The Book of Enoch 83

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 now, my son Methuselah, I will show thee all my visions which I have seen, recounting them before thee.

And now, my son Methuselah — the preserving faculty that carries the testimony down the line of states — I will show thee all my visions, the truths I have seen by the inner eye in symbol, recounting them before thee.

2Two visions I saw before I took a wife, and the one was quite unlike the other: the first when I was learning to write: the second before I took thy mother, (when) I saw a terrible vision. And regarding them I prayed to the Lord.

Two visions I saw before I took a wife, and the one was quite unlike the other: the first when I was learning to write — when the scribe-faculty in me was being trained to record; the second before I took thy mother, when I saw a terrible vision. And regarding them I prayed to the indwelling LORD.

3I had laid me down in the house of my grandfather Mahalalel, (when) I saw in a vision how the heaven collapsed and was borne off and fell to the earth.

I had laid me down in the house of my grandfather Mahalalel, when I saw in a vision how the heaven — the inner realm — collapsed and was borne off and fell to the earth, the outer life.

4And when it fell to the earth I saw how the earth was swallowed up in a great abyss, and mountains were suspended on mountains, and hills sank down on hills, and high trees were rent from their stems, and hurled down and sunk in the abyss.

And when it fell to the earth I saw how the outer life was swallowed up in a great abyss — the subconscious deep — and exalted states were suspended upon exalted states, and lesser heights sank down on lesser heights, and high trees — tall established beliefs — were rent from their stems, and hurled down and sunk in the deep.

5And thereupon a word fell into my mouth, and I lifted up (my voice) to cry aloud, and said: 'The earth is destroyed.'

And thereupon a word fell into my mouth, and I lifted up my voice to cry aloud, and said: 'The outer life is destroyed.'

6And my grandfather Mahalalel waked me as I lay near him, and said unto me: 'Why dost thou cry so, my son, and why dost thou make such lamentation?'

And my grandfather Mahalalel woke me as I lay near him, and said unto me: 'Why dost thou cry so, my son, and why dost thou make such lamentation?'

7And I recounted to him the whole vision which I had seen, and he said unto me: 'A terrible thing hast thou seen, my son, and of grave moment is thy dream-vision as to the secrets of all the sin of the earth: it must sink into the abyss and be destroyed with a great destruction.

And I recounted to him the whole vision which I had seen, and he said unto me: 'A terrible thing hast thou seen, my son, and of grave moment is thy dream-vision as to the secrets of all the sin — all the error — of the earth: the outer life given to error must sink into the abyss and be destroyed with a great destruction.'

8And now, my son, arise and make petition to the Lord of glory, since thou art a believer, that a remnant may remain on the earth, and that He may not destroy the whole earth.

And now, my son, arise and make petition to the LORD of glory — the indwelling LORD in the radiance of His Presence — since thou art a believer, that a remnant — the faithful kernel of the state — may remain on the earth, and that He may not destroy the whole outer life.

9My son, from heaven all this will come upon the earth, and upon the earth there will be great destruction.

My son, from the inner realm all this will come upon the outer life, and upon the outer life there will be great destruction.

10After that I arose and prayed and implored and besought, and wrote down my prayer for the generations of the world, and I will show everything to thee, my son Methuselah.

After that I arose and prayed and implored and besought, and wrote down my prayer for the generations of the world — the orders of states to come — and I will show everything to thee, my son Methuselah.

11And when I had gone forth below and seen the heaven, and the sun rising in the east, and the moon setting in the west, and a few stars, and the whole earth, and everything as †He had known† it in the beginning, then I blessed the Lord of judgement and extolled Him because He had made the sun to go forth from the windows of the east, †and he ascended and rose on the face of the heaven, and set out and kept traversing the path shown unto him.

And when I had gone forth below and seen the heaven, and the sun — Divine Love-Wisdom, the greater light — rising in the east, and the moon — reflected faith, the lesser light — setting in the west, and a few stars — fixed knowledges of truth — and the whole earth, and everything as He had known it in the beginning, then I blessed the LORD of judgement and extolled Him because He had made the sun to go forth from the windows of the east — the portals of the dawn — and he ascended and rose on the face of the heaven, and set out and kept traversing the path shown unto him, the ordered course appointed to the ruling light.

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.