Book of Enoch: which translation to read
Updated September 2026Short answer
For a classic edition that is free of copyright, read R.H. Charles’s 1912 translation. For current scholarship, Nickelsburg and VanderKam’s translation (2004, revised 2012) is the standard. Richard Laurence’s 1821 version was the first in English but is now dated.
The five books inside 1 Enoch
1 Enoch is a collection. Scholars divide it into five parts:
- The Book of the Watchers (chapters 1–36)
- The Book of Parables (37–71)
- The Astronomical Book (72–82)
- The Book of Dreams (83–90)
- The Epistle of Enoch (91–108)
What about 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch?
2 Enoch survives in Old Church Slavonic and 3 Enoch in Hebrew. They are separate works from different periods. Collected editions of “all three books” put them side by side.
The main English translations
| Translator | Year | Why read it |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Laurence | 1821 | The first English translation, made from one Ethiopic manuscript. |
| R.H. Charles | 1893, revised 1912 | The standard for a century; public domain. |
| Michael Knibb | 1978 | A scholarly edition with the Ethiopic text. |
| George Nickelsburg & James VanderKam | 2004, revised 2012 | Today’s scholarly standard; still in copyright. |
Editions to read
All The Book of Enoch editions →
Questions
Why is one edition called the “Ethiopic Version (1906)”?
In 1906 R.H. Charles published a critical edition of the Ethiopic (Ge’ez) text. His English translation appeared in 1893 and was revised in 1912.
Is the Book of Enoch quoted in the Bible?
Yes. The letter of Jude (verses 14–15) quotes 1 Enoch 1:9.