1 Enoch / Chapter 37

1 Enoch 37

5 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Chapter 37 serves as the introduction to the Parables (Similitudes) of Enoch, the second major division of 1 Enoch (chapters 37-71). Enoch presents three parables that he received, declaring them a vision of wisdom intended for future generations rather than his own.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This chapter frames the entire Parables section as a transmission of wisdom across time. Enoch explicitly states these visions are not for his own generation but for a distant future one — a literary device that positions the reader as the intended audience. The Parables section is unique among 1 Enoch's five divisions in that no Aramaic fragments were found at Qumran, leading to scholarly debate about whether it is a later Jewish composition (possibly 1st century BCE/CE) or a Christian-era interpolation. Most scholars now accept it as Jewish in origin.

Translation Friction

The Ge'ez term 'mesāle' (parables/similitudes) carries connotations of both allegorical teaching and prophetic vision, broader than the English 'parable.' The phrase 'congregation of the righteous' (or 'holy ones') reflects a sectarian self-understanding that maps imperfectly onto later Jewish and Christian communities.

Connections

The framing of visions 'for a remote generation' echoes Daniel 12:4 ('seal the book until the time of the end'). The tripartite structure of three parables mirrors other apocalyptic literary patterns. The declaration that wisdom was given 'from the Lord of Spirits' introduces the distinctive Enochic title for God that dominates chapters 37-71.

1 Enoch 37:1

Ge'ez: re'eya ṭebab za-re'eya — 'vision of wisdom which he saw'

This is the second vision that Enoch saw — a vision of wisdom. Enoch was the son of Jared, son of Mahalalel, son of Kenan, son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam.

REF The second vision which he saw, the vision of wisdom — which Enoch the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

re'eya ṭebab
"vision of wisdom" — vision, revelation, prophetic sight; wisdom, understanding, insight

This compound phrase frames the entire Parables section as both visionary experience and wisdom teaching — apocalyptic revelation conveyed through sapiential categories.

Translator Notes

  1. The genealogy anchors Enoch within the antediluvian line of Genesis 5. The 'second vision' refers to the Parables as the second major section of the composite 1 Enoch, following the Book of the Watchers (chapters 1-36).
  2. The spelling 'Kenan' follows the Hebrew of Genesis 5 rather than the Septuagintal 'Cainan' used by Charles. Similarly 'Enosh' rather than 'Enos' reflects the Hebrew form.
1 Enoch 37:2

Ge'ez: mesāle śālāstu za-wad'a — 'three parables which fell/came'

Enoch, a righteous man whose eyes God had opened, took up his parable and said: I saw a vision of the Holy One in the heavens. The angels showed it to me, and from them I heard and understood everything — though not for this generation, but for a distant one still to come.

REF And he took up his parable and said — Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

mesāle
"parable" — parable, similitude, allegory, prophetic oracle, proverb

The Ge'ez mesāle translates the Hebrew māshāl, which covers a wider range than English 'parable.' It can mean a prophetic oracle, a wisdom saying, an allegory, or a taunt-song. Here it denotes extended prophetic-apocalyptic visions.

Translator Notes

  1. The phrase 'took up his parable' (Ge'ez: nasā'a mesālehu) echoes the identical Hebrew formula used by Balaam in Numbers 23:7 (wayyiśśā' mĕšālô), connecting Enoch to the biblical prophetic tradition.
  2. The declaration that the vision is 'not for this generation but for a distant one' is a hallmark of pseudepigraphic apocalyptic literature. It explains why the text is 'discovered' in a later era and positions each new generation of readers as the potential fulfillment audience.
  3. The 'Holy One in the heavens' is a title for God that maintains the characteristic Enochic emphasis on divine transcendence and heavenly remoteness.
1 Enoch 37:3

Ge'ez: 'em-xaba Egzi'a manfasāt — 'from the Lord of Spirits'

About the children of righteousness, the chosen ones of the world, and the plant of uprightness — I, Enoch, will declare these things to you, just as the Holy One revealed them to me in a heavenly vision.

REF Concerning the children of righteousness and concerning the elect of the world, and concerning the plant of uprightness, I will speak these things, yea, I Enoch will declare them unto you, even as the Holy One showed them to me in a vision of the heavens.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The 'children of righteousness' and 'chosen ones' anticipate the language of election that pervades the Parables, where the righteous community is contrasted sharply with 'kings and mighty ones' who oppress them.
  2. The 'plant of uprightness' (or 'plant of righteousness') is a recurring Enochic metaphor for the righteous community. The image of God's people as a planting appears in Isaiah 60:21 ('the branch of my planting') and at Qumran (1QS 8:5; 1QH 14:15).
  3. The first-person declaration 'I, Enoch, will declare' establishes the autobiographical voice that governs the entire Parables section.
1 Enoch 37:4

Ge'ez: mesāle qadāmāwi — 'first parable'

The first parable: When the congregation of the righteous appears and sinners are judged for their sins and driven from the face of the earth.

REF The first parable. — When the congregation of the righteous shall appear, and sinners shall be judged for their sins, and shall be driven from the face of the earth.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. This verse functions as a superscription or title for the first parable (chapters 38-44). It summarizes the parable's central theme: eschatological reversal where the righteous are vindicated and sinners expelled.
  2. The 'congregation of the righteous' (Ge'ez: mak'ānena ṣādeqān) parallels the Qumran 'edah' terminology and early Christian ekklesia — all three traditions envisioned a separated, holy community that would be vindicated at the end.
1 Enoch 37:5

Ge'ez: wa-yetnageś ṣādeq ba-qedma — 'and the righteous one shall appear before'

When the Righteous One appears before the eyes of the elect righteous, whose chosen works depend on the Lord of Spirits, and light dawns on the righteous and chosen who live on the earth — where then will the sinners live? Where will those who denied the Lord of Spirits find rest? It would have been better for them never to have been born.

REF And when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the righteous, whose elect works hang upon the Lord of Spirits, and light shall appear to the righteous and the elect who dwell on the earth, where then will be the dwelling of the sinners, and where the resting place of those who have denied the Lord of Spirits? It had been good for them if they had not been born.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

Egzi'a manfasāt
"Lord of Spirits" — Lord of Spirits, Lord of the spirit-beings, Master of the angelic hosts

The signature divine title of the Parables of Enoch, appearing over 100 times in chapters 37-71 and almost nowhere else in ancient Jewish literature. It emphasizes God as sovereign over the heavenly realm and all its angelic inhabitants.

Translator Notes

  1. The 'Righteous One' (Ge'ez: ṣādeq) here may refer to a messianic figure distinct from the community of 'the righteous' (ṣādeqān, plural). This ambiguity between an individual Righteous One and the collective righteous community runs throughout the Parables.
  2. The 'Lord of Spirits' (Ge'ez: Egzi'a manfasāt) is the distinctive Enochic title for God used almost exclusively in the Parables section. It occurs over 100 times in chapters 37-71. The 'spirits' likely refers to the angelic hosts, making this a title emphasizing God's sovereignty over the heavenly realm.
  3. The statement 'it would have been better for them never to have been born' parallels Jesus's words about Judas in Matthew 26:24 and Mark 14:21 — one of many instances where the Parables vocabulary appears in the Gospels.
  4. The pairing of 'righteous and chosen' as descriptions of the same community mirrors the pairing of 'Son of Man' and 'Chosen One' as titles for the same messianic figure later in the Parables.
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