1 Enoch / Chapter 66

1 Enoch 66

3 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

God commands the angels to prepare the instruments of the Flood. Noah is to be preserved because he is righteous. The chapter describes the practical preparation for the deluge that will destroy the corrupted earth.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

The angels' role in executing the Flood adds a dimension absent from the Genesis account: the Flood is not merely a natural catastrophe but an angelic operation under divine command. Noah's preservation is explicitly tied to his righteousness — the same moral quality that distinguishes the elect throughout the Parables.

Translation Friction

This chapter is clearly part of the embedded Noah material. Its connection to the Parables' main narrative (the three parables of Enoch) is tangential, serving primarily as a historical precedent for the eschatological judgment.

Connections

Genesis 6:13-22 — God's instructions to Noah. Genesis 7:1 — 'you alone I have found righteous.' 1 Peter 3:20 — 'eight persons were brought safely through water.' Hebrews 11:7 — 'by faith Noah, being warned by God.'

1 Enoch 66:1

Ge'ez: wa-ba-ye'eti mawā'el — 'and in those days'

In those days the word of God came to me, and he said: 'Noah, your lot has come before me — a lot without blame, a lot of love and uprightness.'

REF And in those days the word of God came unto me, and He said unto me: 'Noah, thy lot has come up before Me, a lot without blame, a lot of love and uprightness.'

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. God addresses Noah directly (the narrative voice has shifted from Enoch to Noah). Noah's 'lot' (portion, destiny) is characterized as blameless and loving — the same qualities attributed to the righteous throughout the Parables.
1 Enoch 66:2

Ge'ez: wa-ye'ize mal'akāt — 'and now the angels'

Now the angels are building a wooden structure. When they complete the task, I will place my hand upon it and preserve it. From it will come forth the seed of life, and a transformation will occur so that the earth will not remain uninhabited.

REF And now the angels are making a wooden structure, and when they have completed that task I will place My hand upon it and preserve it, and there shall come forth from it the seed of life, and a change shall set in so that the earth will not remain without inhabitant.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The 'wooden structure' is the ark — here built by angels rather than by Noah himself (a detail unique to the Enochic tradition). God's 'hand upon it' provides supernatural protection beyond mere engineering. The ark preserves 'the seed of life' — the biological foundation for the post-Flood world.
1 Enoch 66:3

Ge'ez: wa-'āqem zarā'a — 'and I will establish the seed'

I will establish your seed before me forever and ever. I will spread abroad those who dwell with you. Your line will not be fruitless on the face of the earth but will be blessed and multiply on the earth in the name of the Lord.

REF And I will make fast thy seed before me for ever and ever, and I will spread abroad those who dwell with thee: it shall not be unfruitful on the face of the earth, but it shall be blessed and multiply on the earth in the name of the Lord.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The Noahic promise of blessing and multiplication echoes the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:2; 22:17). Noah becomes the second Adam — the new progenitor through whom humanity continues. The promise 'in the name of the Lord' grounds the continuation of human life in divine will rather than natural process.
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