Text & Transmission

The Quotation in Jude

A New Testament letter quotes Enoch by name — evidence of circulation, not of canon.

Scholarly consensusCh. 1

The short answer

Jude 14–15 quotes the opening oracle of 1 Enoch and attributes it to Enoch directly. The quotation shows the book was known and respected in first-century circles. It does not establish that Jude's community treated the whole work as scripture, and most later canons did not.

Broad agreement among historians of the Second Temple period.

What a quotation proves

Citation demonstrates circulation and standing. It does not by itself demonstrate canonical status — ancient writers quoted texts they valued without granting them formal authority. Keeping that distinction is the difference between reporting the evidence and overselling it.

In the text