The MSV Approach
The Book of Enoch, Modern Standard Version™ (MSV™) allows you to experience the Book of Enoch in a form updated for the modern reader. Many archaic words in the former translations are replaced while preserving the intended meaning. If there was doubt about the consequences of updating a word, the change is marked with a footnote.
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The authoritative Ethiopic translation of R. H. Charles is combined in the MSV with the translations of Richard Laurence, George H. Schodde, and August Dillmann to make the text easier to understand, such as with proper angel names. The Holy Bible often takes names such as Yeshua and transliterates them into something easier to say (in this case, Yeshua became Jesus). As such, the MSV uses the work of Richard Laurence and others to create an easier reading experience. Some of these changes are marked with footnotes.
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The extensive notes from the translators enhanced the cross-references in the MSV to the Holy Bible. All four translations and their notes were diligently compared when updating the text.
On Style
After years of translating the Book of Enoch, R. H. Charles was delighted to discover that the book is written in prose. It helped him restore missing elements of the text and aided in his translation of unusual sentence structure.
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In the Holy Bible, the books of Job and Psalms are written this way. A similar presentation style is repeated here to recapture the lyrical feel of the original writing.
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Although R. H. Charles recognized the prose structure, he kept the majority of the Book of Enoch in paragraph form. The MSV attempts to recapture the lyrical feel, creating a smoother reading experience.
Words in italics are not in the original text, but their meaning is implied. These are included for clarity and ease of understanding.
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Cross-Reference Footnotes
Many passages in the Holy Bible can be cross-referenced with the Book of Enoch. These cross-references are not usually intended to show a direct relationship between the verses, but to demonstrate the consistency of ideas and themes between the Holy Bible and the Book of Enoch. These are indicated by footnotes.
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Parallel Passages
The selection of parallel passages in the MSV is restricted to the New Testament because the Book of Enoch is proven to predate the birth of Christ and the writings of the gospels. The footnotes throughout the MSV show the vast connection between this book and the writings of the Old Testament.
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On Books, Chapters, and Verses
The Book of Enoch is pieced together from fragments written in different languages, and most (or all) of those fragments are not in the text’s original language. This means the translators struggled to find verses and words moved out of order or duplicated across the centuries. So the verse numbers you see will occasionally be out of order.
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Other ancient texts have been discovered that falsely claim a connection to Enoch. One is the Slavonic Enoch, also called The Secrets of Enoch. Another work is the Hebrew Enoch, also called The Revelation of Metatron. Both of these fictional works were created after the birth of Christianity and had no connection to the ancient person of Enoch or to the Book of Enoch. Scholars labeled these works 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch for academic distinction, but this is confusing and creates the false impression that all three works are connected. We should now erase these ties.
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Within the true Book of Enoch are five traditional books, each with a distinctive name (such as the book of The Watchers). The Modern Standard Version seeks to streamline the presentation of the Book of Enoch in a form familiar and comfortable to readers of the Holy Bible. The traditional five books are here divided into eight parts, labeled 1 Enoch through 8 Enoch, while keeping the traditional titles as subtitles. This update should make the varying sections more palatable and easier to understand.