THE BOOK
OF NOAH.

¹These are the generations of the world before the waters, and the remembrance of the things which were done upon the earth in the days of the fathers.

²And it came to pass, when the children of men multiplied, that daughters were born unto them, fair to look upon.

³Now certain of the angels, which were called Watchers, beheld them; and desire entered into their hearts, and they said one to another, Come, let us choose wives from among the daughters of men, and beget children.

⁴And Semjaza, which was chief among them, said, I fear lest ye withdraw yourselves from this deed, and I alone bear the punishment of a great transgression.

⁵But they answered him, We will bind ourselves by an oath, that none of us depart from the counsel which we have taken together.

⁶Then they sware, and bound themselves under a curse; and the number of them was two hundred.

⁷And they descended upon the summit of Hermon in the days of Jared; and the mountain bare witness to the oath wherewith they had bound themselves.

⁸They forsook the dwelling appointed unto them, and mingled with those who were born of flesh.

⁹And each took unto himself a wife, and they went in unto them; and the women conceived, and bare children of great stature.

¹⁰These grew mightily upon the earth, and the strength of ordinary men was as nothing before them.

¹¹The Watchers taught their wives enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and things which had been hidden from mankind.

¹²And men sought them, saying, Show us also the secrets whereby ye have power, that we may be mighty in our generation.

¹³Thus desire begat transgression, and transgression brought forth violence; and the children of men departed from the way which had been appointed unto them.

¹⁴The fathers instructed their children in the works which they had learned, and their children magnified those works in the sight of their neighbours.

¹⁵Yet there remained a remembrance of righteousness among the households of the fathers; for Enoch had walked with God, and his testimony had not wholly departed from the earth.

¹⁶And Methuselah kept the sayings of Enoch, and Lamech heard them from his father; but round about their dwellings the noise of wickedness increased.

¹⁷For the strong made their strength a law unto the weak, and no man could purchase peace with the fruit of his labour.

¹⁸And the days passed, and the earth bare the burden of those who had broken the covenant of their beginning.