1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation

The Birth of Noah

The Birth of Noah (Chapters 106–107) 106:1 After a time, I took a wife for Methuselah my son, and she bore a son and called his name Lamech. Righteousness was brought low until that day. And when (Lamech) had come of age, he took for himself a wife, and she conceived from him and bore a child. 2/ And when the child was born,a his body was whiter than snow and redder than a rose, his hair was all white and like white wool and curly. Glorious .b When he opened his eyes, the house shone like the sun. 3/ And he stood up from the hands of the midwife, and he opened his mouth and praised the Lord .c 4 And Lamech was afraid of him, and he fled and came to Methuselah his father. 5/ And he said to him, “A strange child has been born to me. He is not like human beings, but (like) the sons of the angels of heaven. His form is strange, not like us. His eyes are like the rays of the sun, and glorious is his face. 6/ I think that he is not from me, but from the angels. And I fear him, lest something happen in his days on the earth. 7/ I beg you, father, and beseech you, go to Enoch our father and learn the truth from him, for his dwelling is with the angels.” a Eth omits the clause. The poetic structure evident in the parallel vv 10-12 is not so evident here in vv 2-6. b his face supplied by analogy with v 5. c Phrase omitted in Gk and different in Eth, supplied by analogy with v 11 with a similar expression in the Latin text. 163 164 1 Enoch 106:8-13 8 When Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me at the ends of the earth, where he heard I was then. And he said to me, “My father, hear my voice and come to me.”a And I heard his voice and came to him and said, “Look, here I am, child. Why have you come to me, child?” 9 He answered and said, “Because of great distress I have come to you, and because of a terrible vision I have approached here, father.b 10 And now, my father, hear me, for a child has been born to Lamech my son, and his form and appearance are not like the form of human beings. And his color is whiter than snow and redder than 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 made the whole house bright. 11 And he stood up from the hands of the midwife, and he opened his mouth and praised the Lord of eternity.c 12 And Lamech my son was afraid and he fled to me. He does not believe that (the child) is his son, but that (he is) from the angels of heaven. And, look, I have come to you, because from the angels you have the exact facts and the truth.” 13 Then I, Enoch, answered and said, “The Lord will renew his commandment upon the earth, just as, child, I have seen and told you. a Eth omits the quotation and has cried for said. b On the text of these two lines, see 1 Enoch 1, 537. c Eth Lord of heaven: Latin as in v 3. 1 Enoch 106:13-19 165 That in the generation of Jared, my father, †they transgressed the word of the Lord/the covenant of heaven†,a 14 and look, they went on sinning and transgressing the custom. With women they were mingling, and with them they were sinning. They married some of them, and they went on begetting (children), not like spirits, but of flesh. 15 And there will be great wrath upon the earth and a flood, and there will be great destruction for a year. 16 And this child that was born to you will be left on the earth, and his three children will be saved with him, when all people on the earth die. 17 And he will cleanseb the earth from the corruption that is on it. 18 And now tell Lamech, ‘He is your...