Book of Noah

The Book of Noah is thought to be a non-extant Old Testament pseudepigraphal work, attributed to Noah. It is quoted in several places in another pseudepigraphal work, 1 Enoch,[1] and is mentioned in another, the Book of Jubilees.[2] There have also been fragments attributed to a Book of Noah in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

## Fragments[edit]

Though this book has not come down to us independently, it has in large measure been incorporated in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, and can in part be reconstructed from it.

The Book of Noah is mentioned in Jubilees 10:13, 21:10. Chapters 60., 65-69:25 of the Ethiopic Enoch are without question derived from it. Thus 60 runs:

> In the year 500, in the seventh month ... in the life of Enoch.

Here the editor simply changed the name Noah in the context before him into Enoch, for the statement is based on Gen. 5:32, and Enoch lived only 365 years. Chapters 6-11 are clearly from the same source; for they make no reference to Enoch, but bring forward Noah (10:1) and treat of the sin of the angels that led to the flood, and of their temporal and eternal punishment. This section is compounded of the Semjaza and Azazel myths, and in its present composite form is already presupposed by 1 Enoch 88-90. Hence these chapters are earlier than 166 B.C. Chapters 106-107 of the same book are probably from the same source; likewise 54:7-55:2, and Jubilees 7:20-39, 10:1-15. In the former passage of Jubilees the subject-matter leads to this identification, as well as the fact that Noah is represented as speaking in the first person, although throughout Jubilees it is the angel that speaks. Possibly Eth. En. 41:3-8, 43-49, 59 are from the same work. The book may have opened with Eth. En. 106-107 On these chapters may have followed Eth. En. 6-11., 65-69:25, 60, 41:3-8, 43-44, 54:7-55:2; Jubilees 7:26-39, 10:1-15.

The Hebrew Book of Noah, a later work, is printed in Adolf Jellinek's Bet ha-Midrasch, 3:155-156, and translated into German in Rönsch, Das Buch der Jubiläen, 385-387. It is based on the part of the above Book of Noah which is preserved in the Book of Jubilees. The portion of this Hebrew work which is derived from the older work is reprinted in Charles's Ethiopic Version of the Hebrew Book of Jubilees, p. 179\.

James Charlesworth writes (footnotes used for clarity)[3]

> During the early parts of the second century B.C. a pseudepigraphon circulated that contained considerable material concerning Noah. The tradition was not merely oral but had been written down, since the author of Jubilees[4] and of an interpolation in the Testament of Levi 18:2[5] refer to a 'Book of Noah'.[6]

The work is now lost except for excerpts preserved in 1 Enoch[7] and Jubilees,[8] for 21 fragments preserved in Qumran Cave 1,[9] and for two large fragments found in Cave 4 that are not yet published.[10]

Fragment 4Q534 of the Book of Noah in the Dead sea scrolls describes the physical appearance of the royal messiah:

> On his hair a birthmark of reddish colour. And the shape of a lentil will be on his face, and small birthmarks on his thigh. And after two years he will know how to distinguish one thing from another in his heart. In his youth, he will be like ... a man who knows nothing until the time when he knows the three Books. And then he will acquire prudence and learn understanding ... wise seers come to him, to his knees. And with his father and his ancestors .. of brothers will hurt him. Counsel and prudence will be with him, and he will know the secrets of man. His wisdom will reach all the peoples, and he will know the secrets of all the living. And all their designs against him will come to nothing, and his rule over the living will be great. His designs will succeed, for he is the Elect of God. His birth and the breath of his spirit ... and his designs shall be for ever ...[11]

## References[edit]

1. ^ 6-11; 39:1-2a; 54:7-55:2; 60; 65:1-69:25; and 106-107.
2. ^ 10:13 and 21:10.
3. ^ The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, pp. 166-167.
4. ^ SPR NH, 10:13; cf. 21:10.
5. ^ en te graphe tes biblou tou Noe, vs. 57 in Greek MS e; cf. R. H. Charles, The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Oxford: OUP, 1908 [repr. 1960]; pp. liii-lvii, 252; APOT 2, pp. 364-67.
6. ^ J. P. Lewis, no. 448, questions the existence of a book of Noah.
7. ^ viz., 6:1-11:2, 54:7-55:2, 60:1-24, 65:1-69:25, 106:1-107:3.
8. ^ viz., 7:20-39, 10:1-15, 20:7, 21:10.
9. ^ 1QNoah, cf. DJD 1, pp. 84-86, 152, pl. XVI.
10. ^ Cf. J. Starcky, 'Cave 4 of Qumran,' BA 19 [1956] 94-96.
11. ^ Géza Vermès (31 May 2004). The complete Dead Sea scrolls in English, pp. 554 & 555. Penguin. ISBN 9780140449525. Retrieved 28 June 2011.

## Further reading[edit]

* James Charlesworth, The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research

## External links[edit]

* Book of Noah from the Early Jewish Writings Website
* Qumran and The Book of Noah by Cana Werman
* Material from a Book of Noah in 1 Enoch by Daniel Falk
* Noachic Traditions and the Book of Noah by Wayne Baxter
* Michael E. Stone, Noah, Books of, in the Encyclopedia Judaica.

* v
* t
* e

Noah's Ark

Theology|

| Source|

* Genesis flood narrative in the Book of Genesis

|

Characters|

* Noah
* Shem
* Ham
* Japheth
* Wives aboard Noah's Ark

Related|

* Book of Noah
* Generations of Noah
* Gopher wood
* Noah's wine
* Seven Laws of Noah

Media|

| Television|

* Captain Noah and His Magical Ark (1967)
* "Noah's Ark" (1992)
* Noah's Island (1997)
* Noah's Ark (1999)
* VeggieTales: Noah's Ark (2015)
* The Ark (2015)

|

Film|

* Noah's Ark (1928)
* Father Noah's Ark (1933)
* The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)
* O Trapalhão na Arca de Noé (1983)
* La Biblia en pasta (1984)
* Angel's Egg (1985)
* Stowaways on the Ark (1988)
* Genesis: The Creation and the Flood (1994)
* Noah (1998)
* Fantasia 2000 (1999)
* Raining Cats and Frogs (2003)
* Noah's Ark (2007)
* Evan Almighty (2007)
* 40 Days and Nights (2012)
* Noah (2014)
* Ooops! Noah Is Gone... (2015)
* The Ark and the Aardvark (TBA)

Stage|

* The Flowering Peach (1954 play)
* Two by Two (1970 musical)

Opera|

* Il diluvio universale (1830)
* Le Déluge (1875)
* Noé (1885)
* Noye's Fludde (1958)
* The Flood (1962)

Paintings|

* Scenes from the Life of Noah (1436-1440)
* Noah's Ark (17th century)
* The Return of the Dove to the Ark (1851)
* After the Deluge (1891)

Songs|

* Die Sintflut
* "The Unicorn" (1968)
* "Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo" (1970)
* "The Prophet's Song" (1975)
* "Animals" (1980)
* "Forever Not Yours" (2002)

Games|

* Noah's Ark (1992)
* Super 3D Noah's Ark (1994)

Literature|

* Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948)
* The Moon in the Cloud (1969)
* Noah's Ark (1977)
* Not Wanted on the Voyage (1984)
* Noah's Brother (1985)
* Many Waters (1986)
* Noah's Ark (2002)
* Not the End of the World (2004)

Other cultures|

* Flood myth
* Sumerian creation myth
* Gilgamesh flood myth
* Ancient Greek flood myths
* Finnish flood myth
* Great Flood of China
* Mesoamerican flood myths
* Cessair
* Bergelmir
* Noah in Islam
* Noah in rabbinic literature
* Peluda

Science|

* Black Sea deluge hypothesis
* Flood geology
* Searches for Noah's Ark
* In Search of Noah's Ark
* Mountains of Ararat
* Mount Ararat
* Mount Judi
* Mosque of Ibn Tulun
* Ararat anomaly
* Durupınar site

Related|

* Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives
* Boner's Ark
* Noah's Ark silver coins

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template