Penemue

Penemue: In 1 Enoch 69, a fallen angel listed as the fourth leader of the angels who led humanity astray, said to have taught people writing with ink and paper and the “secrets of their wisdom.”

## Who was Penemue?

Penemue was a fallen angel named in the Book of the Similitudes, the second section of 1 Enoch (chapters 37 to 71). He is the fourth angel in a list of leaders who led astray the sons of God and corrupted humanity. The three before him are Jeqon, Asbeel, and Gadreel. Kasdeja follows him.

## What did Penemue teach?

The text gives him three teachings. He taught people “the bitter and the sweet.” He taught them all the secrets of their wisdom. And he taught them writing with ink and paper. The passage says many have sinned through this, from the beginning until the present day.

The text then explains why. People were created like the angels, to stay pure and righteous, and were not created to confirm their good faith with pen and ink. It adds that death would not have taken hold of them, but that through this knowledge they are perishing. The verse numbers run about 8 to 11 in chapter 69, and the numbering differs by translation.

## Quick facts

Source: 1 Enoch 69, in the Similitudes (Book of the Parables).

Rank in the list: Fourth.

Taught: The bitter and the sweet, the secrets of wisdom, and writing with ink and paper.

Surviving manuscripts: The Similitudes survive complete only in Ethiopic. No Aramaic fragments of this section were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Date of the Similitudes: Debated. Many scholars place it around the late first century BC to the first century AD.

Meaning of the name: Uncertain.

## Is Penemue one of the Watchers who came down on Mount Hermon?

The text does not say so directly. The descent on Mount Hermon is told in 1 Enoch 6, in the Book of the Watchers. That chapter names twenty leaders, and Penemue is not among them. He appears only in the separate list in chapter 69. Many readers treat the angels of chapter 69 as the same group as the Watchers, but that is an interpretation, not a statement in the text.

The Book of the Watchers does credit other fallen angels with teaching forbidden arts. In 1 Enoch 8, Azazel teaches metalworking and cosmetics, and others teach sorcery, astrology, and the reading of signs. Writing is not on that list.

## Does the Bible say writing is evil?

No. Scripture treats writing as the way God preserves His word. God commands Moses to write in a book (Exodus 17:14), and Moses writes the words of the covenant (Exodus 34:27). Christ tells John to write what he sees (Revelation 1:11). Readers who accept the Penemue passage usually say God took a corrupted tool and used it for truth. Readers who do not accept it point out that 1 Enoch is not Scripture for most churches.

## A tension inside the Enoch tradition

Enoch himself is called a scribe. The Book of the Watchers calls him “scribe of righteousness” (1 Enoch 12:4), and he writes a petition for the Watchers (1 Enoch 13). The Book of Jubilees (4:17) says Enoch was the first person to learn writing. So the Enoch tradition presents writing as both a righteous gift in Enoch’s hands and a harmful teaching in Penemue’s. Scholars and readers explain this in different ways, and the text does not resolve it.

## Common claims, and what the text supports

Claim: Penemue introduced writing to humanity. Supported: The text says he taught people writing with ink and paper. Writing is documented in Mesopotamia by about 3300 BC, so this is a claim of the text, not a historical record of when writing began.

Claim: Before Penemue, all teaching was oral and passed face to face. Not stated: The text does not describe how knowledge passed before him. This is a later inference.

Claim: Penemue came down on Mount Hermon. Not stated: See above. Hermon is in chapter 6, and Penemue is named in chapter 69.

Claim: Writing is itself evil. Not stated: The text objects to people using pen and ink to confirm their good faith. It does not condemn all writing.

## Why does 1 Enoch matter here?

1 Enoch is part of the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Most other churches do not count it as Scripture. Jude 14 and 15 quote 1 Enoch 1:9, so the book was known and respected in the first century. Readers should treat it as an ancient Jewish text that is not Scripture for most churches.

## Related entries

Watchers, Azazel, Semjaza, Gadreel, Kasdeja, Enoch, Nephilim, Mount Hermon, Book of the Watchers, Similitudes of Enoch.