reader checked|28/12/2011 AL
In March 2004 we received for publication a photograph of a fragmentary papyrus preserving five lines of text identifiable as 1 Enoch 8:4-9:3. The verses in question, which are part of the Book of Watchers, describe how the angels heard the cries of people killed as a result of Asa'el's teaching humans to make weaponry. Though this fragment was undoubtedly found at Qumran, there is no way to identify the cave from which it came. Therefore, we suggest labeling it XQpapEnoch. The publication of this new fragment of 1 Enoch is important not only as a witness to the existence of another copy in addition to the eleven known Qumran manuscripts of 1 Enoch, but also because of its contribution to the reconstruction of two Cave 4 Aramaic manuscripts. The various textual witnesses of the Book of Watchers 9:1-3 display a great number of variants and corruptions in the Greek versions. The Ge'ez translation also contains corruptions. Despite their poor preservation, it is possible to read and reconstruct in the three Aramaic witnesses a similar, if not identical, text. This version differs from the Greek translation of Gizeh which contains scribal errors and various omissions. Even though Syncellus' two versions also contain corruptions, it appears that the Greek cited by Syncellus is the closest to the Aramaic source. If our suggested reconstruction of this new fragment is correct, it apparently preserves part of an extensive description of the harm the Watchers inflicted on humanity.