1 Enoch / Chapter 78

1 Enoch 78

17 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

The names of the sun and moon are given, and the details of the moon's monthly waxing and waning are repeated with greater precision. The chapter tracks the moon's light through each half-month, describing how its illuminated portion grows and shrinks in exact fractions. The relationship between the sun's light and the moon's borrowed light is emphasized.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

The naming of the sun and moon — Oryares and Asanya respectively in some manuscripts — preserves ancient astronomical terminology found nowhere else in Second Temple literature. The meticulous fraction-by-fraction tracking of lunar illumination over each night shows the Astronomical Book's authors were serious observers, not merely theologians borrowing astronomical language for decoration.

Translation Friction

The fractional system for the moon's light does not perfectly match modern calculations of lunar illumination percentages. The scheme is idealized — each night adds or subtracts exactly one-fourteenth — whereas actual lunar brightness changes non-linearly due to the moon's spherical geometry and orbital mechanics.

Connections

1 Enoch 73 — the first presentation of the lunar system. Psalm 136:7-9 — sun to rule the day, moon and stars to rule the night. Genesis 1:16 — the two great lights. Sirach 43:6-8 — the moon marking festivals. 4Q317 (Qumran) — a detailed lunar phase observation text.

1 Enoch 78:1

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

The names of the sun are these: the first is Oryares, and the second is Tomas.

REF And the names of the sun are the following: the first Orjares, and the second Tomas.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. These solar names are unique to 1 Enoch and may derive from a non-Semitic astronomical tradition. 'Oryares' has been connected to the Greek word for 'boundary' or 'horizon,' while 'Tomas' is unexplained. The dual names may represent the sun in its rising and setting aspects.
1 Enoch 78:2

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

The moon has four names: the first is Asonya, the second Ebla, the third Benase, and the fourth Erae.

REF And the moon has four names: the first name is Asonja, the second Ebla, the third Benase, and the fourth Erae.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Four lunar names likely correspond to the four phases: new moon, first quarter, full moon, last quarter. The names are otherwise unattested and may preserve fragments of an ancient astronomical vocabulary lost to all other traditions.
1 Enoch 78:3

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

These are the two great luminaries. Their circumference is like the circumference of heaven, and the size of both is alike.

REF These are the two great luminaries: their circumference is like the circumference of the heaven, and the size of the circumference of both is alike.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The claim that sun and moon are the same size reflects the remarkable visual coincidence that both appear as roughly half-degree discs in the sky. This observational fact — which makes solar eclipses possible — is here elevated to a cosmological principle.
1 Enoch 78:4

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

In the sun's circumference there are seven portions of light added to it beyond what the moon has. In measured portions this light is transferred until the seventh portion of the sun is used up.

REF In the circumference of the sun there are seven portions of light which are added to it more than to the moon, and in definite measures it is transferred till the seventh portion of the sun is exhausted.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The seven-portion system for the ratio of sunlight to moonlight reinforces the heptadic cosmology. Light is 'transferred' — the moon's light is explicitly derivative, received from the sun's surplus. This understanding of reflected sunlight is remarkable for its antiquity.
1 Enoch 78:5

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

They enter and exit through the western gates, make their circuit through the north, and come forth through the eastern gates on the face of heaven.

REF And they enter and exit through the western gates, and make their circuit by the north, and come forth through the eastern gates on the face of the heaven.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The nightly return journey through the north — the sun and moon traveling beneath or around the earth via the north — is the standard Enochic cosmological model. The north as the pathway of return gives it a liminal, mysterious quality.
1 Enoch 78:6

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

When the moon rises, one-fourteenth part appears in heaven. Its light becomes full on the fourteenth day, when it accomplishes its full light.

REF And when the moon rises one-fourteenth part appears in the heaven: the light becomes full in her: on the fourteenth day she accomplishes her light.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The fourteen-day waxing cycle is restated. Full moon on day fourteen places it at the midpoint of the 30-day schematic month — a clean mathematical division.
1 Enoch 78:7

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

Fifteen parts of light are given to it until the fifteenth day, when its light is complete according to the sign of the year. It amounts to fifteen parts, and the moon grows by fourteenth-part additions.

REF And fifteen parts of light are transferred to her till the fifteenth day when her light is accomplished, according to the sign of the year, and she becomes fifteen parts, and the moon grows by the addition of fourteenth parts.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The discrepancy between fourteen and fifteen parts (also seen in chapter 73) likely reflects variant manuscript traditions or a dual counting system — fourteen parts of visible light plus the underlying disc itself as the fifteenth.
1 Enoch 78:8

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

In its waning the moon decreases: on the first day to fourteen parts of its light, on the second to thirteen, on the third to twelve, on the fourth to eleven, on the fifth to ten, on the sixth to nine, on the seventh to eight, on the eighth to seven, on the ninth to six, on the tenth to five, on the eleventh to four, on the twelfth to three, on the thirteenth to two, on the fourteenth to half of a seventh — and all its remaining light disappears completely on the fifteenth.

REF And in her waning the moon decreases on the first day to fourteen parts of her light, on the second to thirteen parts of light, on the third to twelve, on the fourth to eleven, on the fifth to ten, on the sixth to nine, on the seventh to eight, on the eighth to seven, on the ninth to six, on the tenth to five, on the eleventh to four, on the twelfth to three, on the thirteenth to two, on the fourteenth to the half of a seventh, and all her remaining light disappears wholly on the fifteenth.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The waning sequence is identical to 73:8, establishing it as a fixed formula. The mechanical precision — one part per night, without exception — presents the lunar cycle as a law-governed process, not a mysterious or capricious phenomenon.
1 Enoch 78:9

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

In certain months the month has twenty-nine days, and once twenty-eight.

REF In certain months the month has twenty-nine days and once twenty-eight.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The acknowledgment of 29- and 28-day months breaks the rigid 30-day scheme and shows awareness of the actual synodic month (29.53 days). This realistic note sits in tension with the idealized system, suggesting the author observed real lunar cycles even while promoting a schematic calendar.
1 Enoch 78:10

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

Uriel showed me another law: how light is transferred to the moon, and from which side the sun transfers it.

REF And Uriel showed me another law: when light is transferred to the moon, and on which side it is transferred to her by the sun.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The directional transfer of light — which side of the moon is illuminated — is an observationally accurate detail. The waxing moon is lit from the right (west) in the northern hemisphere, and the waning moon from the left (east).
1 Enoch 78:11

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

During the entire period when the moon is growing in light, it receives that light while opposite the sun. Over fourteen days its light is completed in heaven, and when it is fully illuminated, its light is complete in heaven.

REF During all the period during which the moon is growing in her light, she is transferring it to herself when opposite to the sun during fourteen days her light is accomplished in the heaven, and when she is illumined throughout, her light is accomplished full in the heaven.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The statement that the moon receives light 'while opposite the sun' is astronomically correct — the full moon occurs when the moon is directly opposite the sun from Earth's perspective. This is genuine observational astronomy.
1 Enoch 78:12

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

On the first day it is called the new moon, because on that day light first rises upon it.

REF And on the first day she is called the new moon, for on that day the light rises upon her.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The naming convention — 'new moon' when the first sliver of light appears — corresponds to the traditional Near Eastern practice of beginning the month with the first visible crescent, not the astronomical new moon (conjunction).
1 Enoch 78:13

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

It becomes full moon on exactly the day when the sun sets in the west and the moon rises in the east at night. The moon shines the whole night through until the sun rises opposite it, and the moon is seen facing the sun.

REF She becomes full moon exactly on the day when the sun sets in the west, and from the east she rises at night, and the moon shines the whole night through till the sun rises over against her and the moon is seen over against the sun.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The full moon's opposition to the sun — rising as the sun sets, setting as the sun rises — is described with observational precision. This is the defining characteristic of the full moon and demonstrates direct sky-watching.
1 Enoch 78:14

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

From the side where the moon's light first appeared, there it wanes again until all the light vanishes and all the days of the month are complete, and its disc is empty, void of light.

REF On the side whence the light of the moon comes forth, there again she wanes till all the light vanishes and all the days of the month are at an end, and her circumference is empty, void of light.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The waning begins from the same side the waxing started — observationally, the right side (western limb) that lit up first is the last to go dark. The 'empty disc, void of light' is the dark moon before the new crescent.
1 Enoch 78:15

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

Three months it makes of thirty days, and at its time it makes three months of twenty-nine days each, in which it accomplishes its waning in the first period of time and in the first gate — one hundred and seventy-seven days.

REF And three months she makes of thirty days, and at her time she makes three months of twenty-nine days each, in which she accomplishes her waning in the first period of time, and in the first portal, for one hundred and seventy-seven days.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The alternation of 30- and 29-day months (3 × 30 + 3 × 29 = 177) for a half-year is the standard lunisolar scheme. The total of 177 days for half a lunar year is close to the actual value (approximately 177.18 days for six synodic months).
1 Enoch 78:16

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

In the time of its going out, it appears for three months of thirty days each, and for three months of twenty-nine days each.

REF And in the time of her going out she appears for three months of thirty days each, and for three months she appears of twenty-nine each.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The second half-year mirrors the first: 3 × 30 + 3 × 29 = 177 days. The full lunar year: 177 + 177 = 354 days — ten days short of the 364-day solar year.
1 Enoch 78:17

Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions

At night it appears in human form for twenty days each time, and by day it appears like the sky, with nothing in it except its light.

REF At night she appears like a man for twenty days each time, and by day she appears like the heaven, and there is nothing else in her except her light.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The moon appearing 'like a man' is a rare reference to the ancient perception of a human figure in the moon's surface markings — the 'man in the moon.' The twenty visible nights per month (out of ~30) roughly matches reality: the moon is visible for most of the month except the days near conjunction.
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