Enoch
The man who "walked with God," and then "was not; for God took him."
Old Testament · Before the flood · Genesis, Hebrews, Jude · Also known as The seventh from Adam
About Enoch
Enoch lived in the long line from Adam to Noah. Genesis gives him a few lines, but they stand out from every name around him: "Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years." Where everyone else in the chapter ends with "and he died," Enoch’s ends differently: "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Hebrews says "by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death," because "he pleased God."
Enoch has no recorded words in Genesis, so this guide speaks about him. Jude quotes a prophecy of "Enoch also, the seventh from Adam." He is a different Enoch from Cain’s son, who had a city named after him (Genesis 4:17). Enoch’s son Methuselah lived longer than anyone else in the Bible, and his great-grandson was Noah.
The story
The seventh from Adam
Genesis 5 is a list of fathers and sons from Adam to Noah. Enoch is the seventh name: "And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch." Then: "And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah."
Genesis 5:18-21
He walked with God
"And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years." Genesis says nothing about great deeds. What it remembers is a whole life spent walking with God.
Genesis 5:22-23
And he was not
Every other life in the chapter ends "and he died." Enoch’s does not: "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Centuries later, Hebrews explains: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
Genesis 5:24
Without faith
Hebrews draws a lesson from Enoch: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Jude adds that Enoch spoke too: "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints."
Hebrews 11:5-6
Key moments
- Born in Seth’s line: "The seventh from Adam." (Jude 1:14)
- Father of Methuselah: "Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah." (Genesis 5:21)
- Walked with God: "Three hundred years." (Genesis 5:22)
- Taken by God: "He was not; for God took him." (Genesis 5:24)
Questions about Enoch
Who was Enoch?
A man from before the flood, in the family line from Adam to Noah. Jude calls him "the seventh from Adam." He was the father of Methuselah and the great-grandfather of Noah. Genesis remembers one thing above all: "Enoch walked with God."
What does it mean that Enoch "walked with God"?
Genesis doesn’t define it, but it uses the same words for Noah: "Noah walked with God." Hebrews says Enoch "pleased God" and links that to faith: "he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." So it describes a life lived close to God and trusting him, kept up for "three hundred years."
Did Enoch die?
Genesis says "he was not; for God took him," and Hebrews says "Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him." Elijah is the only other person the Old Testament describes being taken this way, "by a whirlwind into heaven."
Connected people
Read it yourself
Start with Genesis 5:18-24; Hebrews 11:5-6.