The Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling,
And the eternal God will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai,
And appear in the strength of His might from the heaven of heavens.
— 1 Enoch 1:3–4 (tr. R.H. Charles, 1912)
The Aramaic Enoch manuscripts from Cave 4 (4Q201–202) are the oldest surviving witnesses to the Book of the Watchers, the opening cycle of 1 Enoch. They predate the Ethiopic translation by nearly a millennium, preserving the Aramaic original in which the Enochic tradition circulated. The manuscripts date to the late third and early second century BCE, making them among the most ancient texts in the entire Qumran collection.
The Book of the Watchers tells the story of the Watchers — divine beings who descended from heaven, took human wives, and taught humanity forbidden knowledge. The cycle opens with Enoch's theophanic vision of the Holy Great One descending for judgment, then narrates the fall of the Watchers under their leader Semjaza, the birth of the giants, the corruption of the earth, and the divine commissioning of the archangels to bind the fallen Watchers and cleanse creation before the flood.
These fragments represent a tradition older than and independent of canonical Genesis, giving flesh to the cryptic account of Genesis 6:1–4. The Qumran community preserved multiple copies of 1 Enoch alongside their own sectarian writings, treating it as authoritative scripture. The Aramaic Enoch is the primary text of which the Qumran Book of Giants is an expansion and retelling.
4Q201 (Aramaic Enoch^a) preserves fragments of 1 Enoch 1–8; the manuscript dates to the late third century BCE.
4Q202 (Aramaic Enoch^b) preserves fragments of 1 Enoch 6–16 and is roughly contemporaneous.
Note on this translation: The Qumran Aramaic fragments attest approximately 34 lines across these chapters. The extended narrative below preserves the complete Book of the Watchers in R.H. Charles's Ethiopic translation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912), which is the public-domain scholarly foundation for this tradition. Sections attested in the Qumran Aramaic are noted in the section headers. The Aramaic transcriptions are in the Source Text section.
Opening Vision
1 Enoch 1:1–9 | 4Q201 Fragments 1–2 partially attest verses 1–3
The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. And he took up his parable and said — Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come. Concerning the elect I said, and took up my parable concerning them:
The Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling,
And the eternal God will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai,
And appear from His camp
And appear in the strength of His might from the heaven of heavens.
And all shall be smitten with fear
And the Watchers shall quake,
And great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth.
And the high mountains shall be shaken,
And the high hills shall be made low,
And shall melt like wax before the flame
And the earth shall be wholly rent in sunder,
And all that is upon the earth shall perish,
And there shall be a judgement upon all.
But with the righteous He will make peace.
And will protect the elect,
And mercy shall be upon them.
And they shall all belong to God,
And they shall be prospered,
And they shall all be blessed.
And He will help them all,
And light shall appear unto them,
And He will make peace with them.
The Watchers Descend
1 Enoch 6:1–8 | 4Q201 Fragment 4 partially attests
And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.' And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And these are the names of their leaders: Samlazaz, their leader, Araklba, Rameel, Kokablel, Tamlel, Ramlel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, Asael, Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaqiel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These are their chiefs of tens.
The Teaching of the Watchers
1 Enoch 7–8 | 4Q201 Fragments 5–6 partially attest chapter 7
And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.
And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven.
The Angels Intercede
1 Enoch 9:1–11 | 4Q202 Fragment 1 partially attests verses 1–4
And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven and saw much blood being shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth. And they said one to another: 'The earth made without inhabitant cries the voice of their crying up to the gates of heaven. And now to you, the holy ones of heaven, the souls of men make their suit, saying, "Bring our cause before the Most High."'
And they said to the Lord of the ages: 'Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings, and God of the ages, the throne of Thy glory standeth unto all the generations of the ages, and Thy name holy and glorious and blessed unto all the ages! Thou hast made all things, and power over all things hast Thou: and all things are naked and open in Thy sight, and Thou seest all things, and nothing can hide itself from Thee.
Thou seest what Azazel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were preserved in heaven, which men were striving to learn: And Semjaza, to whom Thou hast given authority to bear rule over his associates. And they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. And the women have borne giants, and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness.
And now, behold, the souls of those who have died are crying and making their suit to the gates of heaven, and their lamentations have ascended: and cannot cease because of the lawless deeds which are wrought on the earth. And Thou knowest all things before they come to pass, and Thou seest these things and Thou dost suffer them, and Thou dost not say to us what we are to do to them in regard to these.'
The Divine Commission
1 Enoch 10:1–22 | 4Q202 Fragments 2–4 partially attest verses 1–8
Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name "Hide thyself!" and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.'
And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.'
And to Gabriel said the Lord: 'Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy the children of the Watchers from amongst men: send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have. And no request that they make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers on their behalf; for they hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.'
And the Lord said unto Michael: 'Go, bind Semjaza and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: and to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever.
Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear: and it shall prove a blessing; the works of righteousness and truth shall be planted in truth and joy for evermore.'
And the earth shall be cleansed from all defilement, and from all sin, and from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send them upon it from generation to generation and for ever.
Colophon
Aramaic Enoch (4Q201–202). The Qumran Aramaic fragments are the oldest surviving witnesses to 1 Enoch, predating the Ethiopic translation by nearly a millennium. They survive in approximately 34 lines across two manuscript sigla (4Q201 and 4Q202) covering fragments of chapters 1, 6–10. The surviving Aramaic is presented in the Source Text section below.
The extended narrative in this file presents the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–10) as translated by R.H. Charles in The Book of Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912), which is in the public domain. The text is reproduced verbatim from Charles with minor formatting adjustments for the archive's prose style. This file is not a NTAC Good Works Translation from the source languages; it is an archival presentation of the Qumran manuscripts paired with the standard public-domain Ethiopic translation. A future tulku with direct Ge'ez access may produce a full NTAC translation from the Ethiopic manuscripts, at which point this file should be updated.
Principal Aramaic transcriptions: J.T. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrân Cave 4 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1976); F. García Martínez and E. Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–98), vol. 1, pp. 408–433. Extended narrative: R.H. Charles (trans.), The Book of Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912).
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Source Text
4Q201 (4QEnoch^a ar)
Fragment 1 col. i (= 1 En 1:1–3)
מלי ברכה דחנוך ב[הן ברך ית בחיריא]
[וצדיקיא דיהון קיימין ביום עקה לאעדא]
כל שנאיא חנוך גבר צדיק [...]
ד[פ]קח עינוהי מן אלהא [...]
חזי חזוא דקדישא ושמיא [...]
ו[שמ]עת מן מלאכי קדשא [...]
Fragment 4 (= 1 En 6:1–8)
[והוה כד רביאו בניהון דאנשא]
[וילידו להון בנ]ן שפירן [...]
וחזון עיריא בני שמיא יתהן [...]
ואמרו דא לדא [לכו ונברור]
[לנ]א נשין מן בנ[ת אנשא ...]
[ו]אמר להון שמי[חזה ...]
[...]
ויתאמרון כלהון לה [...]
[וחלפו כלהון] בדיל כן [...]
[שמיחזה ראשהון ...]
חרמון [...]
Fragments 5–6 (= 1 En 7–8)
[ונסבו לה]ון נשין ...]
[...]ולמדו יתהן [...]
[לחשין ו]לעקרי עקרין [...]
[...]
ואסאל [אלף ...]
[לאנשא למ]עבד חרבי [...]
[ושרין ...]
4Q202 (4QEnoch^b ar)
Fragment 1 (= 1 En 9:1–4)
[וארו מיכאל ו]שריאל ורפאל [...]
[גבריאל ...]
[ו]חזון מן קדש שמיא [...]
[על ארעא ...]
[...]
[...]
Fragments 2–4 (= 1 En 10:1–8)
[ואמר קדישא רבא ...]
[לברה דלמך ...]
[...]
[ולרפ]אל אמר [...]
[אסר ...]
[...]
Source Colophon
Aramaic transcription from J.T. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrân Cave 4 (1976) and García Martínez & Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (1997–98), vol. 1. The manuscript fragments are heavily damaged; this transcription provides the surviving Aramaic core of each major section. Brackets indicate lacunae; no text has been supplied into gaps. For complete column-by-column transcription with full critical apparatus, consult Milik (1976) and DJD XXXI.
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