The Book of Parables (1 Enoch 37–71): Son of Man Explained
Before the Gospels, a Jewish text described a 'Son of Man' who was named before creation, sits on 'the throne of his glory,' and judges kings and angels. The Book of Parables (1 Enoch 37–71) is the most debated section of Enoch. Here is what it says, chapter by chapter, and why it matters for reading the New Testament.
What Is the Book of Parables?
The Book of Parables, also called the Similitudes of Enoch, is the second of the five works collected in 1 Enoch and fills chapters 37–71. Enoch calls what he received 'three parables,' using a word that corresponds to the Hebrew mashal, which covers visionary discourse as well as proverb and story. Their subject is the coming judgment: the kings and the mighty who oppress 'the righteous and elect' will be overthrown, the dead will rise, and a heavenly figure called the Elect One, the Righteous One, the Anointed One and, most famously, 'that Son of Man,' will sit on 'the throne of his glory' and judge.
That figure is why the Parables draw so much attention. 'Son of Man' is the title Jesus uses for himself most often in the Gospels, and Matthew 25:31 describes the Son of Man sitting 'upon the throne of his glory,' a phrase that is otherwise characteristic of the Parables. The Parables are also the one major section of 1 Enoch missing from the Dead Sea Scrolls, which has fueled a long debate about when they were written and who wrote them.
This guide walks through the structure and the chapters people most often look up (39, 41, 46, 48, 51, 59, 62, 68–69 and 70–71), quoting the R. H. Charles translation (1917) as it appears in the Bible Notetaker reader, with Charles's brackets and daggers for doubtful text left in place. It then sets out the dating debate and the relationship to Daniel 7 and the Gospels, giving the main positions fairly rather than settling questions the evidence leaves open.
Key Passages from the Book of Parables
1 Enoch 37:5
Three Parables (Ch. 37)“Now three parables were imparted to me, and I lifted up my voice and recounted them to those that dwell on the earth.”
1 Enoch 38:2
The Righteous One (Ch. 38)“And when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the righteous, Whose elect works hang upon the Lord of Spirits, And light shall appear to the righteous and the elect who dwell on the earth, Where then will be the dwelling of the sinners, And where the resting-place of those who have denied the Lord of Spirits? It had been good for them if they had not been born.”
1 Enoch 39:4-5
The Dwellings of the Righteous (Ch. 39)“And there I saw another vision, the dwelling-places of the holy, And the resting-places of the righteous. Here mine eyes saw their dwellings with His righteous angels, And their resting-places with the holy. And they petitioned and interceded and prayed for the children of men. And righteousness flowed before them as water, And mercy like dew upon the earth: Thus it is amongst them for ever and ever.”
1 Enoch 39:6-7
The Elect One (Ch. 39)“And in that place mine eyes saw the Elect One of righteousness and of faith, And righteousness shall prevail in his days, And the righteous and elect shall be without number before Him for ever and ever. And I saw his dwelling-place under the wings of the Lord of Spirits. And all the righteous and elect before Him shall be †strong† as fiery lights, And their mouth shall be full of blessing, And their lips shall extol the name of the Lord of Spirits, And righteousness before Him shall never fail, [And uprightness shall never fail before Him].”
1 Enoch 41:1-2
The Secrets of the Heavens (Ch. 41)“And after that I saw all the secrets of the heavens, and how the kingdom is divided, and how the actions of men are weighed in the balance. And there I saw the mansions of the elect and the mansions of the holy, and mine eyes saw there all the sinners being driven from thence which deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, and being dragged off: and they could not abide because of the punishment which proceeds from the Lord of Spirits.”
1 Enoch 46:1-3
The Head of Days and the Son of Man (Ch. 46)“And there I saw One, who had a head of days, And His head was white like wool, And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, And his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, (and) why he went with the Head of Days? And he answered and said unto me: This is the Son of Man who hath righteousness, With whom dwelleth righteousness, And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden, Because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, And whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness for ever.”
1 Enoch 46:4-5
The Son of Man Judges Kings (Ch. 46)“And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen Shall †raise up† the kings and the mighty from their seats, [And the strong from their thrones] And shall loosen the reins of the strong, And break the teeth of the sinners; [And he shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms] Because they do not extol and praise Him, Nor humbly acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon them.”
1 Enoch 48:2-4
Named Before Creation (Ch. 48)“And at that hour that Son of Man was named In the presence of the Lord of Spirits, And his name before the Head of Days. Yea, before the sun and the signs were created, Before the stars of the heaven were made, His name was named before the Lord of Spirits. He shall be a staff to the righteous whereon to stay themselves and not fall, And he shall be the light of the Gentiles, And the hope of those who are troubled of heart.”
1 Enoch 51:1-3
Resurrection (Ch. 51)“And in those days shall the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it, And Sheol also shall give back that which it has received, And hell shall give back that which it owes. And he shall choose the righteous and holy from among them: For the day has drawn nigh that they should be saved. And the Elect One shall in those days sit on My throne, And his mouth shall pour forth all the secrets of wisdom and counsel: For the Lord of Spirits hath given (them) to him and hath glorified him.”
1 Enoch 59:1-3
Lightning and Thunder (Ch. 59)“[ In those days mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightnings, and of the lights, and the judgements they execute (lit. ‘their judgement’): and they lighten for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of Spirits willeth. And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, and how when it resounds above in the heaven, the sound thereof is heard, and he caused me to see the judgements executed on the earth, whether they be for well-being and blessing, or for a curse, according to the word of the Lord of Spirits. And after that all the secrets of the lights and lightnings were shown to me, and they lighten for blessing and for satisfying.]”
1 Enoch 62:5
The Throne of His Glory (Ch. 62)“And one portion of them shall look on the other, And they shall be terrified, And they shall be downcast of countenance, And pain shall seize them, When they see that Son of Man Sitting on the throne of his glory.”
1 Enoch 62:7
Hidden from the Beginning (Ch. 62)“For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, And the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might, And revealed him to the elect.”
1 Enoch 62:14
Life with the Son of Man (Ch. 62)“And the Lord of Spirits will abide over them, And with that Son of Man shall they eat And lie down and rise up for ever and ever.”
1 Enoch 68:2
The Judgment of the Angels (Ch. 68)“And on that day Michael answered Raphael and said: ‘The power of the spirit transports and makes me to tremble because of the severity of the judgement of the secrets, the judgement of the angels: who can endure the severe judgement which has been executed, and before which they melt away?’”
1 Enoch 69:4-6
Names of the Fallen (Ch. 69)“The name of the first Jeqôn: that is, the one who led astray [all] the sons of God, and brought them down to the earth, and led them astray through the daughters of men. And the second was named Asbeêl: he imparted to the holy sons of God evil counsel, and led them astray so that they defiled their bodies with the daughters of men. And the third was named Gâdreêl: he it is who showed the children of men all the blows of death, and he led astray Eve, and showed [the weapons of death to the sons of men] the shield and the coat of mail, and the sword for battle, and all the weapons of death to the children of men.”
1 Enoch 69:27
Judgment Given to the Son of Man (Ch. 69)“And he sat on the throne of his glory, And the sum of judgement was given unto the Son of Man, And he caused the sinners to pass away and be destroyed from off the face of the earth, And those who have led the world astray.”
1 Enoch 71:14
Enoch and the Son of Man (Ch. 71)“And he (i. e. the angel) came to me and greeted me with His voice, and said unto me: ‘This is the Son of Man who is born unto righteousness; And righteousness abides over him, And the righteousness of the Head of Days forsakes him not.’”
Daniel 7:9
The Ancient of Days“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.”
Daniel 7:13
One Like the Son of Man“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.”
Matthew 25:31
The Son of Man in the Gospels“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:”
Chapter by Chapter: The Book of Parables
1. Structure: An Introduction, Three Parables, and an Ending
Chapter 37 introduces 'the vision of wisdom' and announces that 'three parables were imparted' to Enoch. The First Parable (chs. 38–44) asks where sinners will go when 'the Righteous One shall appear' and shows Enoch the dwellings of the righteous and the secrets of the heavens. The Second Parable (chs. 45–57) concerns 'those who deny the name of the Lord of Spirits' and introduces the Head of Days and the Son of Man, the resurrection, and the judgment of kings and of the fallen angels. The Third Parable (chs. 58–69) describes the blessedness of the righteous and the great judgment scene in which the kings see the Son of Man enthroned, ending with 'This is the third Parable of Enoch' (69:29). Chapters 70–71 form a two-part conclusion about Enoch's final ascent. Woven through it are passages about astronomy and weather (41:3-9, 43–44, 59) and material in which Noah, not Enoch, speaks (chiefly chs. 60 and 65–69), which Charles and many later scholars regard as insertions. God is called 'the Lord of Spirits' throughout, a title found almost nowhere outside the Parables.
2. The Elect One, the Righteous One, the Anointed, and the Son of Man
The Parables give their central figure several titles. The most frequent is 'the Elect One' (or 'Mine Elect One'), recalling the servant of Isaiah 42:1 ('mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth'). He is 'the Righteous One' (38:2), and twice he is God's 'Anointed' (48:10, 52:4), the Hebrew word behind 'Messiah.' From chapter 46 on he is also 'that Son of Man,' and the Ethiopic uses three slightly different phrases for it. Most scholars treat these as titles for one figure rather than four. In Hebrew and Aramaic, 'son of man' simply means 'a human being,' and the Parables usually say 'that Son of Man,' pointing back to the one Enoch saw in chapter 46, who is in turn modeled on the 'one like the Son of man' of Daniel 7. The Parables add a great deal to Daniel: this figure is chosen and 'hidden' before creation, given wisdom and the spirit of Isaiah 11:2 (49:3), called 'the light of the Gentiles' (48:4, compare Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6), worshipped by all who dwell on earth (48:5), and seated on the throne of glory to judge humans and angels alike.
3. Chapter 39: The Dwellings of the Righteous
Chapter 39 opens with a bracketed fragment about 'elect and holy children' descending from heaven, which Charles considered out of place. Then a whirlwind carries Enoch 'to the end of the heavens,' where he sees 'the dwelling-places of the holy, and the resting-places of the righteous.' The righteous dead live with the angels and intercede 'for the children of men,' and 'righteousness flowed before them as water, and mercy like dew upon the earth.' There Enoch first sees 'the Elect One of righteousness and of faith,' dwelling 'under the wings of the Lord of Spirits,' with the righteous shining 'as fiery lights' before him. Enoch longs to stay and learns that this is already his appointed portion. The chapter closes with the angels 'who sleep not' singing a version of Isaiah 6:3: 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits: He filleth the earth with spirits.'
4. Chapter 41: The Secrets of Heaven
Chapter 41 begins with judgment: Enoch sees 'how the kingdom is divided, and how the actions of men are weighed in the balance,' and watches sinners dragged from the mansions of the elect. It then turns, abruptly, to cosmology: the secrets of lightning and thunder, the chambers of the winds, hail, mist and clouds, and the chambers of the sun and moon, which 'keep faith with each other, in accordance with the oath by which they are bound together.' The move from moral order to cosmic order is the point. The sun and moon obey their courses because God bound them by oath; the sinners in this book fall precisely because they 'deny the name of the Lord of Spirits.' The same idea returns in chapter 69, where the great oath holds the heavens, earth, sea and stars in place.
5. Chapter 46: The Head of Days and the Son of Man
Chapter 46 is the passage most often cited for the Son of Man. Enoch sees 'One, who had a head of days,' whose head is 'white like wool,' and with Him 'another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man,' full of grace 'like one of the holy angels.' This is a deliberate reading of Daniel 7:9-13, where the Ancient of days has hair 'like the pure wool' and 'one like the Son of man' comes to him with the clouds. Enoch asks his angel guide who this Son of Man is, and the answer defines him: he 'hath righteousness,' he 'revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden,' and the Lord of Spirits 'hath chosen him.' The rest of the chapter is about kings. The Son of Man will remove 'the kings and the mighty from their seats' because 'they do not extol and praise Him, nor humbly acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon them,' and because their 'faith is in the gods which they have made with their hands' and they 'persecute the houses of His congregations.' The language recalls Mary's song in Luke 1:52 ('He hath put down the mighty from their seats').
6. Chapters 47–49: The Books Opened and the Son of Man Named
In chapter 47 the prayer and 'the blood of the righteous' rise to heaven, and the Head of Days takes His seat with 'the books of the living' opened before Him, again echoing Daniel 7:10 ('the judgment was set, and the books were opened'). Chapter 48 contains the Parables' most striking claim about the Son of Man: 'before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of the heaven were made, His name was named before the Lord of Spirits.' He was 'chosen and hidden before Him, before the creation of the world.' Whether this means real preexistence or existence in God's plan is debated. He will be 'a staff to the righteous,' 'the light of the Gentiles,' and 'the hope of those who are troubled of heart.' The kings of the earth, by contrast, 'have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed' (48:10), which echoes Psalm 2:2. Chapter 49 adds that 'in him dwells the spirit of wisdom,' using the language of Isaiah 11:2.
7. Chapter 51: Resurrection
Chapter 51 is one of the clearest statements of bodily resurrection in early Jewish literature: 'the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it, and Sheol also shall give back that which it has received, and hell shall give back that which it owes.' The Elect One then chooses 'the righteous and holy from among them' and sits on God's own throne, pouring forth 'all the secrets of wisdom and counsel.' The mountains 'leap like rams' (compare Psalm 114:4), and the righteous dwell on a renewed earth. The scene stands between Daniel 12:2 ('many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake') and Revelation 20:13 ('death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them').
8. Chapters 59 and 62: Lightning, and the Great Judgment Scene
Chapter 59 is short and, in Charles's edition, wholly bracketed as an insertion. Enoch sees 'the secrets of the lightnings' and thunder, which strike 'for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of Spirits willeth.' Like chapter 41, it presents weather as an instrument of judgment rather than a random force. Chapter 62 is the climax of the Third Parable. The Lord of Spirits seats the Elect One 'on the throne of His glory,' and 'the word of his mouth slays all the sinners' (compare Isaiah 11:4). The kings and the mighty are made to stand and look at him, and pain comes on them 'as on a woman in travail' when 'they see that Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory.' Then comes the reason they never recognized him: 'from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden,' revealed only to the elect. The kings fall on their faces and beg for mercy, but it is too late. The chapter ends with one of the most hopeful lines in the book: the righteous 'with that Son of Man shall they eat and lie down and rise up for ever and ever,' clothed in 'garments of life' that do not grow old.
9. Chapters 68–69: The Judgment of the Angels and the Names of the Fallen
Chapter 68 belongs to the Noah material: it opens with 'my grandfather Enoch gave me the teaching of all the secrets,' so the speaker is Noah. Michael and Raphael discuss 'the judgement of the angels,' a sentence so severe that it makes even Michael tremble, and Michael refuses to take the angels' part because 'they do as if they were the Lord.' Chapter 69 then names the fallen. 69:2 gives a list of twenty-one names, overlapping the Watchers of 1 Enoch 6 (Samjaza, Kokabel, Baraqel, Azazel, Armaros), and 69:4-12 describes five leaders and what each did. Jeqon led the sons of God astray, Asbeel gave them evil counsel, Gadreel 'led astray Eve' and taught weapons of war, Penemue taught 'writing with ink and paper,' and Kasdeja taught harmful spells, including those against the unborn. 69:13-25 then describes the great oath that holds the creation in place, and 69:26-29 returns to the Son of Man, to whom 'the sum of judgement was given,' as he sits on his throne and binds 'those who have led the world astray.' So the Parables end where the Book of the Watchers began, with the fallen angels judged, but now by the Son of Man.
10. Chapters 70–71: Enoch's Ascent and Identification as Son of Man
Chapter 70 is told in the third person: Enoch's name is 'raised aloft to that Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits,' and he is taken up 'on the chariots of the spirit,' a retelling of Genesis 5:24. Chapter 71 switches to the first person. Enoch's spirit ascends to the heaven of heavens, to a house of crystal and living fire like the one in chapter 14. The Head of Days comes out with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, Enoch falls on his face and his 'spirit was transfigured,' and then he is told: 'This is the Son of Man who is born unto righteousness.' Here the translation matters. The Ethiopic manuscripts read 'You are the son of man,' addressed to Enoch himself, and most recent translators keep that reading. Charles thought it could not be right, because the Son of Man is portrayed earlier as a figure Enoch sees and asks about, so he emended it to 'This is' and posited a lost passage before it, which he marks in brackets in the text. The identification raises real difficulties. Some scholars think chapter 71 is a later addition that turned an independent heavenly figure into the exalted Enoch. Others argue it was always the intended ending, with the human Enoch joined to or revealed as the figure he had seen in vision.
11. The Dating Debate
Aramaic fragments of four of the five books of 1 Enoch were found at Qumran, but not a single fragment of the Parables, and no Greek fragments of them survive either. In the 1970s J. T. Milik used that silence to argue that the Parables were a Christian composition of the third century AD. Few scholars hold that view today. Absence from Qumran may only mean that the Parables were written later than most of the scrolls, or that this particular community did not copy them. Nothing in them is distinctively Christian: Jesus, the cross and the church never appear, and a Christian author would be unlikely to identify the Son of Man as Enoch. Two passages are often used to date the text. 56:5-7 describes an invasion by 'the Parthians and Medes,' which many connect with the Parthian invasion of Judea in 40 BC, and 67:8-13 mentions kings and the mighty seeking healing in hot springs, which some connect with Herod the Great's visit to the springs of Callirrhoe shortly before his death in 4 BC. The majority view, reflected in the Enoch Seminar's 2005 meeting devoted to the Parables, is that they are a Jewish work from the late first century BC or the first century AD, probably before the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. A minority still prefers a date after AD 70.
12. Daniel 7, the Gospels, and the Son of Man
Daniel 7:13-14 is the common root. There, 'one like the Son of man' comes 'with the clouds of heaven' to the Ancient of days and receives an everlasting dominion, and Daniel 7:27 explains the vision in terms of 'the people of the saints of the most High.' The Parables read Daniel's figure as an individual heavenly judge with titles drawn from Isaiah and the Psalms. The Gospels also read him as an individual: Jesus speaks of the Son of Man 'coming in the clouds of heaven' (Matthew 26:64), and in Matthew 19:28 and 25:31 the Son of Man sits 'upon the throne of his glory' and judges the nations. That phrase is the closest verbal link between the Parables and the New Testament, and John 5:27 similarly says the Father gave the Son 'authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.' Scholars disagree about what the links mean. If the Parables are pre-Christian, they show that a messianic Son of Man who judges from a heavenly throne was already part of Jewish expectation, and Jesus' audiences may have heard his use of the title against that background. Others think the Gospels and the Parables developed Daniel 7 independently, along parallel lines. Either way, the Parables are the best surviving evidence of how some Jews read Daniel's 'Son of man' around the time of Jesus.
Where to Read Next
Canonical Son of Man Passages
- • Daniel 7:9 — The Ancient of days, his hair like pure wool
- • Daniel 7:13 — One like the Son of man with the clouds of heaven
- • Daniel 7:14 — An everlasting dominion
- • Matthew 19:28 — The Son of man in the throne of his glory
- • Matthew 25:31 — The Son of man on the throne of his glory
- • Matthew 26:64 — Coming in the clouds of heaven
- • John 5:27 — Authority to judge because he is the Son of man
Map of the Parables
- • Chapter 37: introduction and the three parables announced
- • Chapters 38–44: First Parable (dwellings of the righteous, secrets of heaven)
- • Chapters 45–57: Second Parable (Head of Days, Son of Man, resurrection)
- • Chapters 58–69: Third Parable (judgment of kings and angels)
- • Chapters 70–71: Enoch's final ascent
Read the Parables Next to Daniel 7
The complete Charles translation of 1 Enoch is in the Bible Notetaker reader. Read the Parables chapter by chapter, compare them with Daniel and the Gospels, and keep notes as you go.
- Read 1 Enoch 37–71 in full in the reader
- Compare Daniel 7 and Matthew 25 side by side
- Save key passages and add your own notes
- Go back to the Watchers story in 1 Enoch 6–16
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the Son of Man in the Book of Enoch?
In the Book of Parables (1 Enoch 37–71) the Son of Man is a heavenly figure who is also called the Elect One, the Righteous One and God's Anointed. He was named before creation and kept hidden, he reveals hidden things, and he sits on 'the throne of his glory' to judge kings, sinners and fallen angels. In 1 Enoch 71:14 the Ethiopic text identifies him with Enoch himself ('You are the son of man'), although R. H. Charles emended this to 'This is the Son of Man,' and scholars still debate how chapter 71 relates to the rest of the Parables.
What is the Book of Parables in 1 Enoch?
The Book of Parables, or Similitudes of Enoch, is the second section of 1 Enoch (chapters 37–71). After an introduction (ch. 37) it contains three parables (chs. 38–44, 45–57 and 58–69) about the coming judgment, the resurrection of the dead, and the enthroned Elect One or Son of Man, followed by an account of Enoch's final ascent (chs. 70–71). Passages narrated by Noah (chiefly chs. 60 and 65–69) are usually regarded as later insertions.
When was the Book of Parables written?
Most scholars date it to the late first century BC or the first century AD, probably before AD 70. It is the only part of 1 Enoch not found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which once led J. T. Milik to argue for a third-century Christian origin, but that view is now widely rejected because the text has no Christian features. References to a Parthian invasion (56:5-7) and to kings seeking healing at hot springs (67:8-13) are often linked to events of 40 BC and 4 BC.
Did Jesus get the title 'Son of Man' from the Book of Enoch?
The shared source is Daniel 7:13-14, where 'one like the Son of man' comes with the clouds to the Ancient of days. The Parables and the Gospels both read that figure as an individual heavenly judge, and both use the phrase 'the throne of his glory' (compare 1 Enoch 62:5 and Matthew 25:31). Some scholars think the Parables show a pre-Christian Jewish expectation that Jesus and his hearers shared. Others think the two traditions developed Daniel 7 independently. There is no evidence that the Gospel writers quoted the Parables directly.
Who is the Head of Days in 1 Enoch?
The Head of Days is the Parables' name for God, based on the 'Ancient of days' in Daniel 7:9. In 1 Enoch 46:1 Enoch sees 'One, who had a head of days,' whose head was 'white like wool,' accompanied by the Son of Man. Elsewhere the Parables most often call God 'the Lord of Spirits.'
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