The Book of Enoch

Enoch (also: 1 Enoch) is canonical scripture for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The only complete copy of an early version of Enoch is available in Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic), here used with permission by the Bible Society of Ethiopia.

The translation into English used here: 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation. Translated by George W. E. Nickelsburg & James C. VanderKam. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012. with editorial alterations by Abraham Haile and additional translations by Haileyesus Woldemariam.

confess (sin)

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The Hebrew, Ge’ez and Greek that is typically translated as “confess” in English in the context of these verses is translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:

  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Tzeltal: “say openly”
  • San Blas Kuna: “accuse oneself of one’s own evil”
  • Kankanaey: “tell the truth about one’s sins”
  • Huastec: “to take aim at one’s sin” (“an idiom which is derived from the action of a hunter taking aim at a bird or animal”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Tabasco Chontal: “say, It is true, I’ve done evil” (source: Larson 1998, p. 204)
  • Central Pame: “pull out the heart” (“so that it may be clearly seen — not just by men, but by God”) (source: Nida 1952, p. 155)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “say, It is true I have sinned” (source: Nida 1964, p. 228)
  • Obolo: itutumu ijo isibi: “speak out sin” (source: Enene Enene).
  • Tagbanwa: “testify that one would now drop/give-up sin” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Kutu: “speak sin” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also confessing their sins.

eternity, forever, forever and ever

The Greek, Hebrew and Ge’ez that is typically translated as “eternity,” “forever,” or “forever and ever” in English are translated in Mairasi as “mashed out infinitely.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (Source: Lloyd Peckham)

In Lisu the phrase “forever and ever” is translated as ꓕꓲꓽ ꓞꓲꓼ ꓕꓲ ꓑ — thi tsi thi pa, verbatim translated as “one – lifetime – one – world.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 57f.)

In Makonde it is often translated as navyaka or “years and years.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also forever, eternal life and salvation.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Concepts of Eternity .