We cannot with certainty know whether the manuscripts of Jude are older or
younger than the Greek text of Enoch, although the manuscripts we have
suggest that the Greek Enoch is younger.
The Aramaic fragment of Enoch 1:9,HH: Jude 14-15 is essentially the same as 1 Enoch 1:9. Here is 1 Enoch 1:9:
which Jude is supposed to have quoted, has only 21 letters in three
lines, which tells us very little. The Greek words of Jude 1:14 and Ethiopic
words of Enoch 1:9 are very similar, and the fact that an Ethipic perfect
(QATAL) is used where the Greek text has an aorist also suggests a close
relationship, since neither of the forms is the dafeult form used with future
reference. A prefix form (YENAGGER) is the usual form used with future
reference in Ethiopic, but suffix forms (NAGARA) are used as well. As for the
relationship between the two texts there are three possibilities, 1) Jude
quoted Enoch, 2) Enoch quoted Jude, and 3) both quoted a common source.
There is no way to know what is correct, but I cannot recall a single
instance where these possibilities have been mentioned. This illustrates the
fundamental problems in Hebrew grammars and grammatical studies: the problem
of induction is ignored, and conclusions are drawn and presented as truth
without any quality control.
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