Ethiopian passage studies

Retelling and expansion

Corruption and the Flood

Both accounts describe corruption before the Flood. Jubilees elaborates the actions and punishment of heavenly beings alongside the destruction of their offspring. Genesis develops the contrast between a corrupt earth and Noah's standing before God.

Context & study questions

Read these as distinct passages with their own references. The columns compare a relationship between works; they do not align equivalent verses or highlight translation differences.

Ethiopian collection

R. H. Charles

Jubilees 5:1–12

1 And it came to pass when the children of men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, that the angels of God saw them on a certain year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon; and they took themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare unto them sons and they were giants.

2 And lawlessness increased on the earth and all flesh corrupted its way, alike men and cattle and beasts and birds and everything that walks on the earth -all of them corrupted their ways and their orders, and they began to devour each other, and lawlessness increased on the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of all men (was) thus evil continually.

3 And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted its orders, and all that were upon the earth had wrought all manner of evil before His eyes.

4 And He said that He would destroy man and all flesh upon the face of the earth which He had created.

5 But Noah found grace before the eyes of the Lord.

6 And against the angels whom He had sent upon the earth, He was exceedingly wroth, and He gave commandment to root them out of all their dominion, and He bade us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold they are bound in the midst of them, and are (kept) separate.

7 And against their sons went forth a command from before His face that they should be smitten with the sword, and be removed from under heaven.

8 And He said 'My spirit shall not always abide on man; for they also are flesh and their days shall be one hundred and twenty years'.

9 And He sent His sword into their midst that each should slay his neighbour, and they began to slay each other till they all fell by the sword and were destroyed from the earth.

10 And their fathers were witnesses (of their destruction), and after this they were bound in the depths of the earth for ever, until the day of the great condemnation, when judgment is executed on all those who have corrupted their ways and their works before the Lord.

11 And He destroyed all from their places, and there was not left one of them whom He judged not according to all their wickedness.

12 And he made for all his works a new and righteous nature, so that they should not sin in their whole nature for ever, but should be all righteous each in his kind alway.

Biblical passage

World English Bible

Genesis 6:1–13

1 It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,

2 that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose.

3 Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years."

4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came to men's daughters. They bore children to them: the same were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.

7 Yahweh said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes.

9 This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.

10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

13 God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Editorial reading aids

Context for the comparison

Read the rest of Jubilees 5 for its reflection on judgement and forgiveness. Its fuller explanation of heavenly wrongdoing is part of the retelling; it is not additional wording found in the selected Genesis passage.

Questions for close reading

  1. Which kinds of corruption are described?
  2. How are heavenly beings, humans and other living creatures affected?

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Text sources and editorial treatment

R. H. Charles's English translation as published in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (1913), transcribed by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Public-domain translation. Source chapter and verse numbering, including chronological annotations, is retained; editorial chapter summaries are omitted. This is a historic scholarly edition, not an official English translation of the Ethiopian Church.

Charles's Jubilees: full source · About World English Bible and the other Bible editions

Each panel displays the stored source text without rewriting it to resemble the other passage. Verse labels belong to that edition. The observations above describe these selected passages; they are not ancient text or a claim that all scholarly interpretations agree.