Enoch Fragment/Book of Noah (online)

The Book of Enoch

Edited into 21st Century American English from the 1917 translation by

R. H. CHARLES, D.LITT., D.D.

Edited by

Pamela Ayn Austen

Fragment of the Book of Noah

CHAPTER 106

1. After some days, my son Methuselah took a wife for his son Lamech, and she became pregnant by him and bore a son.

2. His body was white as snow and red as the blooming of a rose, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool, and his eyes beautiful. When he opened his eyes, he lit up the whole house like the sun, and the whole house was very bright.

3. Thereafter, he arose in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and conversed with the Lord of righteousness.

4. His father Lamech was afraid of him and fled, and he came to his father Methuselah.

5. He said to him, “I have begotten a strange son, diverse from and unlike man, and resembling the sons of the God of heaven; and his nature is different and he is not like us, and his eyes are as the rays of the sun, and his countenance is glorious.

6. It seems to me that he has not sprung from me but from the angels, and I fear that in his days, a wonder may be wrought on the earth.

7. And now, my father, I am here to petition you and implore you that you may go to Enoch, our father, and learn from him the truth, for his dwelling place is among the angels.”

8. When Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me to the ends of the earth, for he had heard I was there, and he cried aloud, and I heard his voice and I came to him. I said to him, “Behold, here I am, my son, why have you come to me?”

9. He answered and said, “Because of a great cause of anxiety have I come to you, and because of a disturbing vision have I approached.

10. And now, my father, hear me: Unto Lamech my son there has been born a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like man's nature, and the color of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose, and the hair of his head is whiter than white wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun, and he opened his eyes, and thereupon lighted up the whole house.

11. He arose in the hands of the midwife, and he opened his mouth and blessed the Lord of heaven.

12. His father Lamech became afraid and fled to me, and did not believe that he was sprung from him, but that he was in the likeness of the angels of heaven; and behold, I have come to you that you may make known to me the truth.”

13. I, Enoch, answered and said to him, “The Lord will do a new thing on the earth, and this I have already seen in a vision, and make known to you that in the generation of my father Jared, some of the angels of heaven transgressed the word of the Lord.

14. And behold, they commit sin and transgress the law, and have united themselves with women and commit sin with them, and have married some of them, and have begotten children by them.

15. They shall produce on the earth giants not according to the spirit but according to the flesh, and there shall be a great punishment on the earth, and the earth shall be cleansed from all impurity.

16. Yes, there shall come a great destruction over the whole earth, and there shall be a deluge and a great destruction for one year.

17. This son who has been born to you shall be left on the earth, and his three children shall be saved with him; when all mankind that are on the earth shall die, he and his sons shall be saved.

18. And now, make known to your son Lamech that he who has been born is in truth his son, and call his name Noah, for he shall be left to you, and he and his sons shall be saved from the destruction which shall come upon the earth on account of all the sin and all the unrighteousness which shall be consummated on the earth in his days.

19. After that, there shall be still more unrighteousness than that which was first consummated on the earth; for I know the mysteries of the holy ones; for He, the Lord, has shown me and informed me, and I have read in the heavenly tablets.

CHAPTER 107

1. I saw written on them that generation upon generation shall transgress until a generation of righteousness arises, and transgression is destroyed and sin passes away from the earth, and all manner of good comes upon it.

2. And now, my son, go and make known to your son Lamech that this son, which has been born, is in truth his son, and that is no lie.”

3. When Methuselah had heard the words of his father Enoch, for he had shown to him everything in secret, he returned and showed to him and called the name of that son Noah; for he will comfort the earth after all the destruction.

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