Book of Enoch - Content

Content

The first part of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the Nephilim. The remainder of the book describes Enoch's visits to heaven in the form of travels, visions and dreams, and his revelations.

The book consists of five quite distinct major sections (see each section for details):

• The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1 – 36)
• The Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37 – 71) (also called the Similitudes of Enoch)
• The Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72 – 82) (also called the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries or Book of Luminaries)
• The Book of Dream Visions (1 Enoch 83 – 90) (also called the Book of Dreams)
• The Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 91 – 108)

Most scholars share the view that these five sections were originally independent works (with different dates of composition), themselves a product of much editorial arrangement, and were only later redacted into what we now call 1 Enoch.

Józef Milik has suggested that the Book of Giants found among the Dead Sea Scrolls should be part of the collection, appearing after the Book of Watchers in place of the Book of Parables, but for various reasons, Milik's theory has not been widely accepted.