1 Enoch / Chapter 70

1 Enoch 70

4 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

After the three parables, Enoch's name is lifted up to the presence of the Son of Man and the Lord of Spirits. He is taken away from among the living, carried up in a chariot of the wind-spirit. The chapter narrates Enoch's final departure from the earthly realm.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This chapter corresponds to Genesis 5:24 ('Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him'). The cryptic biblical statement is here expanded into a full ascension narrative. Enoch is transported by chariot (echoing Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11) to the Son of Man's presence — setting up the stunning identification in chapter 71.

Translation Friction

The phrase 'his name was raised to the Son of Man' is ambiguous — does it mean Enoch's name was announced in the Son of Man's presence, or that Enoch himself was elevated to the status of the Son of Man? This ambiguity is resolved (or deepened) in chapter 71.

Connections

Genesis 5:24 — 'God took him.' 2 Kings 2:11 — Elijah's chariot ascension. Hebrews 11:5 — 'Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death.' Sirach 44:16 — 'Enoch pleased the Lord and was taken up.' The chariot motif connects to the merkabah (throne-chariot) tradition of Ezekiel 1 and later Jewish mysticism.

1 Enoch 70:1

Ge'ez: wa-'em-de'eri zeku — 'and after this'

After this, while Enoch was still alive, his name was raised up to the Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits, from among those who dwell on the earth.

REF And it came to pass after this that his name during his lifetime was raised aloft to that Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits from amongst those who dwell on the earth.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The phrase 'during his lifetime' (or 'while still living') emphasizes that Enoch did not die — he was translated alive, consistent with Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5. His 'name raised up' to the Son of Man foreshadows the identification to come in chapter 71.

1 Enoch 70:2

Ge'ez: wa-tenśe'a ba-markaba manfas — 'and he was raised on the chariot of the spirit'

He was raised up in the chariots of the spirit, and his name vanished from among them.

REF And he was raised aloft on the chariots of the spirit and his name vanished among them.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The 'chariots of the spirit' echo Elijah's chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11) and anticipate the merkabah traditions of later Jewish mysticism. Enoch's name 'vanishing among them' means he is no longer counted among earth-dwellers — he has crossed permanently from the human realm to the heavenly.

1 Enoch 70:3

Ge'ez: wa-'em-ye'eti yom — 'and from that day'

From that day I was no longer counted among them. He placed me between two winds — between the north and the west — where the angels took cords to measure out the place for the chosen and righteous.

REF And from that day I was no longer numbered amongst them: and he set me between the two winds, between the North and the West, where the angels took the cords to measure for me the place for the elect and righteous.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Enoch shifts to first person — 'I was no longer numbered among them.' The measuring of a place 'for the chosen and righteous' connects to the measuring-cord passages in chapters 61 and 67. Enoch's own heavenly dwelling is being prepared within the larger space allotted to the righteous community.

1 Enoch 70:4

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

There I saw the first fathers and the righteous who have dwelt in that place from the beginning.

REF And there I saw the first fathers and the righteous who from the beginning dwell in that place.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The 'first fathers' are the patriarchs — the righteous ancestors who preceded Enoch in death (or translation). They are already dwelling in the heavenly realm, confirming that the righteous dead enjoy a blessed intermediate state before the final judgment.

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