē — 'and now, my son'

Now, my son, go and tell your son Lamech that this child who has been born is truly his son, and that this is no falsehood.

REF And now, my son, go and make known to thy son Lamech that this son, which has been born, is in truth his son, and that this is no lie.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Enoch's final instruction to Methuselah closes the narrative circle. The message is simple: the child is Lamech's, not an angel's. Truth — 'this is no lie' — is the final word, countering Lamech's fearful suspicion with prophetic certainty.

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