Date of composition

• 100 BC or earlier, but no earlier than 170 BC since it refers to the Maccabean Revolt.
• Fifteen scrolls of Jubilees were discovered at Qumran, showing it was common among the Jewish community there.
• The fullest record we have is from the Ethiopian Bible.

Type of book

• Considered Apocrypha by all Christians except for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Length

• 50 chapters

Summary

• The book retells Genesis and parts of Moses' story, with many additional details added, for example, naming two of the daughters of Eve and stating that Cain married one of them (Awan). The title refers to the year of Jubilee that occurred every 50th year. The author divides history into 49 jubilees or time periods; for example, in the tenth Jubilee, the Watchers came, but in the eighteenth Jubilee, the Watchers began to sleep with human women. Enoch warned the Watchers, and God took him away and later sent the flood to destroy the evil that the Watchers had produced. Some consider it the oldest commentary on Genesis and Moses since it discusses events in that book and in Moses' life, although it does reinterpret some Biblical theology, such as evil coming into the world through the Watchers, and adds many creative details, such as naming Cain's wife.