Evidence #544 | May 13, 2026
Book of Moses Evidence: God Held Noah's Ark
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
Abstract
Moses 7:43 describes God protectively holding Noah’s ark in his hand. This peculiar detail is corroborated in 1 Enoch 67:2.Concerning Noah’s ark, we read in Moses 7:43 that “the Lord smiled upon it, and held it in his own hand; but upon the residue of the wicked the floods came and swallowed them up.”1 This suggests that the Lord provided some type of shelter or protection for the ark, perhaps helping it safely traverse the raging torrents of destructive water.
Although the Genesis account speaks of the Lord shutting Noah in the ark (Genesis 7:16) and also of a covering that was made for the ark (Genesis 6:16; 8:13), it says nothing specifically about the Lord’s “hand” being protectively placed upon the ark.2 This imagery is, in fact, unknown in extant Enoch literature except for a single passage in 1 Enoch:
And in those days, the word of God came to me and said to me, “Noah, your lot has come up to me, a lot without blame, a lot of love and uprightness. And now the angels are making a wooden (vessel), and when the angels have completed that task, I will put my hand upon it and protect it. And from it will come the seed of life, and a change will take place so that the earth will not remain desolate. And I will confirm your seed in my presence forever and ever.” (1 Enoch 67:2)3
In addition to this distinctive parallel, there are contextual resemblances as well, such as blessings promised to the righteous among Noah’s seed:
Moses 7 | 1 Enoch 65–67 |
50 And it came to pass that Enoch continued his cry unto the Lord, saying: I ask thee, O Lord, in the name of thine Only Begotten, even Jesus Christ, that thou wilt have mercy upon Noah and his seed, that the earth might never more be covered by the floods. 52 And he sent forth an unalterable decree, that a remnant of his seed should always be found among all nations, while the earth should stand; 53 And the Lord said: Blessed is he through whose seed Messiah shall come; for he saith—I am Messiah, the King of Zion, 61 … and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve; 62 And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood | 65:12 He will preserve you from among those who dwell on the earth. And he has established your [Noah’s] righteous seed (to be) kings and for great honors, and from your seed there will flow a fountain of the righteous and the holy and they will be without number forever. 67:2 And from it will come the seed of life and a change will take place, so that the earth will not remain desolate. 67:3 And I will confirm your seed in my presence forever and ever, and I will scatter those who dwell with you, and I will not (again) bring temptation on the face of the earth, and they will be blessed and be multiplied on the earth, in the name of the Lord. |
In both of these passages, the statements about God’s hand holding the ark arise in fairly close textual proximity to the additional parallels.4 Another contextual resemblance has to do with the pronouncement of destruction upon the wicked, as well as a description of the unique power of the fallen angels:5
Moses 7:24–26 | 1 Enoch 65:6 |
… and behold, the power of Satan was upon all the face of the earth. And [Enoch] saw angels descending out of heaven; and he heard a loud voice saying: Wo, wo be unto the inhabitants of the earth. And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced. | A command has gone forth from the presence of the Lord against the inhabitants of the earth, that their end is accomplished, for they have learned all the secrets of the angels, and all the violence of the satans, and all their powers, the hidden secrets and all the powers of those who practice sorcery. |
Conclusion
Although God’s hand is commonly described as a protective entity in biblical texts, the idea of God specifically holding non-human entities (like Noah’s ark) in his hand as a form of protection is actually quite unique.6 Moreover, this particular imagery, when applied specifically to Noah's ark, is nowhere to be found in the Bible. Concerning the significance of this element arising in both Moses 7:43 and 1 Enoch 67:2, Jeffrey Bradshaw has described it as “the most striking unique parallel” between the two texts.7
This, of course, leads to the question of whether or not Joseph Smith likely had access to 1 Enoch in 1830. Although extracts of the first booklet within 1 Enoch (known as the Book of Watchers) had some limited availability in English since the early decades of the 1700s, the detail about God’s hand resting upon the ark wouldn’t have been available in English until Richard Laurence’s translation of 1 Enoch in 1821.8 The problem is that Laurence’s translation was published in England and appears to have had a limited initial print run. Although some copies likely made their way to America,9 it hardly seems like the type of text that would end up in the hands of a poor, uneducated farmer like Joseph Smith in 1830.10 There were some reviews of Laurence’s publication, as well as some excerpts of its contents, that were printed in newspapers and magazines between 1821 and 1830. But examples of such publications don’t say anything specific about God holding Noah’s ark in his hand.11
In other words, while it is technically possible that Joseph Smith could have accessed this particular textual detail in 1830, the available evidence suggests this possibility was quite remote. Overall, the peculiarity and specificity of this parallel, especially when it is viewed in light of the surrounding textual parallels, helps support the authenticity of the Book of Moses as well as Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling.
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Enoch and the Gathering of Zion (Interpreter Foundation, with Scripture Central and Eborn Books, 2021), 131–132, 227, 300.
Moses 7:24–26
Moses 7:43
Moses 7:50–53
Moses 7:61–62
- 1. This language appears to mirror the Lord’s earlier statement in Moses 7:36: “Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made.” See Scripture Central, “Book of Moses Evidence: Wide as Eternity,” Evidence 538 (March 25, 2026); Scripture Central, “Book of Moses Evidence: Stretched Curtain Imagery,” Evidence 536 (March 11, 2026).
- 2. See George W. E. Nickelsburg and James C. VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37–82, ed. Klaus Baltzer (Fortress Press, 2012), 288.
- 3. Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 273.
- 4. The relevant passages in the Book of Moses turn up just seven verses from Moses 7:43 (starting in Moses 7:50). In 1 Enoch, the relevant passages begin only two verses from 1 Enoch 67:2 (starting in 1 Enoch 66:3). The translation of 1 Enoch in the chart is from Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 273–274. For more on the theme of righteousness, see Scripture Central, “Book of Moses Evidence: Theme of Righteousness,” Evidence 541 (April 22, 2026).
- 5. The translation of 1 Enoch is from Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 273. For more on this topic, see Scripture Central, “Book of Moses Evidence: Forbidden Knowledge and Secret Combinations,” Evidence 532 (February 11, 2026).
- 6. For examples of God’s hand generically providing blessings or protection, see Exodus 33:22; Ezra 7:28; Nehemiah 2:8, 18; Psalm 31:5, 15; Ecclesiastes 9:1; 2 Samuel 24:14; 1 Kings 18:46; Isaiah 41:10; 51:16; 66:14; Ezekiel 3:14, 22; 8:1; 33:22; 37:1; 40:1; Luke 1:66; John 10:28–29; Acts 11:21. These examples were identified by using key search phrases (“hand of God” and “hand of the Lord”) in WordCruncher, combined with searches utilizing ChatGPT. It is possible that examples of God’s hand protectively holding non-human entities are present somewhere in the biblical corpus but that they didn’t turn up under these search parameters. Nevertheless, these preliminary search efforts suggest that this type of imagery is rare, if not absent, in the biblical corpus. It therefore appears to be significant that both Moses 7:43 and 1 Enoch 67:2 specifically describe Noah’s ark as being in God’s hand.
- 7. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Enoch and the Gathering of Zion (Interpreter Foundation, with Scripture Central and Eborn Books, 2021), 227.
- 8. See Colby Townsend, “Revisiting Joseph Smith and the Availability of the Book of Enoch,” Dialogue 53, no. 3 (2020): 41–71.
- 9. Townsend, for instance, draws attention to a theological debate between James Sabine and Walter Balfour in the mid-1820s. In his conclusion about this matter, Townsend writes, “It is significant that two authors engaged in a public debate in Boston in 1825 both had access to the full text of 1 Enoch.” Townsend, “Revisiting Joseph Smith and the Availability of the Book of Enoch,” 66. This conclusion, however, seems to be premature. It does indeed appear that both authors had some knowledge of 1 Enoch. However, neither of them specifically mentioned that they possessed a full copy of Laurence’s 1821 translation or made statements that necessitate that conclusion. Their discussion, instead, involves generalities about the themes of judgment and divine retribution in 1 Enoch, which could easily have been derived from the very same types of pre-Laurence sources that Townsend argues could have been available to Joseph Smith. That, of course, doesn’t prove these authors did not possess a copy of Laurence’s translation. It is possible that one or both of them did. But it is also quite possible that they didn’t. In short, more evidence would be needed before reaching a conclusion either way on this point.
- 10. At least by the late 1830s, it appears that demand was growing among American audiences, as noted by Laurence himself in the preface to his 1838 publication: “hearing that a very large order for more copies has been received from America, I have been induced now to print a Third” edition of the text (page ix). However, that growing demand does not necessarily indicate that the text had by then achieved widespread popularity or distribution on the American continent. In an important publication in 1840, the American scholar Michael Stuart declared the following concerning Laurence’s translation: “The possession of this work, in our country, is rare; and our public, so far from being acquainted with the contents of the work, are in general not at all aware, as I have reason to believe, that the book has even been recovered and published to the world.” Michael Stuart, “Christology of the Book of Enoch,” in The American Biblical Repository (New York, NY: WM. R. Peters, 1840), 91. It must be emphasized that this assessment was given nearly two decades after the first printing of Laurence’s translation, and that subsequent editions had already been published in 1833 and 1838. If Laurence’s publication was, according to Stuart, still “rare” in American in 1840, it was surely much more so throughout the late 1820s leading up to the publication of the Book of Moses. Another clue that Laurence’s initial 1821 print run was limited can be found in his own introductory remarks to the 1838 edition of his work, in which he quotes the following from a German scholar: “Laurence’s English translation is scarce among the booksellers, and can only be obtained for use from the most distinguished libraries of the Universities in this country” (page ix). If that was the case in Germany leading up to 1833, it seems likely that the publication would have likewise been scarce in America before the second printing. Unfortunately, there has been some confusion over this matter. In his master’s thesis, Salvatore Cirillo promoted the idea that there was a previously unknown edition of Laurence’s translation that was published in America in 1828, suggesting a high demand and interest in this work among American readers at that early date. See Salvatore Cirillo, “Joseph Smith, Mormonism and Enochic Tradition” (master’s thesis, Durham University, 2010), 73–74. This claim, however, is not supported by the evidence. In his review of this issue, Townsend found that Cirillo had misquoted his source material and that the original claim was most likely based on a simple transcription error. See Townsend, “Revisiting Joseph Smith and the Availability of the Book of Enoch,” 46–49. In fact, it appears that the first printing of Laurence’s translation in America didn’t occur until the 1890s. All things considered, the evidence suggests there would have been very limited availability of 1 Enoch in America leading up to the publication of the Book of Moses.
- 11. Townsend, “Revisiting Joseph Smith and the Availability of the Book of Enoch,” 41–71 mentions a number of sources that interacted with the contents of Laurence’s 1821 translation. For example, on page 63 Townsend mentions an extensive review of 1 Enoch by John Overton, and on page 69 he draws attention to a review of Laurence’s translation in the Christian Observer. Yet neither of these sources say anything about God holding Noah’s ark in his hand from 1 Enoch 67:2. Neither does the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine cited on page 64, which, as explained by Townsend, only “published an excerpt of the first couple chapters from Laurence’s Book of Enoch.” All in all, it seems very unlikely that a secondary source would mention this obscure detail (in a review, excerpt, or summary) and that Joseph Smith would subsequently pick up on it.