The Book of Enoch

In brief

An ancient collection of five books attributed to Enoch, the man who 'walked with God' (Genesis 5:24). It tells of the Watchers, angels who descended and taught humanity forbidden arts; Enoch's journeys through heaven and the ends of the earth; a treatise on the courses of sun and moon; dream visions of history; and an epistle of wisdom. It is quoted in the New Testament (Jude 14–15) and is canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; Aramaic fragments were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Key ideas

• ✦The fall of the Watchers and the origin of evil
• ✦Heavenly journeys and visions of the divine throne
• ✦The Astronomical Book and the 364-day calendar
• ✦Judgement and the hope of renewal

Why it matters

Enoch shaped Jewish and Christian ideas of angels, demons and the end of days, and it inspired the 'Enochian' name of Dee's angelic language.

“And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates.”