The Greek Translation of Enoch’s Journeys to the Ends of the Earth and the Redaction of the Book of the Watchers

Abstract This study argues for a new understanding of the process of redaction that produced the Book of the Watchers (1 En. 1–36). The argument is based on an analysis of the Greek version of the two journeys to the ends of the earth (1 En. 17–19; 1 En. 20–36). The analysis demonstrates significant differences between the Greek vocabulary for seeing and going in the two journeys, vocabulary of particular importance because the verbs in question structure the narratives of the journeys. The differences indicate that the journeys were put into Greek by different translators. The translations must thus have been made while the journeys were still independent works, before they became part of the Book of the Watchers. If so, the final stages of the redaction of the Book of the Watchers must have taken place in Greek.