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The Books of Enoch and Jubilees

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 The Books of
Enoch
and
Jubilees

Edited and Introduction by

Prof. Dr. Jan Mathys de Beer

Woosong University

2018
The Books of Enoch and Jubilees

Copyright © 2018 Jan Mathys de Beer

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who
may quote brief passages in a review.

Publisher:
Olimpiad Publishers
319 Magalies View
Melodie
Hartbeespoort
North West, 0216
South Africa

Email:
andrieslombaard@gmail.com
davidshield.pub@gmail.com

Printed in 2018
 Contents

Introduction To Jubilees & Enoch ................................................................. II

First Objection: Canonicity............................................................................ II
Second Objection: Biblical Contents? ......................................................... VI
Text And Translation .................................................................................. VII
Usage Of Names ........................................................................................ VII
References: ............................................................................................... VIII
THE BOOK OF ENOCH 1
1) The Blessing Of Enoch .............................................................................. 2
2) God's Laws ................................................................................................ 3
3) Rebels Among The Watchers .................................................................... 4
4) The Most High Of The Watchers Speaks Out ........................................... 6
5) Enoch Meets The Holy Watchers.............................................................. 8
6) The Book Of Reproof ................................................................................ 9
7) Enoch Stays For A While With The Watchers ......................................... 12
8) The Angels Who Keep Watch ................................................................. 15
9) The Fragrant Trees .................................................................................. 17
10) The Book Of Methuselah ...................................................................... 21
11) The Book Of Noah................................................................................. 23
12) The Book Of Parables ........................................................................... 26
13) The Storehouses ................................................................................... 47
14) The Revolutions Of The Lights .............................................................. 50
15) Enoch's Letter To Methuselah .............................................................. 60
16) The Law Of The Stars ............................................................................ 61
17) Enoch's First Vision ............................................................................... 63
18) Prophecy Of The Animals ..................................................................... 64
19) Prophecy Of The Ten Weeks................................................................. 78
20) Enoch's Message Of Guidance ............................................................. 81
21) Enoch's Concluding Words ................................................................... 91
THE BOOK OF ENOCH 2
Enoch's Life And Dream .............................................................................. 96
Enoch Instructed His Sons .......................................................................... 97
The First Heaven ......................................................................................... 97
Angels Ruling The Stars .............................................................................. 97
The Store-Houses ....................................................................................... 97
The Second Heaven. ................................................................................... 97
The Third Heaven. ...................................................................................... 98
The Fourth Heaven ..................................................................................... 99
The Fifth Heaven....................................................................................... 102
The Sixth Heaven. ..................................................................................... 103
Hence They Took Enoch Into The Seventh Heaven. ................................. 103
The Seventh-Ninth Heaven ....................................................................... 104
The Tenth Heaven .................................................................................... 104
Enoch's Books. .......................................................................................... 105
Revelations Face To Face .......................................................................... 106
The Ages Of This World ............................................................................ 110
Condemnation .......................................................................................... 110
One Righteous .......................................................................................... 111
Enoch’s Last Visit On Earth ....................................................................... 111
Angel Of Ice .............................................................................................. 111
Enoch Returns........................................................................................... 112
Enoch's Admonition To His Sons .............................................................. 112
Enoch Lamented Adam's Sin .................................................................... 113
Key-Holders Of Hell .................................................................................. 114
Enoch With His Children ........................................................................... 114
God Wants A Pure And Contrite Heart ..................................................... 115
God Abominates Unclean Gifts................................................................. 115
Enoch Instructs His Sons ........................................................................... 115
The Sun's Passage Along The Seven Circles .............................................. 116
Swearing ................................................................................................... 117
Instructions To Do Good ........................................................................... 117
How To Praise God ................................................................................... 118
Methosalam .............................................................................................. 119
Enoch's Instruction To His Sons. ............................................................... 119
Do Not Kill ................................................................................................. 120
The Poor ................................................................................................... 120
Gifts .......................................................................................................... 121
Achuzan .................................................................................................... 121
Enoch's Instruction Of His Sons. ............................................................... 122
Enoch Taken Up In The Heavens .............................................................. 123
THE BOOK OF JUBILEES
Moses Receives Account Of The Division Of The Days ............................. 126
Moses Is Given The Complete History From Creation .............................. 130
Adam Names All That Was On The Earth And The First Jubilee ............... 134
Cain And Able ........................................................................................... 138
Men Began To Multiply And Torahlessness Increased ............................. 142
Noah Went Forth From The Ark And Made Atonement .......................... 145
After The Flood Noah Planted A Vine ....................................................... 149
The Earth Divided Into Three Parts ........................................................... 154
Unclean Demons Began To Lead The Sons Of Noah Astray ..................... 159
The Sons Of Noah Began To War .............................................................. 163
Abram Is Born ........................................................................................... 165
Abram Destroys Terah His Fathers Idols................................................... 166
Abram Leaves Haran And Goes To Canaan .............................................. 169
YHVH Cames To Abram In A Dream.......................................................... 172
YHVH Appeared To Abram At The Feast Of The Firstfruits ...................... 174
The Angels Appear Unto Abraham ........................................................... 178
Abraham Made A Great Banquet For Isaac Was Weaned ........................ 181
Abraham Offers Up Isaac His Son ............................................................. 183
Sarah Died In Hebron ............................................................................... 185
Abraham Commanded His Sons To Obey YHVH ....................................... 188
Abraham Called Isaac His Son And Instructs And Blesses Him ................. 190
Isaac And Ishmael Celebrates “The Feast Of Weeks” ............................... 193
And Abraham Died ................................................................................... 196
YHVH Blessed Isaac ................................................................................... 200
Rebecca Instructs Jacob Her Son .............................................................. 203
Isaac Called Esau, His Elder Son To Make Savory Meat ............................ 206
Rebecca Calls Jacob And Sends Him To Laban ......................................... 209
Laban Gives Leah His Elder Daughter To Jacob As A Wife ........................ 212
After Rachel Had Borne Yoseph, Jacob Leaves Laban Secretly ................ 215
Son Of Hamor Defiles Dinah The Daughter Of Jacob................................ 217
Jacob Went To His Father Isaac And He Blesses Him ............................... 221
Levi Is Made The Priest Of The Most High YHVH ...................................... 224
Reuben Laid With Bilhah And He Uncovered His Father's Skirt ............... 228
Jacob, His Sons And Servants Slew The Kings Of The Amorites................ 230
Rebecca Commanded Jacob Regarding His Father Isaac .......................... 233
Isaac Called His Two Sons To Instruct Before He Dies .............................. 236
The Sons Of Esau With Esau Make War With Jacob ................................. 239
Jacob Kills Esau ......................................................................................... 242
The Generations Of Jacob ......................................................................... 244
Pharaoh Dreamed Two Dreams ................................................................ 245
The Sons Of Jacob Took Wives ................................................................. 247
Seven Years Of Famine ............................................................................. 250
Yoseph Reveals Himself To His Brothers .................................................. 252
Yisrael Goes Down Into Egypt ................................................................... 255
Yisrael Went Into The Land Of Goshen ..................................................... 257
Jacob Dies And The Children Of Yisrael Multiply ...................................... 259
Pharaoh, King Of Egypt Kills All Male Babies Born .................................... 261
Moses Returns From Midian To Egypt...................................................... 262
Remember The Commandment Of The Passover .................................... 264
Remember The Shabbats .......................................................................... 267
\
 Introduction to Jubilees & Enoch
By Dr. Jan M de Beer, Woosong University
Daejeon, South Korea, 2018

Enoch was originally written partly in Hebrew and partly in

Aramaic (like Daniel), as can be seen from fragments found at
Qumran and Masada. There are some Greek fragments available,
but the only complete text is the Amharic found in Ethiopia.
The Book of Enoch has always been known by that name. The
Book of Jubilees is also known as: The Little Genesis, Lesser Genesis
(Leptogenesis), or The Second Torah.
This book provides English translations of the first two books of
Enoch and the book of Jubilees. These books contain many
parallels with different books of the Bible, as well as valuable
additional information. The problem is that the books of Enoch I
and II are often viewed with scepticism by people from both
Judaic and Christian religious traditions alike. This is very
unfortunate, since the reasons for such scepticism are mostly
based on misinformation. That is why this introduction to the
translations in the current edition aims to rectify at least some
misinformation as well as show that the scepticism is largely
without proper ground. In order to achieve this, the major
objections against a reading of the books of Enoch and Jubilees
will be discussed.
What are the main objections against a reading of Jubilees and
Enoch? The main two reasons why people think they should
avoid these books can be summarized as follows:
1. Jubilees and Enoch are not part of the Canon of the Bible.
2. The contents of Jubilees and Enoch are not Biblical.
These objections will be discussed in the following section.
First objection: Canonicity
The collection of books that make up the Old and New Testaments
of the Bible today are called the Canonical books. Ancient books
are divided into three groups to indicate their authority for
Christian and Jewish (in the case of the Old Testament or Tanach)
faith and life. The books in the Bible are called “Canonical”, while
ii
 Introduction
the other books are divided into two groups: “Apocryphal” and
“Pseudepigraphical”. The Apocryphal books were part of the
Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, called the Septuagint or
LXX. These books were also included in the Catholic Bible, called
the Vulgate, as well as in some protestant Bibles, like the King
James Version (KJV). The Old Testament Apocrypha are (the
names in the Vulgate are given in brackets): 1 Esdras (Vulgate 3
Esdras); 2 Esdras (Vulgate 4 Esdras); Tobit; Judith ; Rest of Esther
(Vulgate Esther 10:4–16:24); Wisdom; Ecclesiasticus (also
known as Sirach); Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy (all part of
Vulgate Baruch); Song of the Three Children (Vulgate Daniel
3:24–90); Story of Susanna (Vulgate Daniel 13); The Idol Bel and
the Dragon (Vulgate Daniel 14); Prayer of Manasses (Daniel); 1
Maccabees; 2 Maccabees.
The general definition of the Pseudepigrapha is books that were
written in a Biblical style and given a name that is not believed to
be the authentic author of the book. This is a very technical
definition, since some of the Biblical books, like Hebrews, could
also be classified this way. In reality, there was uncertainty about
the authenticity of the books that falls within this category. For
this reason, the list of Pseudepigrapha is not fixed and is
determined by different factors, like the authenticity of the
writer, the type of book, and available knowledge of a given book.
Books that were traditionally assigned to the Pseudepigrapha,
are: Apocalypse of Abraham; Apocalypse of Moses; Letter of
Aristeas; Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah; Joseph and
Aseneth; Life of Adam and Eve; Lives of the Prophets; Ladder of
Jacob; Jannes and Jambres; History of the captivity in Babylon;
History of the Rechabites; Eldad and Modad; History of Joseph;
Odes of Solomon; Prayer of Joseph; Prayer of Jacob; and Vision of
Ezra.
Some writers have, in our opinion, wrongly assigned the books of
Enoch and Jubilees to this group, simply because they were not
traditionally included in the Canonical or Apocryphal categories.
Many people are sceptical about the Pseudepigrapha, with good
reason, since many of these books have views that are in
contradiction with the Bible. The issue surrounding the
classification of ancient texts within these three groups was an
integral part of the Reformation, where Luther and other
reformers encouraged people to ground their faith on what is
iii
Introduction
written in the Bible and not on what the Catholic Church or mere
people taught. This was a positive development for the Christian
faith, but it is important to understand that the scepticism of the
Reformation was not directed against the books of Jubilees or
Enoch. In fact, these books were not part of the debate concerning
the Biblical Canon at that time.
Would Enoch or Jubilees have qualified as Apocryphal books for
the rabbinical Judaism and included in the LXX? Contrary to
common belief, the non-canonical books in the LXX that later
became known as the Apocrypha, were not decided upon by the
church, but by Pharisaic rabbinical scholars. Jubilees and Enoch
were not included in the LXX because of the rabbinical Judaism’s
rejection of prophecy after Nehemia. In rabbinical Jewish circles,
the books of Enoch, and to a lesser degree the book of Jubilees,
were treated sceptically not because of the Canonization of the
Bible (Tanach), but because of the Canonization of
prophetic/apocalyptic works. Prophetic and apocalyptic are very
similar, since both have an element of future prophecy.
Apocalyptic prophecy is more visionary of nature and makes use
of visual symbolism or descriptions to prophesy of future events.
The rabbinical theology during the first centuries BCE and BE
established that prophecy and apocalypse ended in the time of
Nehemia (ca. 400BCE). This means that no prophet, prophetic
book or apocalyptic book could be incorporated into the Jewish
collection of authoritative books after the time of Nehemia
(Charles 1913a:163). For this reason, books like Daniel, Esther
and Chronicles were incorporated as part of the Writings
(Ketubim) section of the Tanach, but Enoch and Jubilees were not
considered because of its apocalyptic nature. It is important to
note that Enoch and Jubilees were not excluded because of its
non-canonical nature, but because of its apocalyptic nature that
disqualified it for rabbinical Pharisaic Judaism.
There are, however, two exceptions to the approach of the
rabbinical Judaism, the Ethiopian Jews and the Qumran Yachad
community. The Ethiopian Jews retained the books of Enoch and
Jubilees as part of their Canon, until today. The books of Jubilees
and Enoch was largely unknown to the Western world until J.H.
Charles found Amharic versions of the books in Ethiopia, and
published it in 1913 (Charles 1913a). Interest in the books

iv
 Introduction
escalated when many fragments of Jubilees and Enoch were
found near the Dead Sea at Qumran and Masada.
The Qumran Yachad community did not only view these books as
authoritative, they even regarded Jubilees on a higher level as the
Masoretic text of the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy in the Hebrew
Bible). This information was not known until quite recently with
the publication of the text of the Damascus Document by
Wacholder. In the following quotation, he explains the
importance of Jubilees to the Yachad community:
“It [The Damascus Document] is a midrash on a Torah that
has two scriptural canons: 1) the standard canon of the
Tanach and 2) a second that is sectarian [i.e. belonging to the
Yachad community]. The first, which keeps this group apart
from the sinners, consists of other writings delivered to
Moses, the prophets, and to David. As to Moses, the
Pentateuch in both its senses, historical and legal, forms an
integral part of Judaism. Yet, it is not the most authoritative
text. The other book by Moses, the book of Jubilees (although
not available for centuries and hidden in the ark) is just as
authoritative as the first, if not more so.” (Wacholder
2006:117)
The books of Enoch were known by many early Christians, but,
because they were either grouped under the Pseudepigraphic, or
regarded as unintelligible books during the period of the Western
Canonization, they were mostly neglected by subsequent biblical
scholars. The reason why Enoch was not included in the
Canonical or in the Apocryphal collections of books, was because
the church at that time followed the rabbinical classification of
Judaic/Hebrew books to establish the Old Testament Canon. The
following quote from Charles shows that Enoch was of great
importance to the early believers in Christ:
Nearly all the writers of the New Testament were familiar
with it [Enoch], and were more or less influenced by it in
thought and diction. It is quoted as a genuine production of
Enoch by St. Jude, and as Scripture by St. Barnabas. The
authors of the Book of Jubilees, the Apocalypse of Baruch,
and 4 Ezra, laid it under contribution. With the earlier
Fathers and Apologists it had all the weight of a canonical
book. (Charles 1913b: 163)

v
Introduction
Contrary to modern perceptions, this quotation shows that the
Book of Enoch was in fact regarded as Canon by the early
Christian believers.
In conclusion, it seems that the books of Jubilees and Enoch
became somewhat forgotten in history until it was rediscovered
by Charles (late 1800’s) and near the Dead Sea (1948). This,
however, should not discredit its value for believers today. One
cannot go back in history to include these books in the Biblical
Canon, and that is by no means the motive of this writing. One can,
though, realize the importance of these books and the authority
with which they were once read, asking the question, “What can
we learn from these books about our faith today?”
This brings us to the next common objection against reading
Jubilees and Enoch, namely, the question whether it contradicts
or confirms the message of the Bible.
Second objection: Biblical contents?
How do the contents of Jubilees and Enoch compare with the
Bible? In both form and message, Jubilees and Enoch correspond
with many Biblical books.
Jubilees describes the history of the patriarchs parallel to the
book of Genesis. Genesis and Jubilees share many similar
passages, but Jubilees provides additional information that is not
available in any other text. Jubilees follows the Biblical order of
history, but the information is at times condensed (e.g. the story
of plagues on Pharaoh, Ex 7-10 = Jub 48:4-11), omitted (e.g. the
blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, Gen 48:1-20), edited (e.g. the
notice of Abraham's presenting his wife to foreign rulers as his
sister, Gen 12:10-20; 20:2-7), explained (e.g. Reuben's apparent
incest, Gen 35:22 = Jub 33:2-20), supplemented (e.g. tales of
Abraham's youth, Jub 12:1-9, 12f., 16-21, 25-27), and sometimes
radically transformed (e.g. Isaac's covenant with Abimelech, Gen
26:23-33 = Jub 24:21-33). The Greek New Testament lists 3 direct
references to the book of Jubilees in its table of references to
extra-biblical books (Nestle et al. 2006:806). Paul’s reference to
the law (Torah) in his letter to the Galatians as given to Moses by
an angel, corresponds more to the book of Jubilees than with the
Masoretic Pentateuch (Gal 1:8 & 3:19). The same can be said of
his description of the heavenly Jerusalem in Galatians 4:21-31.

vi
 Introduction
The book of Jubilees is known and highly esteemed by the writers
of both the Old and New Testament.
In the case of Enoch, the name of the book is a reference to a
person mentioned before the flood in Genesis 5:18-24. The New
Testament book of Jude regards Enoch as authoritative Scripture,
similar to other Old Testament books. There are too many
parallels with the Old Testament (Tanach) to list here, but some
examples are: Gen 6:1-4; 9:4; Deut 3:9; 28:12; 1Sam 14:32-34;
Num 24:3ff; Ps 18:10, 11; 85:10; 104:3; Song 4:8; Isa 5:10; 26:21;
30:30; 32:17; Dan 4:13, 17, 23; 5:12; Micah 1:3. The book of
Jubilees is also referenced in Enoch, for example Jubilees 4:22;
5:10; 7:22 -28; 21:6. The Greek New Testament lists 57
references to the book of Enoch in its table of references to extra-
biblical books (Nestle et al. 2006:806-807). The books of Enoch,
or at least parts of what we know today, has always been highly
regarded by the writers of biblical works.
These examples illustrate that Jubilees and Enoch are very much
at home in the company of the books of the Biblical Canon. Any
serious Bible reader will only benefit from reading these books
together with the rest of the Bible.
Text and Translation
The 1 Enoch text was edited from the original translation of R.H.
Charles (1913b) with reference to Black & VanderKam (1985),
Charlesworth (2010), Knibb (1978) and VanderKam (2001). The
Book of the Secrets of Enoch, also known as Slavonic Enoch or 2
Enoch, is based on the translation from the Slavonic by W. R.
Morfill. The text of the Book of Jubilees is based on the translation
of Charles (1913b). All texts are open source.
Usage of Names
In this edition, “the Lord” was replaced by the Tetragrammaton
YHVH, derived from hwhy and to a large extend, names of people
were replaced with transliterated names that resemble the
Hebrew names of those people. The abbreviation “A.M.” means
Anno Mundi—the year since the creation of man.

vii
Introduction
References:
Black, M. & VanderKam, J.C., 1985. The Book of Enoch Or I Enoch: A New
English Edition, E.J. Brill. Available at: https://books.google.co.kr/
books?id=joQeAAAAIAAJ.
Charles, R.H., 1913a. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old
Testament in English: With Introductions and Critical and
Explanatory Notes to the Several Books. Vol. 1, Clarendon Press.
Available at: https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=
NutBAQAAIAAJ.
Charles, R.H., 1913b. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old
Testament in English: With Introductions and Critical and
Explanatory Notes to the Several Books. Vol. 2, Clarendon Press.
Available at: https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=
cuxBAQAAIAAJ.
Charlesworth, J.H., 2010. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Vol. 1,
Hendrickson Publishers. Available at: https://books.google.co.kr
/books?id=RU77ekrD_vIC.
Knibb, Michael A. 1978 & Ullendorff, Edward (1978). The Ethiopic Book
of Enoch : a new edition in the light of the Aramaic Dead Sea
fragments. Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press,
Oxford
Nestle, E. et al., 2006. Nestle-aland Novum Testamentum Graece,
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. Available at: https://
books.google.co.kr/books?id=waROAgAACAAJ.
VanderKam, J., 2001. Book of Jubilees, Bloomsbury Academic. Available
at: https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=_3efRlNz7OAC.
Wacholder, B.Z., 2006. The New Damascus Document: The Midrash on the
Eschatological Torah of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Reconstruction,
Translation and Commentary, Leiden, Boston: Brill.

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