Enoch and the City of Zion

He built a society so righteous that God took the entire city to heaven

Who Was Enoch?

In the Bible, Enoch is a shadow — five verses in Genesis, a brief mention in Hebrews, a line in Jude. Genesis says he lived 365 years and “walked with God” and “was not; for God took him.” That is all most Christians know. It is almost nothing.

The Pearl of Great Price gives what Genesis withheld. In the book of Moses, Enoch's story runs from chapter 6 through chapter 8 and is one of the most extraordinary accounts in all of scripture. Here is a man called by God who doubted himself, who preached to a violent and skeptical world, who built a city of people who overcame the world so completely that God translated the entire city to heaven. Understanding Enoch means understanding what Zion is supposed to be.

He Walked With God

Enoch's calling came in a way that should comfort anyone who has ever felt unqualified for what God asks. When the Lord called him, Enoch responded with his inadequacies:

Moses 6:31

“Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?”

He was young. He was unpopular. He felt incapable of speaking. The Lord's response was the same response He gives to every prophet who protests inadequacy: open your mouth and I will fill it. The content of what you say is not yours to produce — it is mine to provide. You are only required to open your mouth and go.

Moses 6 records that the Lord showed Enoch all things, past and future. He saw the spirits of all the people on earth. He saw the history of the world. He saw the coming of the Son of Man. Then he went and preached. And the people who had formerly hated him feared him, because he walked with God and the power of God was on him.

He Built Zion

Over the course of his ministry, Enoch gathered a people who chose to live by the law of God. They built a city. The city was not a collection of individuals who happened to be righteous — it was a society. They were of one heart and one mind. They had no poor among them. The description in Moses 7 is the most compressed definition of Zion in all of scripture:

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 marks of Zion: unity of heart, unity of mind, and the elimination of poverty. These are not incidental details — they are the definition. Zion is not a place where everyone attends the same meetings or sings the same hymns. It is a people who have achieved a unity of soul and a practical care for each other that leaves no one behind.

Enoch achieved this. His city achieved this. The world around them did not, and eventually the violence and wickedness of the surrounding culture grew to the point where God told Enoch that a flood was coming. The city of Zion had no place in a world destined for that kind of cleansing.

God Wept

One of the most striking passages in all of LDS scripture is Enoch's vision of God weeping. Enoch saw God look down on the wickedness of the world before the flood, and saw that he wept. Enoch was astonished:

Moses 7:29–31

“And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?… The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; and unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood.”

This is a God who feels. This is not the unmoved mover of Greek philosophy — the distant abstraction who is incapable of being affected by anything outside himself. This is a Father who created his children, gave them agency and love and commandments, and then watched them choose hatred and violence and wept over it. The LDS understanding of God is grounded in this moment. God weeps because he loves. The suffering of his children costs him something.

The City Was Translated

The result of Enoch's work is the most extraordinary conclusion in the account. God did not merely take Enoch — as Genesis cryptically records. He took the entire city. Everyone in Zion was translated.

Moses 7:69

“And Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, Zion is Fled.”

Translation is not death. Translated beings are changed — removed from the ordinary conditions of mortality without dying, preserved in a changed state for purposes God has for them. Enoch and his city were taken because they had achieved something so complete that they had no more purpose in a world destined for the flood. God received them to himself.

Where Is It Now?

The city of Enoch was taken from the earth. It is not on the earth now. LDS scripture holds that translated beings serve specific purposes in the divine economy — John the Beloved, the Three Nephites, and Enoch's entire city are among those who continue in a translated state, able to interact with mortality in ways that ordinary mortals cannot, and will eventually receive their resurrection at the appropriate time.

This is not something the Bible explains. It is something the Restoration reveals. The Bible says God took Enoch. The Book of Moses tells you what was taken, what kind of taking it was, and what will happen to it.

It Returns at the Second Coming

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… 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.”

The city of Enoch will return. LDS scripture teaches that at the Second Coming, the New Jerusalem will be built on the American continent, and when Christ comes, the city of Enoch will descend to meet it. The translated Zion and the earthly Zion will join — and then Christ will dwell among his people.

Enoch saw this in vision and wept for joy at the prospect. He had spent his life building a Zion. He would see it completed.

What Enoch’s Story Teaches About Zion

Enoch's story is not ancient history that is simply interesting. It is a template. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints exists to build Zion — to establish a people of one heart and one mind, with no poor among them, prepared for the return of the Lord. That is the explicit mission, rooted in the same scriptural promise that Enoch received.

Enoch started small, with a people who were unpopular and hated. He started with his own inadequacy and God's assurance that the power would be provided. What he built was so complete that God could not leave it on the earth.

The question Enoch's story asks every Latter-day Saint is whether we are building toward that same standard. One heart. One mind. No poor. If not, Enoch's story is history. If yes, it is a prophecy we are part of fulfilling.