Jude 6; 2 Peter 2:4

Jude 6; 2 Peter 2:4, in every translation this tool compares.

First, in plain English

The real question: what specific, well-known story are these two writers assuming their readers already know, without ever spelling it out? Someone at a family gathering says, “well, you remember what happened at Thanksgiving,” and everyone nods. The story never gets retold because the whole room already owns it. These two writers mention an angelic rebellion the same way: assumed, not narrated. This card reads that assumed story as Genesis 6, read the way the first century read it.

The problem

Two writers refer to an angelic sin as something their readers already know, and never explain it. The reference assumes a story.

What this reading resolves

Genesis 6 as read in the Second Temple period supplies the story both writers assume, which is why neither felt the need to narrate it.

What it still does not

Neither text names Genesis 6 outright, so the identification is an inference from proximity and vocabulary.

What the alternatives leave open

Readings that decline the Genesis 6 link have to supply some other widely known angelic sin that first century readers would have recognized without explanation, and none is on offer.

Second Temple witness

1 Enoch 10:4-6; 12-16

The binding, the place of imprisonment, and the refused intercession are all in the Watchers material. Peter and Jude are not inventing the imagery.

Where Walton splits from Heiser

Walton's reply is that Jude's word for the sin is sexual immorality generally and that 2 Peter never names which sin the angels committed, so neither text pins Genesis 6 as tightly as the supernatural reading needs.

Walton, The Genesis Debate

Sources

Bauckham, 2 Peter, Jude (Word Biblical Commentary; Word, 1998)
Davids, The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude (PNTC; Eerdmans, 2006)
Neyrey, 2 Peter, Jude (Anchor Yale Bible 37C; Yale, 2008)
Charles, “The Angels under Reserve in 2 Peter and Jude,” BBR 15.1 (2005): 39-48
Mason, “Watchers Traditions in the Catholic Epistles,” in The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions (Fortress, 2014), 69-80
Johnson, “Hesiod’s Descriptions of Tartarus (Theogony 721-819),” Phoenix 53:1-2 (1999): 8-28
Unseen Realm ch. 12 bibliography