Enoch tells Methuselah about a dream vision he received before his marriage. In the dream, he saw the entire earth swallowed up into a great abyss — a vision of the coming flood. He woke terrified and sought out his grandfather Mahalalel, who told him to pray that a remnant might survive.
This is the first dream vision in the section and the simplest: the earth collapses into an abyss. Unlike the elaborate Animal Apocalypse that follows, this vision uses raw apocalyptic imagery — the entire planet being devoured — to convey the totality of the flood judgment. The autobiographical detail of Enoch receiving this vision 'before he was married' (before begetting Methuselah) anchors the cosmic catastrophe in personal family history.
The consultation with Mahalalel (Enoch's grandfather) rather than his father Jared is unusual and unexplained. Some scholars suggest Mahalalel was chosen because his name means 'praise of God,' making him the appropriate figure to instruct Enoch in prayer.
Genesis 6-9 — the flood narrative. 2 Peter 2:5 — Noah as preacher of righteousness. Genesis 5:12-17 — Mahalalel in the genealogy. 1 Enoch 10:1-3 — the earlier flood prediction. Matthew 24:37-39 — Jesus comparing his return to the days of Noah.
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
Now, my son Methuselah, I will show you all the visions I have seen, recounting them before you.
REF And now, my son Methuselah, I will show thee all my visions which I have seen, recounting them before thee.
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
I saw two visions before I married, and one was entirely unlike the other. The first came when I was learning to write, the second before I married your mother — a terrible vision. Regarding both I prayed to the Lord.
REF Two visions I saw before I took a wife, and the one was quite unlike the other: the first when I was learning to write: and the second before I took thy mother, when I saw a terrible vision. And regarding them I prayed to the Lord.
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
I had gone to bed in the house of my grandfather Mahalalel when I saw in a vision how the heaven collapsed, was torn away, and fell to the earth.
REF I had laid me down in the house of my grandfather Mahalalel, when I saw in a vision how the heaven collapsed and was borne off and fell to the earth.
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
When it fell to the earth, I saw how the earth was swallowed up in a great abyss. Mountains were piled upon mountains, hills sank upon hills, tall trees were torn from their roots, thrown down and swallowed in the abyss.
REF And when it fell to the earth I saw how the earth was swallowed up in a great abyss, and mountains were suspended on mountains, and hills sank down on hills, and high trees were rent from their stems, and were thrown down and sunk in the abyss.
The primordial deep (tehom) — the chaotic waters restrained at creation now unleashed in judgment
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
Then a word fell into my mouth. I lifted my voice and cried out: 'The earth is destroyed!'
REF And thereupon a word fell into my mouth, and I lifted up (my voice) to cry aloud, and said: 'The earth is destroyed.'
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
My grandfather Mahalalel woke me as I lay beside him and said: 'Why do you cry out like this, my son? Why such lamentation?'
REF And my grandfather Mahalalel waked me as I lay near him, and said unto me: 'Why dost thou cry so, my son, and why dost thou make such lamentation?'
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
I described to him the entire vision I had seen, and he said to me: 'A terrible thing you have seen, my son. Your dream-vision touches the gravest secrets of all the sin of the earth: it must sink into the abyss and be destroyed with a great destruction.'
REF And I recounted to him the whole vision which I had seen, and he said unto me: 'A terrible thing hast thou seen, my son, and of grave moment is thy dream-vision as to the secrets of all the sin of the earth: it must sink into the abyss and be destroyed with a great destruction.'
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
'Now, my son, arise and petition the Lord of glory — since you are a man of faith — that a remnant may remain on the earth and that he may not destroy the whole earth.'
REF 'And now, my son, arise and make petition to the Lord of glory, since thou art a believer, that a remnant may remain on the earth, and that He may not destroy the whole earth.'
The surviving righteous community after judgment — a concept foundational to both Enochic and prophetic theology
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
'My son, all this will come upon the earth from heaven, and on the earth there will be great destruction.'
REF 'My son, from heaven all this will come upon the earth, and upon the earth there will be great destruction.'
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
After that I arose, prayed, implored, and pleaded. I wrote down my prayer for the generations of the world, and I will show everything to you, my son Methuselah.
REF After that I arose and prayed and implored and besought, and wrote down my prayer for the generations of the world, and I will show everything to thee, my son Methuselah.
Ge'ez text per Charles/Knibb editions
When I went outside and saw the sky — the sun rising in the east, the moon setting in the west, a few stars, and the whole earth, everything just as God had known it from the beginning — then I blessed the Lord of judgment and praised him. For he had made the sun go forth from the windows of the east, and it ascended and rose across the face of heaven, setting out and following the path appointed for it.
REF And when I had gone forth below and seen the heaven, and the sun rising in the east, and the moon setting in the west, and a few stars, and the whole earth, and everything as He had known it since the beginning, then I blessed the Lord of judgement and extolled Him, for He had made the sun to go forth from the windows of the east, and he ascended and rose on the face of the heaven, and set out and kept traversing the path shown unto him.