Which specific verses in Jude and 2 Peter parallel 1 Enoch, and what are the exact verbal links?

1. Jude 14–15: the explicit quotation and its exact echo of 1 Enoch

The clearest and most widely acknowledged verbal link is Jude 14–15, which quotes a prophecy attributed to “Enoch, the seventh from Adam,” and corresponds almost verbatim to 1 Enoch 1:9 in the surviving Enoch traditions; critics and commentators repeatedly identify this passage as a direct quotation from 1 Enoch ^{[3] [1] [6]}. The literature observes that Jude’s formula (“prophesied” and the naming of Enoch) signals the author is deliberately invoking the Enochic text for the imagery of an eschatological judge arriving “to execute judgment upon all” — language that aligns tightly with 1 Enoch 1:9 as preserved in Ethiopic and Greek renderings ^{[4] [3]}.

2. Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4–5: angels, chains, and “gloomy darkness”

Both Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 describe heavenly beings who sinned and were cast into pits or chains and kept in gloomy darkness until judgment, a tableau characteristic of the Watcher tradition in 1 Enoch; scholars point out that 2 Peter 2:4 in particular echoes the Enochic story of rebellious angels imprisoned until the final judgment ^{[7] [8]}. Commentators note that while Jude omits some explicit Enochic technicalities here, 2 Peter’s language about angels cast into “gloomy darkness” and reserved for judgment matches motifs that are not native to the Hebrew Bible but are central to Enoch ^{[8] [7]}.

3. Lexical cross-threads: specific words and phrases shared with 1 Enoch

Detailed source-criticism highlights verbal overlaps such as the pairings of “called/selected” (κλητοις / εκλετους), words for being “kept/belongs” (τετηρημενοις / συντηρησει), and the pair “mercy” (ελεος) and “peace” (ειρηνη) appearing in the Greek Enoch parallel to New Testament wording; these micro-parallels strengthen the case that Jude and, indirectly, 2 Peter draw on Enochic formulations rather than only common biblical idioms ^[2].

4. Broader parallels: Jude 16–18, 24–25 and 2 Peter 2:18–3:3, 14, 18

Some commentators and blog-level surveys argue for wider structural and verbal correspondences: Jude 16–18 and 24–25 are often set alongside 2 Peter 2:18–3:3, 14, 18 as parallel treatments of false teachers, scoffers, and the final judgment, with 2 Peter frequently recasting Jude’s sharper Enochic references into more generalized apostolic warnings ^[5]. The consensus in these treatments is that where Jude preserves explicit Enochic lines (vv.14–15) 2 Peter tends to paraphrase or diffuse the same themes, producing resemblances in sequence and imagery rather than word-for-word identity ^{[2] [5]}.

5. Unique vocabulary: “Tartarus” and how 2 Peter reframes Enochic motifs

A notable lexical choice appears in 2 Peter’s use of “Tartarus” to describe the place of angelic confinement, a Hellenistic pagan term that some argue reflects an assimilation of Enochic material through Greco-Roman conceptual filters; this is one way 2 Peter rewords Enochic tradition while preserving its core judgment motif, differentiating the Petrine presentation from Jude’s more direct citation ^[9].

6. Limits of the evidence and scholarly caution

While Jude’s quotation of 1 Enoch 1:9 is the strongest single textual link, the relationship between 1 Enoch, Jude, and 2 Peter remains debated: some scholars see 2 Peter as secondarily dependent on Jude or as drawing from a shared Enoch-influenced tradition rather than copying Jude directly, and the surviving witnesses (Greek, Ethiopic, fragmentary Aramaic) complicate precise verbal mapping ^{[2] [7]}. Existing sources document the main verbal correspondences but also underscore that 2 Peter often paraphrases or generalizes Jude’s Enochic touches instead of duplicating them verbatim ^{[5] [2]}.