Does Jude Quote Enoch as Prophecy? | Wes Huff on Jude 14–15

Jude 14–15 contains one of the New Testament’s more eyebrow-raising lines. Jude delivers a prophecy with wording that closely resembles 1 Enoch, a book that isn’t in the Bible. What are we to make of this?

In this episode of What in the Word?, Kirk E. Miller welcomes Wes Huff to unpack why Jude’s Enoch quotation matters, what we can responsibly say about its origins, and how understanding Second Temple Jewish literature can actually clarify Jude’s pastoral point rather than distract from it.

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Episode guest: Wesley Huff

Wesley Huff was born in Multan, Pakistan, and spent a portion of his childhood in the Middle East. He is currently the Vice President for Apologetics Canada and has been a guest on a variety of the world’s top public platforms. He has participated in numerous public dialogues, debates, and interfaith events on issues of belief and religion across the globe.

He holds a BA in sociology from York University, a masters of theological studies from Tyndale University, and is currently doing a PhD in New Testament at the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College.

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Episode synopsis

Jude’s use of 1 Enoch & why it’s puzzling

Jude’s wording appears to be a direct reference to 1 Enoch, a collection of Jewish writings attributed to Enoch but widely understood to not have been written by the pre-flood Enoch (Gen 5:21–24). In fact, Wes notes that Jude’s reference is the only “arguably unambiguous” quotation in his letter: not just a thematic echo or allusion, but a clear representation of a recognizable source.

This prompts a chain of questions:

• Is Jude quoting 1 Enoch or just alluding to an Enochian tradition?
• How did first-century Jews and early Christians view Enochian literature, and how might this inform Jude’s appeal to it here?
• If he’s quoting it, is Jude treating 1 Enoch as Scripture? In other words, does this imply that Jude thinks 1 Enoch is inspired or even canonical?
• And if 1 Enoch isn’t canonical, does Jude’s use of it create problems for Jude’s own authority and canonicity?
• Further, did Jude believe the historical Enoch actually spoke these words, when in fact we know them to be pseudepigraphal? And, if so, does this mean Jude was in error here?

What do we know about the book of 1 Enoch?

What we call 1 Enoch is actually a compiled volume of different pieces of literature that likely circulated independently and were later gathered into a single document. Wes outlines its major sections and their commonly proposed dates, emphasizing that the collection spans centuries and reflects themes typical of the intertestamental period (the time between the Old and New Testaments).

Importantly, the only complete surviving copy of 1 Enoch exists in a later Ethiopic (Geʽez) manuscript tradition, while fragments appear in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Aramaic, including some from the Dead Sea Scrolls. This underscores that Enochian material wasn’t obscure. It circulated widely enough to leave manuscript traces in multiple contexts.

Understanding pseudepigraphical writings

To make sense of why Jude might reference this kind of source, we need to understand some basics of pseudepigraphical writings.

These were writings attributed to famous biblical figures (like Adam, Abraham, Moses, Baruch, Ezra, Enoch, etc.), although not written by them and composed much later. These texts flourished during the intertestamental period and often belong to the genre of apocalyptic literature, which is characterized by symbolic visions, cosmic conflict, decisive divine intervention, and judgment with end-time hopes. In short, apocalyptic literature was frequently about God making all things right in the end. The Essenes, a group of sectarian Jews in Qumran who broke away from the religious establishment of Jerusalem and are responsible for many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, produced many of these writings.

First Enoch fits within this body of literature as a pseudepigraphical work with many apocalyptic themes.

Is Jude actually quoting 1 Enoch?

The mainstream scholarly view is that Jude is quoting 1 Enoch, specifically 1:9.

However, Jude is writing in Greek, and this particular section of 1 Enoch is Aramaic. So either Jude would have used a Greek translation of this portion of 1 Enoch, which we no longer possess, or he translated the Aramaic into Greek for his audience. So there are some minor differences between Jude’s wording and the version of 1 Enoch 1:9 that we possess.

Thus, some scholars contend Jude is most likely not quoting the textual form of 1 Enoch 1:9 that we possess today. Instead, Jude may be drawing from a broader Enochian tradition, possibly an oral or literary stream that sits behind both Jude’s phrasing and a later compiled form of 1 Enoch.

Was 1 Enoch considered canonical?

How would those in Jude’s day have viewed 1 Enoch? Specifically, did they believe it derived from the historical Enoch of Genesis, and did they revere it as Scripture?

According to Wes, there wasn’t a hegemony among Jewish groups, but the normative Jewish position was that Enoch was not Scripture. Likewise, early Christian canon lists do not include Enoch, although many commend it as “useful.” The recognized books among Jews belonged to the Tanakh: the Torah (the five books of Moses), the Nevi’im (the Prophets), and the Ketuvim (the Writings), which equate to the thirty-nine books of the Protestant Old Testament. However, some Jewish religious groups held to a hierarchy, seeing the later writings as valuable but the Torah as superior.

Nonetheless, some communities—especially the Qumran community associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls—seem to have valued certain non-canonical texts highly. Thus, for some, books like 1 Enoch held some status as valuable and helpful even when that status didn’t equal canonical Scripture.

“Apocrypha” has become a catch-all term for those writings outside of accepted canon. This, of course, does not mean such works are necessarily bad or heretical. Rather, we should approach such as books historically informative. They give us a window into what different Jewish communities debated, expected, feared, and hoped for in the centuries leading up to Jesus and the apostles.

Does Jude’s attribution of prophecy to Enoch challenge inerrancy?

If Jude calls this “prophecy” and attributes it to Enoch, when we know the book of 1 Enoch wasn’t actually written by Enoch, does that expose a mistake or error in Jude’s writings? To the contrary, Wes counters that we should let the evidence of Scripture inform our doctrine of Scripture.

Wes observes that the New Testament occasionally references outside sources to communicate effectively within their cultural moment without thereby canonizing those sources. For example, Paul uses non-biblical writers, such as wider Greco-Roman sources. These citations can be rhetorical and pastoral without implying an endorsement of the entire worldview or corpus behind the quotation. Likewise, Jude can treat a specific statement from 1 Enoch as true and useful for his argument without thereby implying the entire Enochian corpus is authentic or inspired Scripture.

Jude was among a group of New Testament writings that had questions about its canonicity, whether it should be considered authentic Scripture. But as far as Wes is aware, discussion around Jude’s canonicity was not due to its Enochian reference. Rather, it was largely due to the church’s desire to establish its chain of custody so that it could be authentically traced back to Jude.

Why does Jude use Enochian material in the first place?

So why does Jude use 1 Enoch, anyway?

According to Wes, Jude’s appeal to Enochian tradition functions inside his larger polemic against ungodliness, false teaching, and speculative distractions. Wes observes Jude’s repeated emphasis on ungodliness and judgment and the wider New Testament warnings against “myths and endless genealogies” (e.g., 1 Tim 1:4; Titus 3:9). Wes maintains that Jude addresses a community environment where speculative traditions—especially around angels, cosmic conflict, and Genesis 6—were leveraged in ways that minimized human responsibility.

Thus, Jude’s use of 1 Enoch is strategic: He deploys a tradition his audience knows and respects, using it to sharpen the warning that the real crisis is not due to angelic impurity, which would place it outside of human accountability. Rather, sin and evil stem from human rebellion.

Practical guidance for teachers & preachers

Finally, how should someone teach Jude 14–15 without either ignoring questions related to its use of 1 Enoch or letting those issues eclipse Jude’s actual point?

Scripture was written for you, but not to you. So here, as we understand who Jude is writing to, we are better able to understand why this is written for us. Namely, understanding Jude’s first-century context, especially the literature of Second Temple Judaism, helps us interpret what Jude is doing and how it would land with his first audience, and by extension, what it means for us today. And when teaching this passage to others, we can help them see the value of this background context, as well.

Wes explains, “The Jewish tradition in 1 Enoch, and particularly in the book of the Watchers, which is the section that’s being referenced, are precisely these endless genealogies of angels, which could not be proven and involved speculating about Genesis 6:1–4.” So we, likewise, should “avoid endless myths, conspiracies that are unhelpful” and, instead, focus on what matters: “building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 20–21).

As Kirk explains, when teaching it can be important to address issues your audience may be confused about, like Jude’s use of 1 Enoch. At the same time, it’s important not to get derailed and let such matters eclipse the actual message of the text, in this case Jude’s exhortation. Ideally, teachers will want to pull in background matters to the extent that they illuminate one’s exegesis and exposition without getting so hung up on them that they overshadow the burden of a passage.

Wes Huff’s recommended resources for further study

• Peter Gentry & Andrew Fountain, “Reassessing Jude’s Use of Enoch Traditions,” Tyndale Bulletin 68.2.

Resources on Jude

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