Overview
The Book of Enoch: Updated by Richard Laurence
The Book of Enoch was widely read and believed by the Early Church, but came into disfavor by the Roman Catholic Church and became a lost book. The Book of Enoch was rediscovered in Egypt in the 18th century having been preserved by the Coptic Church.
Unfortunately it was translated and analyzed during a time of great unbelief in God and the Bible. So also the author of the introduction, not the translator, here calls Enoch a work of fiction. He does so because he wants to discredit Christianity, but he only succeeds in authenticating the Book of Enoch, because of the numerous connections he provides between Enoch and the New Testament.
Since this translation and that of R. H. Charles were first published, several copies of the Book of Enoch were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which further connects the book with the Jews of Palestine in the 1st century.
This translation of the Book of Enoch was once popular, so I have updated the language to make it more readable today by replacing archaic words we no longer use such as “execrate” with the modern equivalent, and changing the Roman Numerals with modern numbers.
