1 Enoch / Chapter 16

1 Enoch 16

4 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic) 1 tradition available

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

God concludes his judgment on the Watchers: from the day of their deaths, the giants' spirits will destroy without judgment until the great consummation. The Watchers will have no peace because they revealed heavenly secrets to their wives.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

The text draws a direct line from the Watchers' forbidden teachings to the ongoing demonic oppression of humanity — a cosmic chain of causation from primordial sin to present suffering.

Translation Friction

The phrase 'destroy without incurring judgment' suggests a period of permitted evil, raising theodicy questions about why God allows demonic activity.

Connections

Revelation 12:12 (the devil has come down with great wrath); Job 1-2 (Satan permitted to afflict); 2 Thessalonians 2:7 (mystery of lawlessness already at work).

1 Enoch 16:1

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

From the day of the slaughter and destruction and death of the giants, the spirits that went forth from their flesh will destroy without incurring judgment. In this way they will continue to destroy until the day of the great consummation — the great judgment in which the age will be brought to its end, over the Watchers and the godless alike — it will be completely finished.

REF From the days of the slaughter and destruction and death of the giants, from the souls of whose flesh the spirits, having gone forth, shall destroy without incurring judgement — thus shall they destroy until the day of the consummation, the great judgement in which the age shall be consummated, over the Watchers and the godless, yea, shall be wholly consummated.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The permitted period of demonic destruction 'without judgment' extends from the death of the giants until the eschaton. This provides a framework for understanding the persistence of evil in the world — it is bounded, not infinite.
1 Enoch 16:2

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

And now, regarding the Watchers who sent you to intercede for them — who were formerly in heaven — say to them:

REF And now as to the Watchers who have sent thee to intercede for them, who had been aforetime in heaven, (say to them):

1 Enoch 16:3

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

'You were in heaven, but not all mysteries had been revealed to you. What you knew were worthless secrets, and in the stubbornness of your hearts you revealed them to women, and through those secrets women and men bring about great evil on the earth.'

REF 'You have been in heaven, but all the mysteries had not yet been revealed to you, and you knew worthless ones, and these in the hardness of your hearts you have made known to the women, and through these mysteries women and men work much evil on earth.'

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The secrets the Watchers taught were 'worthless' — not the deep mysteries of God but lesser, corrupting knowledge. Their sin was not sharing true wisdom but disseminating dangerous half-knowledge.
1 Enoch 16:4

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

Say to them therefore: 'You have no peace.'

REF Say to them therefore: 'You have no peace.'"

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The final sentence — 'You have no peace' — brings the judgment full circle, echoing 5:4, 12:5, and 13:1. It is the last word spoken to the Watchers, a covenant curse of eternal restlessness.
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