The Conception of Noah

Genesis Apocryphon 2:1–18

3rd–1st Century BCE

¹And then I thought to myself, “The pregnancy is from the Watchers, and the seed is from the Holy Ones and of the Nephilin,”^a ²and my mind was greatly disturbed on account of this child. [blank] ³Then I, Lemech, became perturbed, and I went in to [my wi]fe, Batenosh . . . I . . . ⁴and a witness by the Most High, by the Great Master, by the King of…

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This excerpt elaborates on the Genesis narrative of Noah’s birth. In the Genesis narrative, the report of Noah’s birth, at the end of Genesis 5, is immediately followed by a mysterious short narrative: “When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them, the divine beings saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives from among those that pleased them” (Genesis 6:1–2, NJPS). With this context in mind, the Genesis Apocryphon describes the confrontation of Noah’s father, Lamech, with Noah’s mother, Batenosh, over his suspicion that she was impregnated not by him but rather by a divine being. Batenosh insists that Lamech is the child’s father. See also “Batenosh, Wife of Lamech.”

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The Conception of Noah

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The Conception of Noah

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