Does Jude, inspired by the Holy Spirit (vss. 14-15), quote from the Book of Enoch or is it the other way around?

Question

It is claimed that Jude (vss. 14-15) quoted 1 Enoch 1:9. At first glance, that appears to be true. First, let us consider Jude 14-15:

"Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Suppose we now contrast this with the wording of 1 Enoch 1:9:

"And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

Who is quoting whom here, and why?

Answer 1

This amazing “quote” in Jude 14, 15 could be due to any of the following phenomena:

1. Jude actually quoted from the book of 1 Enoch 1:9. However, this does not make 1 Enoch a Biblical book any more than Cyrus or Epimenides – see appendix below. (The Book of Revelation also quotes from 1 Enoch, see appendix.)
2. Jude quotes from the real book of Enoch, now lost, that the (false) book of 1 Enoch attempts to imitate and change by also quoting.
3. Jude quoted the antediluvian patriarch Enoch via an oral tradition as did the book of 1 Enoch. Thus, Jude says nothing about the book of 1 Enoch which, under this scenario, could have been written much later than the patriarch to include such oral traditions to lend it greater credibility. A similar phenomenon has occurred with the “modern” book of Jasher.

Which of these actually occurred, cannot now be known. However, I think that option #2 above is extremely unlikely. I personally believe that options #1 and #3 are far more likely.

[The book of 1 Enoch is almost certain NOT quoting from Jude; copies of the book of Jude have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls dating from before the time of Jesus.]

APPENDIX - Bible Quotes and Allusions from Non-Biblical Sources.

Source	Reference
Direct Quotes
Book of Jashir, “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”	Josh 10:13
Book of Jashar, Lament for Jonathan.	1 Sam 1:18-27
King Hiram’s Order (in a letter) to provide materials for Solomon’s temple	2 Chron 2:11-16
King Cyrus’ Edict to free Jews and return to Judah	2 Chron 36:23
King Cyrus’ Edict to free Jews and return to Judah	Ezra 1:2-4
Rehum’s Letter to King Artaxerxes	Ezra 4:9-16
King Artaxerxes’ Letter to Rehum	Ezra 4:17-22
Tattenai’s Letter to King Darius	Ezra 5:7-17
King Darius’ Letter and Decree concerning the building of the temple in Jerusalem on the basis of King Cyrus’ decree found at Ecbatana	Ezra 6:3-12
King Artaxerxes’ Decree to establish Jewish autonomy in Judah	Ezra 7:12-26
Sanballat’s letter to Nehemiah	Neh 6:6-7
King Nebuchadnezzar’s Decree after the fiery furnace	Dan 3:28-29
King Nebuchadnezzar’s Decree and confession after his insanity	Dan 4
King Darius’ decree in writing concerning Daniel’s God	Dan 6:25-27
Epimenides the Cretan, 6th Cent BC, “In him we live and move and have our being”	Acts 17:28
Aratus of Cilicia, Didactic poem, Phaenomena, (An Invocation to Zeus), line 5, 270 BC, “We are his offspring”.	Acts 17:28
Epimenides the Cretan, 6th Cent BC, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”	Titus 1:12
Unnamed sources
Book of Acts and Gospel of Luke compiled from numerous sources	(see Acts 1:1-4 & Luke 1:1-4)
Enoch’s prophecy about coming judgement (see Deut 33:2, 3) 1 En 1:9	Jude 14, 15
Noah’s flood and preaching to spirits in prison (???) 1 En 21:6	1 Peter 3:19, 20
“After this I saw …an innumerable and uncountable multitude who stood before the glory of the Lord of the Spirits.” 1 Enoch 40:1	Rev 7:9
“…as I looked, behold a star fell down from heaven…” 1 Enoch 86:1	Rev 9:1
Trumpet blasts heralding cosmic events in Apocalypse of Zephaniah chapters 9 – 12	Rev 8 & 9
Mythological Allusions
Hades (river Styx, etc)	Luke 16:19-31
Hecate as Christ	Rev 1:12-16
Chimera as sea beast	Rev 13:1-11
Tartarus (= Hell)	1 Peter 2:4

This is far from an exhaustive list. It is immediately obvious that a Bible quote from a non-Biblical source does not canonize the source.

Answer 2

Jude quoted Enoch

Jude clearly quoted from or paraphrased a version of the Book of Enoch, not the other way around. The Yale Library states:

The Book of Enoch, written during the second century B.C.E., is one of the most important non-canonical pseudepigraphical works.

While it is likely that the current version includes later additions, it is hard to imagine that Jude's lines, avowedly quoting Enoch, would be one of these. Using Occam's Razor leads to the conclusion that Jude is quoting Enoch, not the other way around.

Jude also summarized Enoch's teaching

Not only did Jude quote from the Book of Enoch, he also summarized part of the book earlier in his letter when he said:

He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, the angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling. In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them committed sexual immorality and practiced perversions, just as angels did, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (1:6-7)

This description almost certainly derives from Enoch's first chapters, known as the Book of the Watchers:

Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness, go, declare to the Watchers of the heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have done as the children of earth do, and have taken unto themselves wives: "Ye have wrought great destruction on the earth: And ye shall have no peace nor forgiveness of sin." (Enoch 1:12)

Inspired?

We can deduce from the above that Jude regarded the Book of Enoch as an authentic source describing the course of the fallen angels mentioned in Gen. 6. Those who believe that Jude was inspired by the Holy Spirit will admit that at least this much of the Book of Enoch is also inspired. Whether Jude regarded the entire book as scripture is debatable. We are probably well served to regard it, as the Jewish Encyclopedia does, as

... one of the most important pieces of apocalyptic literature; it furnishes extensive contributions to our knowledge of Jewish folklore in the last pre-Christian centuries; it shows apocalyptic literature in its beginnings, and above all it is a source of information upon the religious ideas of Judaism, especially concerning the Messiah...