Jude 14-15 — Jude Quotes Enoch

Most readers pass over these lines without a second look: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all” (Jude 14-15).

Genesis records only a few lines about Enoch, and none of them contains these words (Genesis 5:18-24). Jude is quoting the Book of Enoch, the opening chapter, almost word for word. Copies of Enoch were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, so the book was well known in Jude’s day.

Jude does not call it a legend or a story. He says Enoch “prophesied.” He even gives Enoch’s place in the line: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, the seventh from Adam (Genesis 5:3-18).

This does not make every line of the book Scripture. It does mean a book of the Bible quoted Enoch as true prophecy, and the church later set aside the very book Jude used.