Enoch, the son of Jared and father of Me-thusaleh, born, according to the Biblical chronology, A. M. 622. He is called "the seventh from Adam" (Jude 14), to distinguish him from Enoch the son of Cain, who was the third from Adam. Eusebius infers from the title "father of astronomy," given him by an old writer, that he is the same whom the Greeks worshipped under the name of Atlas. We read in the Scriptures that "he walked with God;" and as to his. departure from the world, we are told that " he was not, for God took him." His character is drawn by two apostles, Heb. xi. 5, 13, and Jude 14, 15. The latter passage has been the subject of much controversy, as it refers to a prophecy by Enoch, part of which it cites apparently in the language of the prophet himself. A prophetical work called the "Book of Enoch" is frequently mentioned in the patristic writings. It is noticed by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, Jerome, Hilary, and Eusebius. Most of these considered it apocryphal, though Tertullian maintained its authenticity and defended it from the criticisms of his contemporaries.

Bruce, the traveller, brought from Abyssinia three copies of the book in the Ethiopic language, which immediately excited great interest in Europe. Sylvestre de Sacy translated portions of it, and a complete English version by Dr. Laurence, professor of Hebrew at Oxford, appeared in 1821. In 1833 a second, and in 1838 a third revised edition appeared. The book is supposed to have been originally composed about the time of the Christian era, in the Hebrew or Chaldee language. The Ethiopic version was not made from the Hebrew, but from a Greek translation which is not now extant. It consists of a series of revelations supposed to have been given to Enoch and Noah, and is divided into five discourses. The first describes the fall of the angels, the judgment upon them and their offspring the giants, and the journey of Enoch through the earth and heaven in company with an angel. The second contains the parables in which Enoch relates the revelations of the spiritual world. The third treats of astronomy and the changes of the seasons. The fourth describes a dream in which Enoch beheld the course of events from the beginning to the coming of Messiah. The fifth consists of exhortations based upon the preceding parts.

The best edition is Dillmann's, who published the Ethiopic text from five MSS. in 1851, and a German translation and commentary in 1853.