The City of Enoch — Zion Already Exists in Heaven

An entire city translated because they were righteous — and it is coming back.

The Story

The Genesis account of Enoch is one of the most understated passages in all of scripture. Three hundred and sixty-five years old, it says, and Enoch “walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” That is it. Five words: he was not; for God took him. No death. No grave. No funeral. He simply left.

Hebrews 11:5 confirms that Enoch was translated — transferred to another state — so that he did not see death. Paul places Enoch among the great heroes of faith, people who “obtained a good report through faith.”

But Genesis says almost nothing about what Enoch did or who he was. The Pearl of Great Price — the Book of Moses, revealed to Joseph Smith — fills in what Genesis stripped out: one of the most extraordinary stories in all of human history.

Moses 7:13

“And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him.”

Enoch was not a quiet monk. He was a man of extraordinary power who built a city so completely united in righteousness that it was taken up to heaven. Not a few individuals. An entire city. The people, the buildings, the civilization — translated and preserved.

God Wept

Before describing the translation of Enoch's city, the Book of Moses contains a passage that has no parallel in all of scripture for its emotional and theological weight. Enoch looks over the earth and sees wickedness, suffering, and the coming flood. He sees God — and God is weeping.

Moses 7:28–29

“And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains? And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?”

God's answer to Enoch is that these are His children — they were in His presence, they were innocent, and they have chosen misery and deception. His grief is the grief of a parent watching children ruin themselves when the better path was right in front of them.

This passage alone separates Latter-day theology from every tradition that insists on God's absolute impassibility — the idea that God cannot feel or be affected by events. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wept. The God of Enoch weeps. He is not an unmoved mover. He is a Father who loves His children and feels their choices.

What Made Enoch's People Different

The scriptures give a clear description of what Zion looked like among the people of Enoch. It was not a community of perfect individuals. It was a community with a particular social achievement:

Moses 7:18

“And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.”

Three markers: one heart, one mind, no poor. The unity was spiritual and social simultaneously. They did not merely agree on doctrine — they had achieved the kind of communal righteousness where no one was left behind economically. Not by force, but by love.

This is the definition of Zion that the Latter-day scriptures return to repeatedly. It is not a location. It is a condition. Enoch's people achieved it. And it was sufficient for God to take them up.

The City Was Taken

The translation of the City of Enoch was not a quiet event. The Lord received the city — all of it — into His presence. The people were changed. Their bodies were modified so that death was no longer operative. And the city was taken up, preserved in a translated state, waiting.

Moses 7:21

“And it came to pass that the Lord showed Enoch all the inhabitants of the earth; and he beheld, and lo, Zion, in process of time, was taken up into heaven. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Behold mine abode forever.”

Zion became the Lord's abode. The translated city dwells where God dwells — not metaphorically, but literally. This is a real place, a real people, held in a translated state for thousands of years, waiting for the moment when they return.

Where Is It Now?

The City of Enoch is in a translated state — not in a specific physical location that could be mapped, but in a real, embodied existence adjacent to God's presence. The people of Enoch are not dead. They are not resurrected. They are translated: their bodies changed, their lives preserved, their mission not yet finished.

D&C 38:4 notes that the Lord has “taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom.” He has held them there. The people of Enoch have been with God, in some meaningful sense, for the entire span of recorded human history. They have seen more than any prophet who ever lived. They are coming back.

Key References

• Moses 7:13–21 — The power of Enoch, the weeping God, the definition of Zion, and the translation
• Moses 7:62–65 — The return of Zion at the Second Coming
• Hebrews 11:5 — Paul confirming Enoch's translation
• D&C 38:4 — The Lord confirming He has taken Zion into His bosom

It Returns at the Second Coming

The return of the City of Enoch is tied directly to the Second Coming and to the building of the New Jerusalem. When the New Jerusalem is established on the American continent, the City of Enoch will descend from heaven to meet it:

Moses 7:62–63

“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, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there.”

Enoch and all his city will descend to meet the saints who have built the New Jerusalem. The oldest and the newest Zion will embrace. The translated people of Enoch will receive their resurrection. Two cities, separated by millennia, will become one. And then the Lord comes.

The Doctrine of Zion Lives Here

The story of Enoch is not history for its own sake. It is the pattern for what the Lord intends to happen again. Zion is not a past achievement — it is a future obligation. The same conditions that made Enoch's people worthy of translation are the conditions the Lord is asking His people today to build: one heart, one mind, no poor among them.

The doctrine of the City of Enoch is the doctrine of Zion in its most dramatic form. God proved it was possible. He took the proof and kept it. And He intends to bring it back as the evidence that what was done once can be done again — and that when it is done again, He will come.

Zion is not an ideal. It is a promise, grounded in precedent, awaiting fulfillment.