The Book of Enoch 106

How to read these pages: the text itself comes first, verse by verse, in the volume's own translation. Beneath each verse stands its Meaning — a rendering of what the passage's terms name in the inner life, drawn from the correspondences the text itself uses. The text is never altered; the meaning is offered, not imposed.

Charles translation (1917)

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

And after some days my son Methuselah — the preserving faculty that carries the testimony down the line of states — took a wife, an affection joined to his line, for his son Lamech — in Seth's line, the father who names Rest — and she became pregnant by him and bore a son, a new state born in the order of states.

2And 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†. And when he opened his eyes, he lighted up the whole house like the sun, and the whole house was very bright.

And his body — his outer form — was white as snow, pure and unstained by error, and red as the blooming of a rose, flushed with life, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool, bearing the pure wisdom of the Head of Days, and his eyes were beautiful. And when he opened his eyes, understanding dawned through him and he lighted up the whole house of consciousness like the sun, the greater light, and the whole house was very bright — a sign: a work in the outer signifying a greater work in the inner.

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

And thereupon he arose in the hands of the midwife — the attending affection that helps a new state be born and guards it at its birth — opened his mouth, and conversed with the indwelling LORD of righteousness, the Source as right order itself.

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

And his father Lamech was afraid of him — the naming faculty shrinking from a state beyond its measure — and fled, and came to his father Methuselah.

5And he said unto 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.

And he said unto him: I have begotten a strange son, a state diverse from and unlike the natural man, and resembling the sons of the Source of the inner realm; and his nature is different and he is not like us, and his eyes are as the rays of the sun, the greater light, and his countenance — his face, the surface of awareness turned toward the Presence — is glorious, filled with the radiance of the Presence.

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

And it seems to me that he is not sprung from me but from the angels — the divine ideas ministering between the higher and lower consciousness — and I fear that in his days a wonder may be wrought on the outer life: a sign, a work in the outer that signifies a greater work in the inner.

7And now, my father, I am here to petition thee and implore thee that thou mayest go to Enoch, our father, and learn from him the truth, for his dwelling-place is amongst the angels.'

And now, my father, I am here to petition thee and implore thee that thou mayest go to Enoch — the faculty that walks with God — our father, and learn from him the truth, for his dwelling-place is amongst the angels, the divine ideas of the higher consciousness.

8And when Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me to the ends of the earth; for he had heard that I was there, and he cried aloud, and I heard his voice and I came to him. And 1 said unto him: 'Behold, here am I, my son, wherefore hast thou come to me?'

And when Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me to the ends of the earth, the outermost reaches of the outer life; for he had heard that I was there, and he cried aloud, and I heard his voice and I came to him. And I said unto him: Behold, here am I, my son, wherefore hast thou come to me?

9And he answered and said: 'Because of a great cause of anxiety have I come to thee, and because of a disturbing vision have I approached.

And he answered and said: Because of a great cause of anxiety have I come to thee, and because of a disturbing vision — truth seen by the inner eye in symbol, unsettling the state that sees it — have I approached.

10And now, my father, hear me: unto Lamech my son there hath been born a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like man's nature, and the colour 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.

And now, my father, hear me: unto Lamech my son there hath been born a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like man's nature, and the colour of his body is whiter than snow, purer than any state of the line, and redder than the bloom of a rose with life, 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 of consciousness.

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

And he arose in the hands of the midwife, the attending affection of the birth, and opened his mouth and blessed the indwelling LORD of the inner realm — spoke the blessing of the LORD of heaven.

12And 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 thee that thou mayest make known to me the truth.'

And 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 the inner realm — resembling them in nature; and behold, I have come to thee that thou mayest make known to me the truth.

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

And I, Enoch, answered and said unto him: The indwelling LORD will do a new thing on the outer life, and this I have already seen in a vision, and make known to thee that in the generation of my father Jared — the name kept, no meaning invented for it — some of the angels of the inner realm transgressed the word of the indwelling LORD: guarding faculties that left their watch-post and descended into the sense-life they were set to guard.

14And 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 begot children by them.

And behold, they commit sin — error, acting apart from the divine order — and transgress the law, the written order of the divine life, and have united themselves with women — the sense-affections — and commit sin with them, and have married some of them, and have begot children by them, offspring-states of that fallen union.

15Yea, there shall come a great destruction over the whole earth, and there shall be a deluge and a great destruction for one year.

Yea, there shall come a great destruction over the whole outer life, and there shall be a deluge — the Flood, the inundation of error that washes the old earth of consciousness clean — and a great destruction for one year, for one appointed cycle.

16And this son who has been born unto 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].

And this son who has been born unto you shall be left on the outer life, and his three children shall be saved with him: when all mankind that are on the outer life shall die — every sense-bound state passing away in the washing — he and his sons shall be saved, preserved through it.

17And 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.

And they shall produce on the outer life giants — the swollen offspring-states begotten when vigilance couples with sense, grown monstrous and out of measure — not according to the Spirit, the Breath of God, but according to the flesh, the outer sense-nature; and there shall be a great punishment on the outer life, the divine order confronting the error at once, and the outer life shall be cleansed from all impurity, from every state acting apart from the order.

18And now make known to thy 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.

And now make known to thy son Lamech that he who has been born is in truth his son, and call his name Noah — Rest, the still point of consciousness that rests in God while the flood of error passes; for he shall be left to you, and he and his sons shall be saved from the destruction which shall come upon the outer life on account of all the sin and all the unrighteousness — every state out of right relation to the divine order — which shall be consummated on the outer life in his days.

19And 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 showed me and informed me, and I have read (them) in the heavenly tablets.

And after that there shall be still more unrighteousness than that which was first consummated on the outer life; for I know the mysteries of the holy ones — the states wholly of the divine order; for He, the indwelling LORD, has showed me and informed me, and I have read them in the heavenly tablets, the recorded order of states in which every deed and season stands written.

Companion volume to The Why Bible — 1 Enoch in R. H. Charles's translation (1917), rendered in its spiritual meanings. First final edition, October 2026.