From:
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English
WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES TO THE SEVERAL BOOKS
EDITED IN CONJUNCTION WITH MANY SCHOLARS BY
R. H. CHARLES, D.Litt., D.D.
Oxford: The Clarendon Press
1913
Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams
Northwest Nazarene College, 1995
Edited by: Marjan Šavli in Barbara Hojkar Šavli, 2023
source https://archive.org/details/apocryphapseudep02charuoft
Section I.
Chapters I-XXXVI.
INTRODUCTION
I-V. Parable of Enoch on the Future Lot of the Wicked and the Righteous.
Chapter 1
1 The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect ╓and╖ righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked ╓and godless╖ are to be removed.Cf. Deut. xxxiii. 1, ' the blessing of Moses.'Deut 33:1
2 And he took up his parableNum 24:3-4 and said—Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, ┌which┐ the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come.
3 Concerning the elect I said, and took up ┌my┐ parable concerning them:
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| The Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling,Mic 1:3Isa 26:21 |
4 And the eternal GodGen 21:33Isa 40:28Rom 16:26 will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai,Sinai, where the law was given, will be the place of future judgement. Cf. Deut. xxxiii. 2; Ps. lxviii. 17. Verses 4-9 all deal with the final judgement.Deut 33:2Ps 68:17 |
| [And appear from His camp] |
| And appear in the strength of His might from the heaven ┌of heavens┐. |
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5 And all shall be smitten with fear, |
| And the WatchersHere and in x. 9, 15, xii. 4, xiii. 10, xiv. 1, 3, xv. 2, xvi. 1, 2, xci. 15 = fallen angels. In xii. 2, 3, xx. 1, xxxix. 12, 13, xl. 2, lxi. 12, lxxi. 7 = archangels. The name first occurs in Dan. iv. 13, 17, 23. The Greek here inaptly inserts the singing of the Watchers (see 2 En. xviii).Dan 4:13Dan 4:17Dan 4:23 shall quake, |
| And great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth. |
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6 And the high mountains shall be shaken, |
| And the high hills shall be made low, |
| And shall melt like wax before the flame.Ps 97:5Mic 1:4 |
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7 And the earth shall be ┌wholly┐ rent in sunder, |
| And all that is upon the earth shall perish, |
| And there shall be a judgement upon all (men). |
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8 But with the righteous He will make peace. |
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| And will protect the elect, |
| And mercy shall be upon them. |
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| And they shall all belong to God, |
| And they shall be prospered, |
| And they shall ┌all┐ be blessed. |
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| ┌And He will help them all┐, |
| And light shall appear unto them, |
| ┌And He will make peace with them┐. |
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9 And behold! He cometh with ten thousandsDeut 33:2Dan 7:10 of ┌His┐ holy onesJob 5:1Job 15:15Ps 116:15Dan 4:13Zech 14:5 |
| To execute judgement upon all, |
| And to destroy ┌all┐ the ungodly: |
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| And to convict all flesh |
| Of all the works ┌of their ungodliness┐ which they have ungodly committed, |
| ┌And of all the hard things which┐ ungodly sinners ┌have spoken┐ against Him. |
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Chapter 2<note type="x-footnote" n="1">In ii-v. 3 the order of nature is contrasted with the disorder of man’s world. In Test. Naph. iii. 2, 3, men are told to observe God's law as sun, moon, and stars observe their appointed order, and the Watchers who left their natural order are held up as a warning. Cf. Sirach xvi. 26-28, Pss. Sol. xviii. 12-14.</note>
1 Observe ye everything that takes place in the heaven, how they do not change their orbits, ┌and┐ the luminaries which are in the heaven, how they all rise and set in order each in its season, and transgress not against their appointed order.
2 Behold ye the earth, and give heed to the things which take place upon it from first to last, ┌how steadfast they are┐, how ┌none of the things upon earth┐ change, ┌but┐ all the works of God appear ┌to you┐.
3 Behold the summer and the winter,[The Hebrews had two seasons only. Summer and Winter. Cf. Gen. viii. 22, Isa. xviii. 6, Zech. xiv. 8.]Gen 7:22Isa 18:6Zech 14:8 ╓how the whole earth is filled with water, and clouds and dew and rain lie upon it╖.
Chapter 3<note type="x-footnote" n="1">On the fourteen evergreen trees see Geoponica xi. 1. The twelve trees (see my Greek Verss. of Test, of xii Patr., pp. 248, 249) for use with sacrifices have nothing to do with this list here. The Greek has lost iii. 1ᵇ v. 1ͣ through homoeoteleuton.</note>
1 Observe and see how (in the winter) all the trees ╓seem as though they had withered and shed all their leaves, except fourteen trees, which do not lose their foliage but retain the old foliage from two to three years till the new comes.
Chapter 4
1 And again, observe ye the days of summer how the sun is above the earth over against it. And you seek shade and shelter by reason of the heat of the sun, and the earth also burns with growing heat, and so you cannot tread on the earth, or on a rock by reason of its heat.
Chapter 5
1 Observe ye╖ how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give ye heed ┌and know┐ with regard to all ┌His works┐, and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so.
2 And ┌all┐ His works go on ┌thus┐ from year to year ┌for ever┐, and all the tasks which they accomplish for Him, and ┌their tasks┐ change not, but according as God hath ordained so is it done.
3 And behold how the sea and the rivers in like manner accomplish and ┌change not┐ their tasks ┌from His commandments┐.
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4 But ye—ye have not been steadfast, nor done the commandments of the Lord, |
| But ye have turned away and spoken proud and hard wordsSee i. 9, note, and Cf. Ps. xii. 4; Dan. vii. 8, 11, 20. The charge of blasphemy is frequent in xci-civ, e.g. xci. 7, 11.Ps 12:4Dan 7:8Dan 7:11Dan 7:20 |
| With your impure mouths against His greatness. |
| Oh, ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace.Isa 48:22Isa 57:21 |
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5 Therefore shall ye execrate your days, |
| And the years of your life shall perish, |
| And the ┌years of your destruction┐ shall be multiplied in eternal execration, |
| And ye shall find no mercy. |
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6a In those days ye shall make your namesIsa 65:15 an eternal execration unto all the righteous, |
b And by you shall ┌all┐ who curse, curse,Ps 102:9 |
| ┌And all┐ the sinners ┌and godless┐ shall imprecate by you, |
7c And for you the godless there shall be a curse. |
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6d ┌And all the . . . shall rejoice, |
e And there shall be forgiveness of sins, |
f And every mercy and peace and forbearance: |
g There shall be salvation unto them, a goodly light. |
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i And for all of you sinners there shall be no salvation, |
j But on you all shall abide a curse┐. |
7a But for the elect there shall be light and joy and peace,The temporal blessings promised in the O.T., cf Ps. xxxvii. 11, are here renewed, but the writer has forsaken O.T. ground on the question of Sheol and the Resurrection.Ps 37:11 |
b And they shall inherit the earth. |
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8 And then there shall be bestowed upon the elect wisdom, |
| And they shall all live and never again sin, |
| Either through ungodliness or through pride: |
| But they who are wise shall be humble. |
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9 And they shall not again transgress, |
| Nor shall they sin all the days of their life, |
| Nor shall they die of (the divine) anger or wrath, |
| But they shall complete the number of the days of their life.Isa 65:20Isa 65:22Zech 7:4 |
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| And their lives shall be increased in peace,Cf. Gen. i. 22, etc., but here of spiritual expansion.Gen 1:22 |
| And the years of their joy shall be multiplied, |
| In eternal gladness and peace, |
| All the days of their life. |
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VI-XI. The Fall of the Angels: the Demoralization of Mankind: the Intercession of the Angels on behalf of Mankind: The Dooms pronounced by God on the Angels: the Messianic Kingdom—(a Noah fragment).
Chapter 6<note type="x-footnote" n="1">VI-XI. These chapters are abruptly introduced. See introduction, vi. 3-8, viii. 1-3, ix. 7, x. 11 belong to a Semjâzâ cycle of myths. As in lxix. 2 he is chief and Azâzêl only tenth in command. Elsewhere in Enoch Azâzêl is chief and Semjâzâ is not mentioned. These myths, however, were already confused in their present form when lxxxviii-lxxxix. I were written. Again, x. 1-3 belongs to an Apocalypse of Noah, many fragments of which occur in Enoch. Syncellus gives an additional fragment of it after x. 3. Indeed, vi-xi is all Noachic; cf. Jub. vii. 21-25, and my edition of Jubilees lxxi seqq., 264. xii-xvi, however, belong to the Book of Enoch.</note>
1 And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.
2 And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.’Cf. xiii. 8, xiv. 3, .xxxix. 1. See xv. 1-7. Cf ‘sons of the holy angels’ lxxi. 1, and note. The entire myth of the angels and the daughters of men in Enoch arises from Gen. vi. 1-4: ‘the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men.’ This refers not to alliances between Sethites and Cainites, but to an early Persian (?) myth to the effect that before Zoroaster's coming demons had corrupted the earth and allied themselves with women (Bousset, Rel. d. Jud. 382, 560). The original LXX rendering for ‘sons of God’ was γγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, as in Philo, de Gigantibus, Justin Martyr, Apol. ii. 5, Eusebius, Augustine, and Ambrose. On the myths see Griinbaum in ZDMG xxxi. 225 ff., and for statements dependent on this account in Enoch, or harmonizing with it, cf. Jub. iv. 15, v. 1 seqq.; Test. Reub. v. 6, 7, Test. Naph. iii. 5, 2 En. vii, xviii, Jude 6, 2 Pet. ii. 4; Joseph, Ant. i. 3. 1; Philo, de Gigantibus; Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 5; Ps. Clement, Hom. viii. 13; Clem. Alex. Strom. v. 1. 10; Tert. de Virg. Veland. vii; Adv. Marcion. v. 18; De Idol. ix; Lact. Instit. ii. 15; Commodian, Instruct. i. 3. In the De Civ. Dei xv. 23 Augustine combats this view and denies the inspiration of Enoch which Tertullian had upheld.Gen 6:1-4Jude 1:62Pet 2:4
3 And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: ‘I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.’
4 And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.’
5 Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
6 And they were in all two hundred; who descended ┌in the days┐ of Jaredsee cvi. 13. So the Greek; the Ethiopic is corrupt. We thus get two paronomasiae in the Hebrew: Jared, and ירר ‘descend’, and Hermon and חרס ‘a curse’. For the tradition cf. Orig. Comment. in Ioann. tom. viii, p. 132, ed. Huet.; Epiphanius, Adv. Haer. i. 4, ed. Petav., tom. i, p. 4; Hilary, Comm. in Ps. cxxxii. 3. The reasons for the angels’ descent in the Book of Jubilees differ from those given in this chapter. There in iv and v it is said that the Watchers were sent to earth by God ‘to instruct the children of men to do judgement and uprightness', and that when so doing they began to lust after the daughters of men. Cf. Test. Reub. v. 6. In 1 Enoch the angels are said to have descended because of their lust, and the same reason is given in Jalkut Shim. Beresh. 44. See Weber, Jüd. Theologie, 253. The Book of Jubilees has an implicit polemic against this and other statements of Enoch. In later tradition Azâzêl could not return to heaven because he had outstayed the seven days' limit assigned to angelic visitants to earth. on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
7 And these are the names of their leaders: Samîazâz,Gen 6:3 their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl,‘star of God’. Tâmîêl,‘perfection of God’. Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl,‘lightning of God’. Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl,‘rock of God’. Jômjâêl,‘day of God’. Sariêl.This list is incomplete, as a name has been lost after Tûrêl.
8 These are their chiefs of tens.
Chapter 7<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The Ethiopic and Greek vary considerably in this and the eighth chapter. The notes of time in the Greek are due to later hands.</note>
1 And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants.
2 And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants,Gen 6:4 whose height was three thousand ells:
3 Who consumed all the acquisitions of men.
4 And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind.
5 And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh,One class of giants destroyed another. and drink the blood.With the Jews a great crime.Gen 9:41Sam 14:32-34Acts 15:20
6 Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.
Chapter 8
1 And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony,[chemical element, Sb, less toxic than arsenic, in large doses causes death within days, use for dye, colouring eyelids. Present use: skin conditioner in ruminants, hardening of lead, preventing materials from burning, in electronics manufacturing films, for the production of artificial polyester fibres and cores, for the removal of microscopic bubbles from glass,...] and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures.Isa 3:16-24
2 And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.
3 Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments,Dan 5:12 Barâqîjâl (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Êzêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, 〈Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun〉, and Sariêl the course of the moon.
4 And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
Chapter 9
1 And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heavenPs 14:2 and saw much blood being shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth.
2 And they said one to another: ‘The earth made †without inhabitant cries the voice of their cryings† up to the gates of heaven.
3 ╓And now to you, the holy ones of heaven╖, the souls of men make their suit, saying, “Bring our cause before the Most High.”’
4 And they said to the Lord of the ages: ‘Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings,[1Tim 6:15][Rev 17:14] 〈and God of the ages〉, the throne of Thy glory (standeth) unto all the generations of the ages, and Thy name holy and glorious and blessed unto all the ages!
5 Thou hast made all things, and power over all things hast Thou: and all things are naked and open in Thy sight, and Thou seest all things, and nothing can hide itself from Thee.[Heb 4:13]
6 Thou seest what Azâzêl hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, which men were striving to learn:
7 And Semjâzâ, to whom Thou hast given authority to bear rule over his associates.
8 And they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins.
9 And the women have borne giants, and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness.
10 And now, behold, the souls of those who have died are crying and making their suit to the gates of heaven, and their lamentations have ascended:Job 5:1Job 33:23Zech 1:12Acts 10:4Rev 8:3 and cannot cease because of the lawless deeds which are wrought on the earth.
11 And Thou knowest all things before they come to pass, and Thou seest these things and Thou dost suffer them, and Thou dost not say to us what we are to do to them in regard to these.’
Chapter 10
1 Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech,i.e. Noah. and said to him:
2 〈‘Go to Noah and〉 tell him in my name “Hide thyself!” and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it.
3 And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.’Gᵍ is much fuller. ‘Instruct the righteous (man) what he is to do, from the son of Lamech, and he will preserve his soul unto life and escape through the world, and from him will be planted a plant and it will be established throughout all the generations of the world.’
4 And again the Lord said to Raphael:vv. 4-8. Raphael's task – to remove Azâzêl and heal the earth. ‘Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl, and cast him therein.Azâzêl as the chief offender and leader is first punished (in verse. 11, Semjâzâ), by imprisonment now, and finally by fire. He is conceived as chained in the wilderness into which the scape-goat was led. The Jerusalem Targum (Ps. Jonathan) on Leviticus says that the goat was sent to die in a hard and rough place in the wilderness of jagged rocks, i.e. Beth Chadure or Beth Chaduda (Joma, vi. 8). This Beth Chaduda (='Dûdâêl' of this verse) was a definite locality near Jerusalem. Cf. Lev. xvi. 10, 22. O Semjazi in Azâzêlu glej Targ. Ps. Jon. na Gen. vi. 3, kjer se pojavita obe imeni in je naveden mit. Observe that Azâzêl is punished in a place by himself; and also that in the Noah sections this place is in the valleys of the earth, but in the genuine Enoch beyond the earth.Gen 6:3Lev 16:10Lev 16:22
5 And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light.Jude 1:6
6 And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire.
7 And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons.
8 And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl: to him ascribe all sin.’Note how all sin is ascribed to the fallen angels.
9 And to Gabriel said the Lord: ‘Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy [the children of fornication and] the children of the Watchers from amongst men [and cause them to go forth]: send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have.9. 10. Gabriel to destroy the giants. The account here is closely followed by Jubilees v. 6-11. The giants slay one another in the presence of their parents; cf. xiv. 6, and v. 12 here. The parents are then bound in the earth's abysses, and their power of hurting the earth is at an end ; cf. xiv. 5. But it is not so with the spirits of the giants. They enjoy an impunity in wrong-doing until the final judgement. See xv. ii-xvi. 1.
10 And no request that they (i.e. their fathers) make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers on their behalf; for they hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.’
11 And the Lord said unto Michael: ‘Go, bind Semjâzâ and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness.This verse describes Michael's task, which is distinct from that of Gabriel. Cf. lxxxviii. 3 which is distinct from lxxxviii. 2.
12 And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generationsThis period has no connexion with the Apocalypse of Weeks. in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated.Jude 1:6
13 In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire:Matt 25:41Rev 20:10Rev 20:14-15 〈and〉 to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever.
14 And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations.
15 And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind.Gabriel is given this charge in v. 9
16 Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear: ┌and it shall prove a blessing; the works of righteousness and truth┐ shall be planted in truth and joy for evermore.
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17 And then shall all the righteous escape, |
| And shall live till they beget thousands of children, |
| And all the days of their youth and their old age |
| Shall they complete in peace. |
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18 And then shall the whole earth be tilled in righteousness, and shall all be planted with trees and be full of blessing.Amos 9:13-14Hos 2:22-23Jer 31:5Isa 25:6Ez 28:26Ez 34:26
19 And all desirable trees shall be planted on it, and they shall plant vines on it: and the vine which they plant thereon shall yield wine in abundance, and as for all the seed which is sown thereon each measure (of it) shall bear a thousand, and each measure of olives shall yield ten presses of oil.Isa 5:10
20 And cleanse thou the earth from all oppression, and from all unrighteousness, and from all sin, and from all godlessness: and all the uncleanness that is wrought upon the earth destroy from off the earth.The cleansing is by the Messianic kingdom probably, not by the deluge.
21 ┌And all the children of men shall become righteous┐, and all nations shall offer adoration and shall praise Me, and all shall worship Me.
22 And the earth shall be cleansed from all defilement, and from all sin, and from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send (them) upon it from generation to generation and for ever.
Chapter 11<note type="x-footnote" n="1">concludes an account of the Messianic kingdom. Cf. Deut. xxviii. 12.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Deut.28.12">Deut 28:12</reference></note>
1 And in those days I will open the store chambers of blessing which are in the heaven, so as to send them down ┌upon the earth┐ over the work and labour of the children of men.
2 And truth and peace shall be associated together throughout all the days of the world and throughout all the generations of men.’Ps 85:10Isa 32:17
XII-XVI. Dream-Vision of Enoch: his Intercession for Azâzêl and the fallen Angels: and his Announcement of their first and final Doom.
Chapter 12<note type="x-footnote" n="1">XII-XVI. The visions are only preserved in fragments and are out of order. Cf. lxxviii-lxxx, xci-xciv. As Enoch can still intercede for the fallen Watchers their doom in x is not yet carried out. The original order was: Enoch was asked to intercede for Azâzêl (lost), vision (lost), answer in xiii. 1-2; then to intercede for the Watchers, xiii. 3, xii. 3, xiii. 4-7, vision in xiii. 8, answer to the Watchers xiii. 9-10. This second vision is given at length, with God's revelation about the Watchers' first estate, sin, and doom, xiv. 2-xvi. 2. The closing message of doom for the Watchers in xvi. 3-4 is a duplicate of xii. 4-6, which seems more original. This repetition is very Semitic. Thus the original order would be xiv. i . . ., xiii. 1-2, xiii. 3, xii. 3, xiii. 4-10, xiv. 2-xvi. 2, xii. 4-6 II xvi. 3-4. xii. 1-2 is an editorial introduction. Note that here in this Enoch section a man intercedes for angels: in the Noah section angels intercede for men (ix. 3, 4), but not for angels (lxviii. 3, Noachic).</note>
1 Before these things Enoch was hidden,'was taken' Gg, to receive the following revelation. Cf. x. 2. Enoch is still living, and not finally translated from earth as yet. As man he writes the petition for the fallen angels (xiii. 6); receives a vision in sleep, and is transported in spirit unto heaven (xiv. 2); speaks with a tongue of flesh (xiv. 2); and is terrified, like a mortal man, at the presence of God (xiv. 24). and no one of the children of men knew where he was hidden, and where he abode, and what had become of him.
2 And his activities had to do with the Watchers, and his days were with the holy ones.
3 And I Enoch was blessing the Lord of majesty and the King of the ages, and lo! the Watchers calledCf. xcii. 1. Enoch is really asked to intercede. So read this verse after xiii. 3. me—Enoch the scribeEnoch is further called the scribe of righteousness (xii. 4, xv. 1), because he is himself a righteous man (xv. 1, lxxi. 14-16) and also declares the righteous judgement that is coming (xiii. 10, xiv. 1, 3, lxxxi. 6, lxxxii. 1, etc.—and said to me:
4 ‘Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness, go, †declare† to the Watchers of the heaven who have left the high heaven,Jude 1:6 the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have done as the children of earth do, and have taken unto themselves wives:
5 “Ye have wrought great destruction on the earth: And ye shall have no peace nor forgiveness of sin: and inasmuch as †they† delight themselves in †their† children,
6 The murder of †their† beloved ones shall †they† see, and over the destruction of †their† children shall †they† lament, and shall make supplication unto eternity, but mercy and peace shall ye not attain.”’
Chapter 13
1 And Enoch went and said: ‘Azâzêl, thou shalt have no peace: a severe sentence has gone forth against thee to put thee in bonds:Azâzêl addressed in conformity with x. 4. Message of his doom. See xii-xvi (note).
2 And thou shalt not have toleration nor †request† granted to thee, because of the unrighteousness which thou hast taught, and because of all the works of godlessness and unrighteousness and sin which thou hast shown to men.’
3 Then I went and spoke to them all together, and they were all afraid, and fear and trembling seized them.
4 And they besought me to draw up a petition for them that they might find forgiveness, and to read their petition in the presence of the Lord of heaven.4, 5. As the angels could not address God nor lift up their eyes to heaven, Enoch is besought to become their intercessor. As a scribe, he draws up their petition in writing, and does not present it by word of mouth.
5 For from thenceforward they could not speak (with Him) nor lift up their eyes to heaven for shame of their sins for which they had been condemned.
6 Then I wrote out their petition, and the prayer †in regard to their spirits and their deeds individually and in regard to their requests that they should have forgiveness and length†.
7 And I went off and sat down at the waters of Dan,This river, called also the Little Jordan (Joseph, Ant, v. 3. 1, viii. 8. 4) is a tributary of the Jordan. This place (from דין, to judge) is chosen because of the significance of its name here– judgement.. in the land of Dan, to the south of the west of Hermon: I read their petition till I fell asleep.
8 And behold a dream came to me, and visions fell down upon me, and I saw visions of chastisement, ┌and a voice came bidding (me)┐ I to tell it to the sons of heaven, and reprimand them.
9 And when I awaked, I came unto them, and they were all sitting gathered together, weeping in ’Abelsjâîl, which is between Lebanon and Sênêsêr,Senir, a name of Hermon - Deut. iii. 9, Cant. iv. 8.Deut 3:9 with their faces covered.
10 And I recounted before them all the visions which I had seen in sleep, and I began to speak the words of righteousness, and to reprimandjudge angels.1Cor 6:3 the heavenly Watchers.
Chapter 14
1 The book of the words of righteousness, and of the reprimand of the eternal Watchers in accordance with the command of the Holy Great One in that vision.
2 I saw in my sleep what I will now say with a tongue of flesh and with the breath of my mouth: which the Great One has given to men to converse therewith and understand with the heart.2, 3. God has created man with a tongue for speech and a faculty of understanding, and so has created Enoch with a power of reprimanding the eternal watchers.
3 As He has created and given ╓to man the power of understanding the word of wisdom, so hath He created me also and given╖ me the power of reprimanding the Watchers, the children of heaven.
4 I wrote out your petition, and in my vision it appeared thus, that your petition will not be granted unto you ╓throughout all the days of eternity, and that judgement has been finally passed upon you: yea (your petition) will not be granted unto you╖.4-7. Enoch's reprimand to the Watchers.
5 And from henceforth you shall not ascend into heaven unto all eternity, and ┌in bonds┐ of the earthGᵍ, 'on the earth ' E. Read 'in bonds on the earth' or (cf. Lam. iii. 34) 'as prisoners of the earth'.Lam 3:34 the decree has gone forth to bind you for all the days of the world.
6 And (that) previously you shall have seen the destruction of your beloved sons and ye shall have no pleasure in them, but they shall fall before you by the sword.
7 And your petition on their behalf shall not be granted, nor yet on your own: even though you weep and pray and speak all the words contained in the writing which I have written.
8 And the vision was shown to me thus: Behold, in the vision cloudsThe expression is peculiar. Cf. perhaps Matt. xvii. 5. We should expect, however, some such idea as in Ps. xviii. 10, 11, civ. 3.Matt 17:5Ps 18:10-11Ps 104:3 invited me and a mist summoned me, and the course of the stars and the lightnings sped and hastened me,Dan 4:5 and the winds in the vision caused me to flyNum 11:31 and lifted me upward, and bore me into heaven.
9 And I went in till I drew nigh to a wall which is built of crystals and surrounded by tongues of fire: and it began to affright me.9-13. Enoch is carried up into heaven and passes within the outer court of God's palace.
10 And I went into the tongues of fire and drew nigh to a large house which was built of crystals:Isa 30:30 and the walls of the house were like a tesselated floor (made) of crystals, and its groundwork was of crystal.
11 Its ceiling was like the path of the stars and the lightnings, and between them were fiery cherubim, and their heaven was (clear as) water.
12 A flaming fire surrounded the walls, and its portals blazed with fire.
13 And I entered into that house, and it was hot as fire and cold as ice: there were no delights of life therein: fear covered me, and trembling got hold upon me.
14 And as I quaked and trembled, I fell upon my face.Ez 1:28Dan 8:17-18
15 And I beheld a vision, And lo! there was a second house, greater than the former, and the entire portal stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire.The doors are open so that Enoch can describe what is within. Gᵍ is corrupt.
16 And in every respect it so excelled in splendour and magnificence and extent that I cannot describe to you its splendour and its extent.
17 And its floor was of fire, and above it were lightnings and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire.
18 And I looked and saw ╓therein╖ a lofty throne:Ez 1:26Dan 7:91Kgs 22:19Isa 6:1Rev 4:2 its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim.18-22. The writer draws on Isa 6; Ezek. 1:10; Dan 7:9-10.Isa 6:1-13Ez 1:10Dan 7:9-10
19 And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon.Dan 7:10
20 And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow.Dan 7:9Ps 104:2Jas 1:17Rev 4:3
21 None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold Him.
22 The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and none around could draw nigh Him:1Tim 6:16 ten thousand times ten thousand (stood) before Him, yet He needed no counsellor.
23 And the most holy ones who were nigh to Him did not leave by night nor depart from Him.
24 And until then I had been prostrate on my face, trembling:Dan 8:17Luke 24:5 and the Lord called me with His own mouth, and said to me: ‘Come hither, Enoch, and hear my word.’
25 ┌And one of the holy ones came to me and waked me┐, and He made me rise up and approach the door: and I bowed my face downwards.
Chapter 15
1 And He answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: ‘Fear not, Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness: approach hither and hear my voice.
2 And go, say to ╓the Watchers of heaven╖, who have sent thee to intercede ╓for them: "You should intercede╖ for men, and not men for you:
3 Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven,Jude 1:6 and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons?
4 And though ye were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten (children) with the blood of flesh, and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those ┌also┐ do who die and perish.4-7. For mortal man upon earth wedlock is appointed, to continue the race; but for immortal angels in heaven it involves pollution and guilt. Cf. Matt 22:30, no marriage in heaven.Matt 22:30
5 Therefore have I given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and beget children by them, that thus nothing might be wanting to them on earth.
6 But you were ┌formerly┐ spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world.
7 And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling.
8 And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling.8-9. The forbidden union of angels and the daughters of men gives rise to a monstrous race of giants, with spiritual powers and earthly desires. So from these giants when they die will proceed evil spirits, i.e. demons, living on earth. Moreover, these demons will not be restrained as the fallen angels are, nor slain like the mortal bodies of the giants. Cf. Justin, Apol. ii. 5; Tert. Apol. xxii. Lact. Instit. ii. 15 regards the demons as wicked angels and no more.
9 Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men ╓and╖ from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; ┌they shall be evil spirits on earth, and┐ evil spirits shall they be called.
10 [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.]
11 And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, ┌but nevertheless hunger┐ and thirst, and cause offences.
12 And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded ┌from them┐.
Chapter 16
1 From the days of the slaughter and destruction and death ┌of the giants┐,Gen 6:4 from the souls of whose flesh the spirits, having gone forth, shall destroy without incurring judgement—thus shall they destroy until the day of the consummation, the great ┌judgement┐ in which the age shall be consummated, over the Watchers and the godless, yea, shall be wholly consummated."The demons will not be punished until the final judgement, whereas the watchers are punished before and again at that judgement. This doctrine also appears in Jubilees 10:5-11, and in the N.T. Cf. Matt 8:29, 'to torment us before the time.'Matt 8:29
2 And now as to the watchers who have sent thee to intercede for them, who had been ╓aforetime in heaven╖, (say to them):Here we might read a quotation in Syncellus ending–'and these are from the first book of Enoch concerning the watchers '. It limits the age of man to 120 years and so perhaps does belong to the lost apocalypse of Noah. See my forthcoming Commentary on Enoch, pp. 14, 15.
3 “You have been in heaven, but ┌all┐ the mysteries had not yet been revealed to you, and you knew worthless ones, and these in the hardness of your hearts you have made known to the women, and through these mysteries women and men work much evil on earth."
4 Say to them therefore: “You have no peace.”’
XVII-XXXVI. Enoch’s Journeys through the Earth and Sheol.
XVII-XIX. The First Journey.
Chapter 17<note type="x-footnote" n="1">XVII-XIX. These chapters are foreign to the rest of this section. They are full of Greek elements, e.g. Pyriphlegethon, Styx, Acheron and Cocytus (xvii. 5,6); the Ocean Stream (xvii. 5, 7, 8; xviii. 10); Hades in the West (xvii. 6). Again xviii. 6-9 is a duplicate account of xxiv. 1-3; xviii. 12-16 of xxi. 1-6; and xviii. 11 of xxi. 7-10. Again xix. I contradicts x. 11-14; xiv. 5. How could the imprisoned angels (xv. 12-xvi) assume many forms and seduce men to sacrifice to the demons? Still these chapters do belong to the Enoch tradition.</note>
1 And they took ┌and brought┐ me to a place in which those who were there were like flaming fire,Ps 104:4 and, when they wished, they appeared as men.2Cor 11:14
2 And they brought me to the place of darkness,'of whirlwind' E.Job 37:9 and to a mountain the point of whose summit reached to heaven.
3 And I saw the places of the luminaries ┌and the treasuries of the stars┐ and of the thunder ┌and┐ in the uttermost depths, where were a fiery bowwith which the lightnings are shot. Cf Ps. vii. 12; Hab. iii. 9; Lam. ii. 4, iii. 12.Ps 7:12Hab 3:9Lam 2:4Lam 3:12 and arrowsi.e. lightnings. Ps. xviii. 14, lxxvii. 17, 18.Ps 18:14Ps 77:17-18 and their quiver, ╓and a fiery sword╖Ps 7:12Deut 32:41 and all the lightnings.
4 And they took me to the living waters,Ps 36:9Prov 10:11Prov 13:14Prov 14:27Prov 16:22Rev 22:17 and to the fire of the west,See xxiii. (notes). This fire is not Gehenna as Enoch does not place that in the west. which receives every setting of the sun.
5 And I came to a river of fireThe Pyriphlegethon. in which the fire flows like water and discharges itself into the great sea towards the west.
6 I saw the great rivers and came to the great ┌river and to the great┐ darkness, and went to the place where no flesh walks.
7 I saw the mountains of the darkness of winter and the place whence all the waters of the deep flow.
8 I saw the mouths of all the rivers of the earth and the mouth of the deep.
Chapter 18
1 I saw the treasuries of all the winds: I saw how He had furnished with them the whole creation and the firm foundations of the earth.2Sam 22:16Ps 18:15
2 And I saw the corner-stoneJob 38:6 of the earth: I saw the four winds which bear [the earth and] the firmament of the heaven.
3 ╓And I saw how the winds stretch out the vaults of heaven╖, and have their station between heaven and earth: ╓these are the pillars of the heaven╖.Job 26:11
4 I saw the winds of heaven which turn and bring the circumference of the sun and all the stars to their setting.
5 I saw the winds on the earth carrying the clouds:(t,β only) explains the difficulties in Job xxxvi. 29, xxxvii. 16. Gᵍgmqu read 'in the cloud'.Job 36:29Job 37:16 I saw ╓the paths of the angels. I saw╖ at the end of the earth the firmament of the heaven above.The firmament's ends rest on the earth's ends, cf. xxxiii. 2, while its vault is supported by the winds, xviii. 2,3.
6 And I proceeded and saw a place which burns day and night, where there are seven mountains of magnificent stones, three towards the east, and three towards the south.6-9. For the seven mountains see the other account in xxiv. 1-3. Also cf. Jubilees viii. 22.
7 And as for those towards the east, 〈one〉 was of coloured stone, and one of pearl, and one of jacinth,Ez 28:13 and those towards the south of red stone.
8 But the middle one reached to heaven like the throne of God,ln xxv. 3 it t's the throne of God. God's mountain is in the north in Isa. xiv. 13. Cf. Ezek. i. 4; Job xxxvii. 22. Cf. 'the holy mountain of God', Ezek. xxviii. 13, 14, 16.Job 37:22Ez 1:4Isa 14:13Ez 28:13-14Ez 28:16 of alabaster, and the summit of the throne was of sapphire.Ez 1:26
9 And I saw a flaming fire.
10 And beyond these mountains Is a region the end of the great earth: there the heavens were completed.
11 And I saw a deep abyss, with columns ╓of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns╖ of fireGen 19:24Ps 11:6Ez 38:22 fall, which were beyond measure alike towards the height and towards the depth.
12 And beyond that abyss I saw a place which had no firmament of the heaven above, and no firmly founded earth beneath it: there was no water upon it, and no birds, but it was a waste and horrible place.12-16. The place of punishment for the disobedient stars, already occupied. Cf. xxi. 1-6.
13 I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I inquired regarding them,13-16. The stars are regarded as conscious, and therefore punished. Cf. Jude 13 ἀστέρες πλανῆται.Jude 1:13
14 The angel said: ‘This place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars and the host of heaven.Isa 24:21
15 And the stars which roll over the fire are they which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their appointed times.
16 And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time= ten thousand years, xxi. 6. when their guilt should be consummated (even) ┌for ten thousand years┐.’
Chapter 19<note type="x-footnote" n="1">This chapter disagrees with xv. 12-xvi, as here the spirits of the fallen angels are free to seduce men to sacrifice to demons. In fact the fallen angels here have the function of tempting men which is elsewhere assigned to the demons. The women too become female demons here. If, however, xix belongs to x-xvi, then xix is defective. 'Their spirits' should be followed by 'of the giants', which would be an Aramaic idiom likely to be misunderstood by a Greek translator.</note>
1 And Uriel said to me: ‘Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons ╓as gods╖,Cf. 5. Mojz. xxxii. 17; Ps. cvi. 37; Bar. iv. 7. Ta odlomek in xcix. 7 so vir tert. De Idol. iv.Deut 32:17Ps 106:37 (here shall they stand,) till ╓the day of╖ the great judgement in which they shall be judged till they are made an end of.
2 And the women also of the angels who went astray shall become sirens.’Mic 1:8
3 And I, Enoch, alone saw the vision, the ends of all things: and no man shall see as I have seen.
XX. Names and Functions of the Seven Archangels.
Chapter 20<note type="x-footnote" n="1">There are seven archangels in this chapter, but only four are mentioned in i-xix, cf. xxi-xxxvi. See lxxxi. 5. Other discrepancies, however, are reduced by the evidence of Gᵍ.</note>
1 And these are the names of the holy angels[Rev 14:10] who watch.
2 Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is over the world and over Tartarus.
3 Raphael, one of the holy angels, who is over the spirits of men.
4 Raguel, one of the holy angels who †takes vengeance on† the world of the luminaries.
5 Michael,Michael is Israel's guardian angel, as in Dan. x. 13, 21, xii. 1, and elsewhere. Cf. xxiv. 6.Dan 10:13Dan 10:21Dan 12:1 one of the holy angels, to wit, he that is set over the best part of mankind ╓and╖ over chaos.
6 Saraqâêl, one of the holy angels, who is set over the spirits, who sin in the spirit.
7 Gabriel,Gabriel, not Raphael, should be the speaker in xxxii, according to this verse. one of the holy angels, who is over Paradise and the serpents and the Cherubim.
8 Remiel, one of the holy angels, whom God set over those who rise.
XXI-XXXVI. The Second Journey of Enoch.
XXI. Preliminary and final Place of Punishment of the fallen Angels (stars).
Chapter 21<note type="x-footnote" n="1">1-6. Cf. xviii. 12-16. The place where the disobedient stars are punished.</note>
1 And I proceeded to where things were chaotic.
2 And I saw there something horrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but a place chaotic and horrible.
3 And there I saw seven stars of the heaven bound together in it, like great mountains and burning with fire.
4 Then I said: ‘For what sin are they bound, and on what account have they been cast in hither?’
5 Then said Uriel, one of the holy angels, who was with me, and was chief over them, and said: ‘Enoch, why dost thou ask, and why art thou eager for the truth?Dan 7:16
6 These are of the number of the stars ┌of heaven┐, which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand years, the time entailed by their sins, are consummated.’
7 And from thence I went to another place, which was still more horrible than the former, and I saw a horrible thing: a great fire there which burnt and blazed, and the place was cleft as far as the abyss, being full of great descending columns of fire: neither its extent or magnitude could I see, nor could I conjecture.Apparently the final prison of the angels here is the abyss of xviii. 11, 12, which was below the waste place, where the seven stars are bound already. For this final prison, cf. x. 6, xviii. 11, liv. 6, xc. 24-5.
8 Then I said: ‘How fearful is the place and how terrible to look upon!’
9 Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: ‘Enoch, why hast thou such fear and affright?’ And I answered: ‘Because of this fearful place, and because of the spectacle of the pain.’
10 And he said ╓unto me╖: ‘This place is the prison of the angels, and here they will be imprisoned for ever.’
XXII. Sheol or the Underworld.
Chapter 22<note type="x-footnote" n="1">This chapter contains a very detailed account of Sheol or Hades. The writer places it in the far west, as the Babylonians, Greeks, and Egyptians did, and not in the underworld, as the Hebrews. In all other sections of Enoch the Hebrew view prevails. This is the earliest statement of the Pharisaic or Chasid doctrine of Sheol, but here it is already fullgrown. The departed have conscious existence, and moral, not social distinctions are observed in Sheol. See lxiii. 10, for the history of this doctrine. Cf. Dan. xii.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Dan.7.1-Dan.7.28">Dan 7:1-28</reference></note>
1 And thence I went to another place, and he showed me in the west ┌another┐ great and high mountain [and] of hard rock.
2 (And there was in it †four† hollow places, deep and wide and very smooth. †How† smooth are the hollow places and deep and darkThis seems to suit only the places of punishment. Contrast 'one bright' and v. 9. to look at.)E (And there were †four† hollow places in it, deep and very smooth: †three† of them were dark and one bright and there was a fountain of water in its midst. And I said: ‘†How† smooth are these hollow places, and deep and dark to view.’)Gg
3 Then RaphaelRaphael has the same role in Tobit. answered, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: ‘These hollow places have been created for this very purpose, that the spirits of the souls of the dead should assemble therein, yea that all the souls of the children of men should assemble here.
4 And these places have been made to receive them till the day of their judgement and till their appointed period [till the period appointed], till the great judgement (comes) upon them.’
5 (I saw the spirits of the children of men who were dead, and their voice went forth to heaven and made suit.)E (I saw 〈the spirit of〉 a dead man making suit, and his voice went forth to heaven and made suit.)Gg5-7. Formerly thought to describe the first division of Sheol, which contains the souls of the righteous, who in their life were persecuted, and suffered a violent and undeserved death. The idea of the righteous or of the angels crying for vengeance on the wicked occurs in all the sections of Enoch. Cf. ix. 1-3, 10, 11, xxii. 5-8, xlvii. 1, 2, lxxxix. 76, xcvii. 3, 5, xcix. 3, 16, civ. 3. Cf. also Rev. vi. 10; 4 Ezra iv. 35. But really these verses describe not a division of Sheol, but the sight of a soul demanding vengeance.Rev 6:10
6 (Then I asked Raphael the angel who was with me, and I said unto him: ‘This spirit—whose is it, whose voice goeth forth and maketh suit?’)E (And I asked Raphael the angel who was with me, and I said unto him: ‘This spirit which maketh suit, whose is it, whose voice goeth forth and maketh suit to heaven?’)Gg6. 7. Abel’s soul cries for "vengeance". Gen. iv. 10.Gen 4:10
7 And he answered me saying: ‘This is the spirit which went forth from Abel, whom his brother Cain slew, and he makes his suit against him till his seed is destroyed from the face of the earth, and his seed is annihilated from amongst the seed of men.’
8 (Then I asked regarding it, and regarding all the hollow places: ‘Why is one separated from the other?’)E (Then I asked regarding all the hollow places: ‘Why is one separated from the other?’)Gᵍ The three divisions of Sheol are now given.
9 (And he answered me and said unto me: ‘These three have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And such a division has been made 〈for〉 the spirits of the righteous, in which there is the bright spring of water.)E (And he answered me saying: ‘These three have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And this division has been made for the spirits of the righteous, in which there is the bright spring of water.)Gᵍ The first division is for the souls of the righteous, whether martyred or not. Thus good and ill fortune in life do not continue even after death, despite 5-7. 'The bright spring' seems to refer to an existing tradition. For the phrase ' water of life ' in Babylonian literature see K.A.T.³ 523 seqq.
10 (And such has been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed on them in their lifetime.)E (And this has been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed upon them in their lifetime.)Gᵍ The second division is for those sinners who lived prosperously and attained to honourable burial, having escaped punishment in life.
11 (Here their spirits shall be set apart in this great pain till the great day of judgement and punishment and torment of those who curse for ever and retribution for their spirits. There He shall bind them for ever.)E (Here their spirits shall be set apart in this great pain,Luke 16:23-31 till the great day of judgement, scourgings, and torments of the accursed for ever,in Greek, ' till the age', i.e. till the final judgement. so that (there may be) retribution for their spirits. There He shall bind them for ever.)Gᵍ
12 (And such a division has been made for the spirits of those who make their suit, who make disclosures concerning their destruction, when they were slain in the days of the sinners.)E (And this division has been made for the spirits of those who make their suit, who make disclosures concerning their destruction, when they were slain in the days of the sinners.)Gᵍ The third division is for the sinners who suffered in their life and therefore incur less penalty in Sheol. The suffering unrighteous cry to God for vengeance.
13 (Such has been made for the spirits of men who were not righteous but sinners, who were complete in transgression, and of the transgressors they shall be companions: but their spirits shall not be slain in the day of judgement nor shall they be raised from thence.’)E (And this has been made for the spirits of men who shall not be righteous but sinners, who are godless, and of the lawless they shall be companions: but their spirits shall not be punished in the day of judgement nor shall they be raised from thence.’)Gᵍ Their spirits shall not be slain. There are degrees of suffering in Sheol. The worst penalty seems to be 'the slaying of the spirit', but even this did not imply annihilation. See cviii. 3 (note), also xcix. 11.their spirits: + 'because those who suffer affliction here are punished less' Gᵍ, a gloss.nor shall they be raised: The sinners in the second division will rise, but only for a severer condemnation. Is the Resurrection here general, or only for Israel? If general, this declaration is unique in pre-Christian Jewish Apocrypha.
14 (Then I blessed the Lord of glory and said: ‘Blessed be my Lord, the Lord of righteousness, who ruleth for ever.’)E (Then I blessed the Lord of glory and said: ‘Blessed art Thou, Lord of righteousness, who ruleth over the world.’)GᵍAfter each fresh revelation Enoch generally bursts forth into a doxology. Cf. xxv. 7, xxvii. 5, xxxvi. 4, xxxix. 9-13, xlviii. 10, lxxxi. 3, lxxxiii. 11, lxxxiv, xc. 40.
XXIII. The fire that deals with the Luminaries of Heaven.
Chapter 23
1 From thence I went to another place to the west of the ends of the earth.1, 2. Enoch is still in the west, but proceeds to another quarter in it, where there is a restless river of fire. xvii. 4 seems to deal with the same subject.
2 And I saw a burning fire which ran without resting, and paused not from its course day or night but (ran) regularly.
3 And I asked saying: ‘What is this which rests not?’
4 Then Raguel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered me ╓and said unto me╖: ‘This course ┌of fire┐ ╓which thou hast seen╖ is the fire in the west which †persecutes† all the luminaries of heaven.’
XXIV-XXV. The Seven Mountains in the North-West and the Tree of Life.
Chapter 24<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Enoch has been in the extreme West in xxiii: now he goes to the NW. First he sees a mountain range of fire, and then the seven great mountains, one of which is the throne of God.</note>
1 ╓And from thence I went to another place of the earth╖, and he showed me a mountain range of fire which burnt ╓day and╖ night.
2 And I went beyond it and saw seven magnificent mountains all differing each from the other, and the stones (thereof) were magnificent and beautiful, magnificent as a whole, of glorious appearance and fair exterior: ╓three towards╖ the east, ╓one╖ founded on the other, and three towards the south, ╓one╖ upon the other, and deep rough ravines, no one of which joined with any other.
3 And the seventh mountain was in the midst of these, and it excelled them in height, resembling the seat of a throne: and fragrant trees encircled the throne.
4 And amongst them was a tree such as I had never yet smelt, neither was any amongst them nor were others like it: it had a fragrance beyond all fragrance, and its leaves and blooms and wood wither not for ever: and its fruit ╓is beautiful, and its fruit╖ resembles the dates of a palm.
5 Then I said: ‘┌How┐ beautiful is this tree, and fragrant, and its leaves are fair, and its blooms ╓very╖ delightful in appearance.’
6 Then answered Michael, one of the holy ╓and honoured╖ angels who was with me, and was their leader.Michael, Israel's patron angel, is in charge of these treasures of the Messianic Kingdom. From xx. 7, we should expect Gabriel here.
Chapter 25
1 And he said unto me: ‘Enoch, why dost thou ask me regarding the fragrance of the tree, and ┌why┐ dost thou wish to learn the truth?’
2 Then I answered him ╓saying╖: ‘I wish to know about everything, but especially about this tree.’
3 And he answered saying: ‘This high mountaini.e. the middle one of the seven. Cf. xviii. 6-9, xxiv. 1-3. It is not Sinai, but the throne of God when He descends to bless the earth. Cf. lxxvii. 1. ╓which thou hast seen╖, whose summit is like the throne of God, is His throne, where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when He shall come downThis mountain is in the north-west. In lxxvii, God will descend in the south. to visit the earth with goodness.
4 And as for this fragrant tree no mortal is permitted to touch it till the great judgement, when He shall take vengeance on all and bring (everything) to its consummation for ever. It shall then be given to the righteous and holy.4, 5. This is the tree of life. After the final judgement men by eating of it will be endowed with a long life – not eternal life. Cf. v. 9, x. 17, xxv. 6. Cf. Apoc. Bar. lxxiii. 2, 3, 6, 7; lxxiv. This materialistic conception of the tree of life, based on Gen. ii. 9, iii. 22, appears later, e.g. 4 Ezra viii. 52; ?' Rev. ii. 7, xxii. 2, 14Gen 2:9Gen 3:22Rev 2:7Rev 22:2Rev 22:14
5 Its fruitEz 47:12 shall be for food to the elect: it shall be transplantedi. e. the tree of life was moved from the earthly Eden to the Garden of Righteousness, and will thence be moved to Jerusalem. to the holy place,i.e. Jerusalem when purified. For the divine New Jerusalem see xc. 29. to the temple of the Lord, the Eternal King.
|
6 Then shall they rejoice with joy and be glad,In this verse 1 have followed Gg. E differs in lines 2 and 3, where gq, o1, b read for 'shall . . . bones' 'and they shall draw the fragrance thereof into their bones,' i.e. into themselves. If we accept this, we might read 'Then shall they rejoice with joy And be glad in the holy place', etc. |
| And into the holy place shall they enter; |
| And its fragrance shall be in their bones, |
| And they shall live a long life on earth, |
| Such as thy fathers lived: |
|
| And in their days shall no ╓sorrow╖ or plagueIsa 56:19-20 |
| Or torment or calamity touch them.’[Rev 21:4][Rev 22:3] |
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7 Then blessed I the God of Glory, the Eternal King, who hath prepared such things for the righteous, and hath created them and promised to give to them.
XXVI. Jerusalem and the Mountains, Ravines, and Streams.
Chapter 26<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Enoch visits Jerusalem and its vicinity.</note>
1 And I went from thence to the middle of the earth,– Jerusalem. Cf Ezek. xxxviii. 12, v. 5. In Jubilees, viii. 12, 19, it is called the earth's ομφαλός or navel, as Delphi was among the Greeks. In 1 En. xc. 26, Gehenna is 'in the midst of the earth'.Ez 5:5 and I saw a blessed placeall MSS. of E except q read 'blessed planted place'. Cf. xxvii. i, lxxxix. 40; Dan. xi. 16, 41, 45.Dan 11:16Dan 11:41Dan 11:45 ┌in which there were trees┐ with branches abiding and bloomingCf. the blessing of Joseph, Gen. xlix. 23: also John xv. 5.Gen 49:22John 15:5 [of a dismembered tree].
2 And there I saw a holy mountain,Zion. ╓and╖ underneath the mountain to the east there was a streamthe brook of Siloah. and it flowed towards the south.
3 And I saw towards the east another mountainthe Mount of Olives. higher than this, and between them a deep and narrow ravine:the valley of the Kedron, or of Jehoshaphat. in it also ran a stream ┌underneath┐ the mountain.
4 And to the west thereof there was another mountain,i. e. the Mount of Offence. lower than the former and of small elevation, and a ravinei.e. the valley of Hinnom. ┌deep and dry┐ between them: and another deep and dry ravine was at the extremities of the three ┌mountains┐.
5 And all the ravines were deep ╓and narrow╖, (being formed) of hard rock, and trees were not planted upon them.
6 And I marvelled ╓at the rocks, and I marvelled╖ at the ravine, yea, I marveled very much.
XXVII. The Purpose of the Accursed Valley.
Chapter 27
1 Then said I: ‘For what object is this blessed land, which is entirely filled with trees, and this accursed valleyNeh 11:35 ╓between╖?’And this accursed valley between E. Gᵍ = 'and (why is) this valley accursed?' i.e. Gg has lost ή. Gehenna was early associated with the worship of Moloch, repressed by Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 10), and cursed by Jeremiah (Jer. vii. 31, 32, xix. 2, 6, xxxii. 35). In Isa. lxvi. 24, the rebellious and apostate Jews suffer by fire there, in the presence of the righteous, as here. There are two stages in the growth of the idea. (l) In 1 Enoch xlviii. 9, liv. 1, 2, lxii. 12, 13, xc. 26, 27, the apostate Jews are there corporally and spiritually punished for ever. In xxxvii-lxx, the wicked are to be swept away after awhile. Cf. xlviii. 9, lxii. 12, 13. (2) It is a place of spiritual punishment only, for apostate Jews xci-civ. Cf. xcviii. 3. In the N. T. (e.g. Matt. v. 29, 30) Gehenna is for the wicked generally. After Judaism regarded Gehenna as the purgatory of faithless Jews, and the place of eternal perdition for the Gentiles. Weber Jüd. Theol. 341 seqq.2Kgs 23:10Jer 7:31-32Jer 19:2Jer 19:6Jer 32:35Isa 66:24Matt 5:29-30
2 ╓Then Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered and said: ‘This╖ accursed valley is for those who are accursed for ever: Here shall all ┌the accursed┐ be gathered together who utter with their lips against the Lord unseemly words and of His glory speak hard things. (Here shall they be gathered together, and here shall be their place of judgement)E (Here shall they be gathered together, and here shall be the place of their habitation.)Gᵍ.
3 (In the last days there shall be upon them the spectacle of righteous judgement in the presence of the righteous for ever: here shall the merciful bless the Lord of glory, the Eternal King.)E (In the last times, in the days of the true judgement in the presence of the righteous for ever: here shall the godly bless the Lord of glory, the Eternal King.)Gᵍ
4 In the days of judgement over the former, they shall bless Him for the mercy in accordance with which He has assigned them (their lot).’
5 Then I blessed the Lord of Glory and set forth His ┌glory┐ and lauded Him gloriously.
XXVIII-XXXIII. Further Journey to the East.
Chapter 28<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The Wilderness between Jerusalem and the Jordan according to Ezek. xlvii. 8, 12 was one day to be well watered and covered with trees.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Ezek.47.8">Ez 47:8</reference></note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Ezek.47.12">Ez 47:12</reference></note>
1 And thence I went ╓towards the east╖, into the midst ╓of the mountain range╖ of the desert, and I saw a wilderness and it was solitary, full of trees and plants.
2 ╓And╖ water gushed forth from above.
3 Rushing like a copious watercourse [which flowed] towards the north-west it caused clouds and dew to ascend on every side.
Chapter 29<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Enoch goes further East to the region of fragrant trees.</note>
1 And thence I went to another place in the desert, and approached to the east of this mountain range.
2 And ╓there╖ I saw aromatic trees exhaling the fragrance of frankincense and myrrh, and the trees also were similar to the almond tree.
Chapter 30
1 And beyond these, I went afar to the east, and I saw another place, a valley (full) of water.
2 And therein there was a tree, the colour (?) of fragrant trees such as the mastic.
3 And on the sides of those valleys I saw fragrant cinnamon. And beyond these I proceeded to the east.
Chapter 31
1 And I saw other mountains, and amongst them were ┌groves of┐ trees, and there flowed forth from them nectar, which is named sarara and galbanum.[A bitter aromatic resin produced from kinds of ferula.]
2 And beyond these mountains I saw another mountain ┌to the east of the ends of the earth┐, ╓whereon were aloe-trees╖,This aloe is the modem eagle wood. See Encyc. Bib. i. 120-1.[Exod 30:34] and all the trees were full of stacte, being like almond-trees.
3 And when one burnt it, it smelt sweeter than any fragrant odour.
Chapter 32<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The earthly Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge.</note>
1 (And after these fragrant odours, as I looked towards the north over the mountains I saw seven mountains full of choice nard and fragrant trees and cinnamon and pepper.)E (To the north-eastTo the north-east Gᵍ, 'towards the North 'E. That Gᵍ is right appears from v. 2 'far towards the East' in both Gᵍ and E. So the Garden of Righteousness in lxx. 3, lxxvii. 3 in the NW. is distinct from the primitive earthly Garden of Righteousness or Eden in the NE. mentioned here. Also the seven mountains here in the NE. must be distinct from the seven mountains, one being God's throne, in the NW. in xviii. 6, xxiv, 2 seqq. The garden here seems not to be the abode of the departed righteous, unlike the garden in lx. 8, 23, lxi. 12, lxv. 2, lxx. 3, lxxvii. 3. Instead their souls have a division in Sheol. xxii. 9. I beheld seven mountains full of choice nard and mastic and cinnamon and pepper.)Gᵍ
2 And thence I went over the summits of ┌all┐ these mountains, far towards the east ┌of the earth┐, and passed above the Erythraean seaThe Persian and Indian Oceans. Cf. lxxvii. 6, 7. and went far from it, and passed over ╓the angel╖ Zotîêl.Seemingly the angel who guarded the entrance to Paradise.
3 (And I came to the Garden of Righteousness,Cf. lxxvii. 3; also lx. 8, 23, lxi. 12, with notes. This garden is in the East; that in lxxvii. 3 in a part of the North; in lxx. 3 in the NW. In xxxvii-lxx, as well as in the Noachic fragments, this garden is the abode of the departed righteous; while in i-xxxvi a special division in Sheol is assigned to their spirits. Can this division and the garden be the same place? Both are in the West lxx. 3, 4 and xxii. 1. See my Commentary in loc. and saw beyond those trees many large trees growing there and of goodly fragrance, large, very beautiful and glorious, and the tree of wisdom whereof they eat and know great wisdom.)E (And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, and from afar off trees more numerous than these trees and great—†two† trees there, very great, beautiful, and glorious, and magnificent, and the tree of knowledge, whose holy fruit they eat and know great wisdom.)Gg
4 ┌That tree is in height like the fir, and its leaves are┐ like (those of) the Carob tree: and its fruit is like the clusters of the vine, very beautiful: and the fragrance of the tree penetrates afar.
5 Then I said: ‘┌How┐ beautiful is the tree, and how attractive is its look!’
6 Then Raphaelxx. 7 leads us to expect Gabriel here. the holy angel, who was with me, answered me ╓and said╖: ‘This is the tree of wisdom, of which thy father old (in years) and thy aged mother, who were before thee, have eaten, and they learnt wisdom and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they were driven out of the garden.’Adam and Eve here seem to be still alive. If x. 1 belongs to this section the Samaritan chronology is followed. See lxv. 2 (note). Note that Adam's sin is not regarded as the cause of man’s fall.
Chapter 33
1 And from thence I went to the ends of the earth and saw there great beasts, and each differed from the other; and (I saw) birds also differing in appearance and beauty and voice, the one differing from the other.
2 And to the east of those beasts I saw the ends of the earth whereon the heaven rests, and the portals of the heaven open.
3 And I saw how the stars of heaven come forth, and I counted the portals out of which they proceed, and wrote down all their outlets, of each individual star by itself, according to their number and their names, their courses and their positions, and their times and their months, as Uriel the holy angel who was with me showed me.The portals of the stars are described at length in lxxii-lxxxii.
4 He showed all things to me and wrote them down for me: also their names he wrote for me, and their laws and their companies.Uriel here writes down the accounts, but in v. 3 it is Enoch who writes.
XXXIV-XXXV. Enoch’s Journey to the North.
Chapter 34<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The portals of the North winds, and the nature of those winds. Cf. lxxvi. For the winds of the four quarters cf. Rev. vii. 1.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Rev.7.1">Rev 7:1</reference></note>
1 And from thence I went towards the north to the ends of the earth, and there I saw a great and glorious device at the ends of the whole earth.
2 And here I saw three portals of heaven open in the heaven: through each of them proceed north winds: when they blow there is cold, hail, frost, snow, dew, and rain.
3 And out of one portal they blow for good: but when they blow through the other two portals, †it is with violence and affliction on the earth, and they blow with violence.†
Chapter 35<note type="x-footnote" n="1">XXXV. XXXVI. Portals of the West and South and East winds.</note>
1 And from thence I went towards the west to the ends of the earth, and saw there three portals of the heaven open such as I had seen in the †east†, the same number of portals, and the same number of outlets.
XXXVI. The Journey to the South.
Chapter 36<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Portals of the West and South and East winds.</note>
1 And from thence I went to the south to the ends of the earth, and saw there three open portals of the heaven: and thence there come dew, rain, †and wind†.Meaningless. But cf. xxxiv. 2. Perhaps these stood originally 'and from thence come the south winds, and when they blow there is dew and rain'.
2 And from thence I went to the east to the ends of the heaven, and saw here the three eastern portals of heaven open and small portals above them.Above the winds' portals are the stars' portals in the East.
3 Through each of these small portals pass the stars of heaven and run their course to the west on the path which is shown to them.
4 And as often as I saw I blessed always the Lord of Glory, and I continued to bless the Lord of Glory who has wrought great and glorious wonders, to show the greatness of His work to the angels and to spirits and to men, that they might praise His work and all His creation: that they might see the work of His might and praise the great work of His hands and bless Him for ever.
Section II.
Chapters XXXVII-LXXI.
The Parables.
Chapter 37<note type="x-footnote" n="1">This genealogy helps to show that the Parables form an independent work.</note>
1 The second visionThe first seems to be i. 2. which he saw, the vision of wisdom—which Enoch the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw.This genealogy helps to show that the Parables form an independent work.
2 And this is the beginningThe Ethiopic word used here and in v. 3 may also = 'sum'. of the words of wisdom which I lifted up my voice to speak and say to those which dwell on earth: Hear, ye men of old time,including Cainan, Mahalalel, and Jared, according to the LXX chronology, followed in the Parables. See liv. 7 (note), lxx. 4 (note). and see, ye that come after, the words of the Holy One which I will speak before the Lord of Spirits.Only in 2 Macc. iii. 24 in contemporary or earlier writings, yet cf. 'the God of the spirits of all flesh' Num. xvi. 22, xxvii. 16. In Enoch it occurs in xxxvii. 4 (twice), xxxviii. 2 (twice), 4, 6, xxxix. 2, 7 (twice), 8, 9 (twice), 12, xl. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, xli. 2 (twice), 6, 7, xliii. 4 (twice), xlv. 1, 2, xlvi. 3 (twice), 6, 7, 8, xlvii. 1, 2 (twice), 4, xlviii. 2, 3, 5, 7 (twice), 10 (twice); xlix. 2, 4, l. 2, 3 (twice), 5, li. 3, lii. 5, 9, liii. 6, liv. 5, 7, lv. 3, 4, lvii. 3, lviii. 4, 6 (twice), lix. 1, 2, lx. 6, 8, 24, 25 (twice), lxi. 3, 5, 8, 9 (thrice) 11, 13 (twice), lxii. 2, 10, 12, 14, 16 (twice), lxiii. 1, 2 (twice), 7, 12 (twice), lxv. 9, 11, lxvi. 2, lxvii. 8, 9, lxviii. 4 (twice), lxix. 24 (twice), 29, lxx. 1, lxxi. 2, 17. We find it in all 104 times, and 28 of these at least in the Interpolations. In the genuine portions it fits the context most closely: cf. xxxix. 12, xl. 1-10, xlvi. 3-8, etc.: but in the Interpolations it is never so appropriate: cf. xli. 6, 7, lix. 1, 2 (context = natural phenomena).Num 16:22Num 27:16
3 It were better to declare (them only) to the men of old time, but even from those that come after we will not withhold the beginning of wisdom.
4 Till the present day such wisdom has never been given by the Lord of Spirits as I have received according to my insight, according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits by whom the lot of eternal life has been given to me.Cf. xl. 9, lviii. 3, lxii. 14. The life of a member of the Messianic kingdom is eternal in xxxvii-lxx; in i-xxxvi it is limited in duration, v. 9, x. 17, xxv. 6, in the Dream Visions, lxxxiii-lxxxix, its duration is uncertain. The kingdom itself is temporary in xci-civ, and the real recompense of the righteous is the eternal life which follows on the close of the Messianic kingdom and the final judgement.
5 Now three ParablesCf. Num. xxiii. 7, 18, Job xxvii. 1 = elaborate discourses, in the form of a vision, a prophecy, or a poem.Num 23:7Job 27:1 were imparted to me, and I lifted up my voice and recounted them to those that dwell on the earth.This phrase has a good ethical sense in the genuine portions of this section, as xxxvii. 2, xl. 6, 7, xlviii. 5. So Rev. xiv. 6. In the Interpolations it has a bad sense in liv. 9, lv. 1, lx. 5, lxv. 6, 12, lxvi. 1, lxvii. 8, and doubtful or merely geographical elsewhere, never good. In the Rev. it always has the bad sense except in xiv. 6.Rev 14:6
XXXVIII-XLIV. The First Parable.
XXXVIII. The Coming Judgement of the Wicked.
Chapter 38<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The time of requital is coming. When righteousness appears, and the light of the Lord of Spirits shines on the face of the righteous and elect, where will the sinners and deniers dwell ?</note>
1 The First Parable.
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| When the congregation of the righteous shall appear,Peculiar to the Parables, and explained by xxxviii. 3, liii. 6, lxii. 8. Cf. Ps. i. 5, cxlix. 1, Pss. Sol. xvii. 18.Ps 1:5Ps 149:1 |
| And sinners shall be judged for their sins, |
| And shall be driven from the face of the earth:Ps 1:4 |
|
2 And when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the righteous, |
| Whose elect works hang upon the Lord of Spirits, |
| And light shall appear to the righteous and the elect who dwell on the earth, |
|
| Where then will be the dwelling of the sinners, |
|
| And where the resting-place of those who have denied the Lord of Spirits?Jude 1:4 |
| It had been good for them if they had not been born.Matt 26:24 |
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3 When the secrets of the righteous shall be revealed and the sinners judged, |
| And the godless driven from the presence of the righteous and elect, |
4 From that time those that possess the earth shall no longer be powerful and exalted: |
| And they shall not be able to behold the face of the holy, |
| For the Lord of Spirits has caused His light to appear |
| On the face of the holy, righteous, and elect.[2Cor 4:6] |
|
5 Then shall the kings and the mighty perish |
| And be given into the hands of the righteous and holy. |
6 And thenceforward none shall seek for themselves mercy from the Lord of Spirits |
| For their life is at an end. |
|
XXXIX. The Abode of the Righteous and of the Elect One: the Praises of the Blessed.
Chapter 39
1 [And it †shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children †will descend from the high heaven,1Tim 5:21 and their seed† will become one with the children of men.1, 2ª, Interpolated. It seems to be a fragment of the older Book of Enoch such as we find in vi-xxxvi. The tenses should be past and not future.
2 And in those days Enoch receivedi.e. did not write himself. books of zeal and wrath, and books of disquiet and expulsion.]
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| And mercy shall not be accorded to them, saith the Lord of Spirits. |
3 And in those days a whirlwind carried me off from the earth, |
| And set me down at the end of the heavens. |
|
4 And there I saw another vision, the dwelling-places of the holy,dwelling-places, or 'dwellings' or 'abiding places'. See xxxix. 7, 8, xli. 2; 2 En. lxix. 2; John xiv. 2, a vision of the future Messianic kingdom under the protection of the Lord of Spirits. The unities of time and place are curiously neglected.John 14:2 |
| And the resting-places of the righteous. |
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5 Here mine eyes saw their dwellings with His righteous angels, |
| And their resting-places with the holy. |
|
| And they petitioned and interceded and prayed for the children of men, |
| And righteousness flowed before them as water, |
|
| And mercy like dew upon the earth:water and dew = abundance. Cf. xlix. 1, Amos v. 24.Amos 5:24 |
| Thus it is amongst them for ever and ever. |
|
6a And in that place mine eyes saw the Elect One of righteousness and of faith, |
7a And I saw his dwelling-place under the wings of the Lord of Spirits. |
6b And righteousness shall prevail in his days, |
| And the righteous and elect shall be without number before Him for ever and ever. |
7b And all the righteous and elect before Him shall be †strong† as fiery lights,Dan 12:3 |
| And their mouth shall be full of blessing, |
|
| And their lips extol the name of the Lord of Spirits, |
| And righteousness before Him shall never fail, |
| [And uprightness shall never fail before Him.] |
8 There I wished to dwell,Enoch predestined to a place in the kingdom. Cf. lxxi. 14-17, xc. 31; Dan. xii. 1.Dan 12:1 |
| And my spirit longed for that dwelling-place: |
|
| And there heretofore hath been my portion, |
| For so has it been established concerning me before the Lord of Spirits. |
|
9 In those days I praised and extolled the name of the Lord of Spirits with blessings and praises, because He hath destined me for blessing and glory according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits.As in xxxvii. 4 we have the free grace of God brought forward, though in that passage 'according to my insight' occurs as well.
10 For a long time my eyes regarded that place, and I blessed Him and praised Him, saying: ‘Blessed is He, and may He be blessed from the beginning and for evermore.
11 And before Him there is no ceasing. He knows before the world was created what is for ever and what will be from generation unto generation.
12 Those who sleep not bless Thee: they stand before Thy glory and bless, praise, and extol, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits:‘Lord of Hosts’ in the Trisagion, Isa. vi. 3.Isa 6:3[Rev 4:8] He filleth the earth with spirits.”’
13 And here my eyes saw all those who sleep not: they stand before Him and bless and say: ‘Blessed be Thou, and blessed be the name of the Lord for ever and ever.’
14 And my face was changed; for I could no longer behold.
XL-XLI. 2. The Four Archangels.
Chapter 40
1 And after that I saw thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, I saw a multitude beyond number and reckoning, who stood before the Lord of Spirits.
2 And on the four sides of the Lord of Spirits I saw four presences,Isa 36:9[Rev 4:6] different from those that sleep not, and I learnt their names: for the angel that went with me made known to me their names, and showed me all the hidden things.
3 And I heard the voices of those four presences as they uttered praises before the Lord of glory.
4 The first voice blesses the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.
5 And the second voice I heard blessing the Elect OneIsa. xlii. 1. Used only in the Parables (see xlvi. 3) and Luke ix. 35, xxiii. 35.Isa 41:1Luke 9:35 and the elect ones who hang upon the Lord of Spirits.
6 And the third voice I heard pray and intercede for those who dwell on the earth and supplicate in the name of the Lord of Spirits.Gabriel here intercedes, but in v. 9 is set over the powers.
7 And I heard the fourth voice fending off the Satans and forbidding them to come before the Lord of Spirits to accuse them who dwell on the earth.Phanuel is set over the repentance and hope of the inheritors of eternal life (v. 9), and here restrains the Satans. These are ruled by a chief, Satan (liii. 3) to whom the Watchers became subject and so fell (liv. 6). They had access into heaven, xl. 7 (cf. Job i. 6). They tempted to evil (lxix. 4, 6), they accused (xl. 7), they punished, liii. 3, lvi. I, lxii. 11, lxiii. 1. (Interpolations lxvi. 1.)Job 1:6
8 After that I asked the angel of peace who went with me, who showed me everything that is hidden: ‘Who are these four presences which I have seen and whose words I have heard and written down?’
9 And he said to me: ‘This first is Michael, the merciful and long-suffering: and the second, who is set over all the diseases and all the wounds of the children of men, is Raphael: and the third, who is set over all the powers, is Gabriel: and the fourth, who is set over the repentanceActs 11:182Cor 7:10 unto hope of those who inherit eternal life,[Mark 10:17][Luke 10:25][Luke 18:18] is named Phanuel.’
10 And these are the four angels of the Lord of Spirits and the four voices I heard in those days.
Chapter 41
1 And after that I saw all the secrets of the heavens, and how the kingdom is divided, and how the actions of men are weighedJob 31:6Prov 16:2Ps 62:9Dan 5:27 in the balance.What kingdom can this be? Is it the Messianic Kingdom, or the kingdom of this world, or a division (into seven parts) of heaven?
2 And there I saw the mansions of the elect and the mansions of the holy, and mine eyes saw there all the sinners being driven from thence which deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, and being dragged off: and they could not abide because of the punishment which proceeds from the Lord of Spirits.
XLI. 3-9. Astronomical Secrets.
3 And there mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightning and of the thunder, and the secrets of the winds, how they are divided to blow over the earth, and the secrets of the clouds and dew, and there I saw from whence they proceed in that place and from whence they saturate the dusty earth.
4 And there I saw closed chambers out of which the winds are divided, the chamber of the hail and winds, the chamber of the mist, and of the clouds,Job 38:22 and the cloud thereof hovers over the earth from the beginning of the world.
5 And I saw the chambers of the sun and moon, whence they proceed and whither they come again, and their glorious return, and how one is superior to the other, and their stately orbit, and how they do not leave their orbit, and they add nothing to their orbit and they take nothing from it, and they keep faith with each other, in accordance with the oath by which they are bound together.
6 And first the sun goes forth and traverses his path according to the commandment of the Lord of Spirits, and mighty is His name for ever and ever.
7 And after that I saw the hidden and the visible path of the moon, and she accomplishes the course of her path in that place by day and by night—the one holding a position opposite to the other before the Lord of Spirits.
|
| And they give thanks and praise and rest not; |
| For unto them is their thanksgiving rest. |
8 For the sun changes oft for a blessing or a curse, |
| And the course of the path of the moon is light to the righteous |
| And darkness to the sinners in the name of the Lord, |
| Who made a separation between the light and the darkness, |
| And divided the spirits of men, |
| And strengthened the spirits of the righteous, |
| In the name of His righteousness. |
|
9 For no angel hinders and no power is able to hinder; for He appoints a judge for them all and He judges them all before Him.The judge appointed is the Messiah. Read this verse directly after xli. 2. Cf. Acts xvii. 31.Acts 17:31
XLII. The Dwelling-places of Wisdom and of Unrighteousness.
Chapter 42
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1 Wisdom found no place where she might dwell; |
| Then a dwelling-place was assigned her in the heavens. |
|
2 WisdomJob 28:12-14Job 28:20-28Prov 1:20Prov 8:1-36Prov 9:1-10 went forth to make her dwelling among the children of men, |
| And found no dwelling-place: |
|
| Wisdom returned to her place, |
| And took her seat among the angels. |
|
3 And unrighteousness went forth from her chambers:The wicked refused Wisdom when she came; they welcomed Unrighteousness when she sought them not. |
| Whom she sought not she found, |
| And dwelt with them, |
|
| As rain in a desert |
| And dew on a thirsty land. |
|
XLIII-XLIV. Astronomical Secrets.
Chapter 43<note type="x-footnote" n="1">XLIII, XLIV. This passage shows the interest felt by the wise in Israel in ethical and cosmic questions at once. Cf. Job, Sirach, and Wisdom. But these sections on natural phenomena frequently disturb the context in this work.</note>
1 And I saw other lightnings and the stars of heaven, and I saw how He called them all by their namesPs 147:4Isa 40:26 and they hearkened unto Him.
2 And I saw how they are weighed in a righteous balance according to their proportions of light: (I saw) the width of their spaces and the day of their appearing, and how their revolution produces lightning: and (I saw) their revolution according to the number of the angels, and (how) they keep faith with each other.
3 And I asked the angel who went with me who showed me what was hidden: ‘What are these?’Deut 4:19Dan 8:10Dan 12:3Matt 13:43Job 38:7
4 And he said to me: ‘The Lord of Spirits hath showed thee their parabolic meaning (lit. 'their parable'): these are the names of the holy who dwell on the earth and believe in the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.’
Chapter 44
1 Also another phenomenon I saw in regard to the lightnings: how some of the stars arise and become lightnings and cannot part with their new form.
XLV-LVII. The Second Parable.
XLV. The Lot of the Apostates: the New Heaven and the New Earth.
Chapter 45
1 And this is the second Parable concerning those who deny the name of the dwelling of the holy ones and the Lord of Spirits.The Second Parable begins.
|
2 And into the heaven they shall not ascend, |
| And on the earth they shall not come: |
| Such shall be the lot of the sinners |
| Who have denied the name of the Lord of Spirits, |
| Who are thus preserved for the day of suffering and tribulation. |
|
3 On that day Mine Elect One[Luke 9:35] shall sit on the throne of glory |
| And shall try their works, |
| And their places of rest shall be innumerable. |
|
| And their souls shall grow strong within them when they see Mine elect ones, |
| And those who have called upon My glorious name: |
4 Then will I cause Mine Elect One to dwell among them.4, 5. After the judgement the Messianic Kingdom is set up in a transformed heaven (xlv. 4, li. 4) and earth (xli. 2, xlv. 5), with angels and men as members xxxix. 4 (note). Isa. lxv. 17 and lxvi. 22, have the idea, but without the logical consequence of a blessed immortality, as in 1 Enoch, 2 Bar. xxxii. 6, lvii. 2; 4 Ezra vii. 75.Isa 56:17Isa 66:22[Luke 9:35] |
|
| And I will transform the heaven and make it an eternal blessing and light: |
5 And I will transform the earth and make it a blessing:The transformed earth (v. 5) will be for the righteous only. |
|
| And I will cause Mine elect ones to dwell upon it:Rev 7:15 |
| But the sinners and evil-doers shall not set foot thereon. |
|
6 For I have provided and satisfied with peace My righteous ones |
| And have caused them to dwell before Me: |
|
| But for the sinners there is judgement impending with Me, |
| So that I shall destroy them from the face of the earth. |
|
XLVI. The Head of Days and the Son of Man.
Chapter 46
|
1 And there I saw One who had a head of days,Here and in the following chapters Dan. vii. has been drawn upon. The title, 'Head of Days' i.e. 'The Everlasting', occurs in xlvi. 2, xlvii. 3, xlviii. 2, and in the Interpolations lv. 1, lx. 2, lxxi. 10-14, but not so appropriately. |
| And His head was white like wool, |
| And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, |
| And his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. |
|
2 And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, (and) why he went with the Head of Days?
3 And he answered and said unto me:
|
| This is the Son of ManPs 45:4-11Ps 72:1-20Isa 11:3-5 who hath righteousness,The Messiah in the Parables is (1) Judge of the world, (2) Revealer of all things, (3) Champion and Ruler of the righteous. As (1) Judge he has righteousness (xxxviii. 2, xxxix. 6, liii. 6, and here. Cf. Ps. xlv. 4-7, lxxii; Isa. xi. 3-5), wisdom (xlix. 1, 3, li. 3), and power (xlix. 3, lxii. 6). As (2) Revealer He will bring to light the invisible worlds of righteousness and sin, xlvi. 3, xlix. 2, 4, and raise the dead, li. 1, lxi. 5, and judge all, li. 2, lv. 4, lxi. 8, lxii. 2, 3, lxix. 27. As (3) Champion he upholds, vindicates, and rewards the righteous, xxxix. 7, xlviii. 4, 7, li. 5, liii. 6, lxii. 7, 8, 14, 15.Isa 9:6-7Isa 11:3-5Jer 23:5Zech 9:9 |
| With whom dwelleth righteousness, |
| And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden,Col 2:3 |
|
| Because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, |
| And whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness for ever. |
|
4 And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen4, 6. Cf. O.T. e.g. Isa. xiv. 9, ll; Ps. iii. 7, lviii. 6; Lam. iii. 16.Isa 14:9Isa 14:11Ps 3:7Ps 58:6Lam 3:16 |
| Shall †raise up† the kings and the mighty from their seats, |
| [And the strong from their thrones]Luke 1:52 |
| And shall loosen the reins of the strong, |
| And break the teeth of the sinners.Ps 3:7 |
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5 [And he shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms]Luke 1:52 |
| Because they do not extol and praise Him, |
| Nor humbly acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon them.Rom 13:1 |
6 And he shall put down the countenance of the strong, |
| And shall fill them with shame. |
|
| And darkness shall be their dwelling, |
| And worms shall be their bed,Hardly refers to Antiochus Epiphanes' death in 2 Macc. ix. 5, 9, but to burial in general cf. Isa. lxvi. 24. Acts xii. 23 has a strangely similar connexion of thought to 'because they do not extol'.Isa 66:24Acts 12:23 |
| And they shall have no hope of rising from their beds, |
| Because they do not extol the name of the Lord of Spirits. |
7 And these are they who †judge† the starshere = the righteous, as in Dan. viii. 10. of heaven,This verse is an echo of Dan. viii. 10. We may reconstruct it thus: 'And these are they who cast down the stars of heaven and tread to the earth those who dwell upon it.' We require a distich here, and the title 'Most High' does not occur elsewhere in the Parables.Dan 8:10 |
| [And raise their hands against the Most High], |
| †And treadCf. 'stamped upon them' in Dan. viii. 10. So read 'to the earth'.Dan 8:10 upon the earth and dwell upon it†. |
| And all their deeds manifest unrighteousness,Ps 49:6Ps 52:7 |
| And their power rests upon their riches, |
| And their faithA strong expression for the idolatrous tendencies of the Sadducean court. See xxxviii. 5 (note). is in the gods which they have made with their hands, |
| And they deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, |
|
8 And they persecute the houses of His congregations, |
| And the faithful who hang upon the name of the Lord of Spirits. |
|
XLVII. The Prayer of the Righteous for Vengeance and their Joy at its coming.
Chapter 47
|
1 And in those days shall have ascended the prayer of the righteous,The judgement follows the dethronement of the mighty.Here in the plural, but in the next line in the singular (collective).Cf. Rev. vi. 10; En. xcvii. 5 (note).Rev 6:10 |
| And the blood of the righteous from the earth before the Lord of Spirits. |
|
2 In those days the holy ones who dwell above in the heavensOn the angels' intercession. See xv. 2 (note). |
| Shall unite with one voice |
| And supplicate and pray [and praise, |
| And give thanks and bless the name of the Lord of Spirits] |
| On behalf of the blood of the righteous which has been shed, |
| And that the prayer of the righteous may not be in vain before the Lord of Spirits, |
| That judgement may be done unto them,[Luke 18:7] |
| And that they may not have to suffer for ever. |
|
3 In those days I saw the Head of Days when He seated himself upon the throne of His glory, |
| And the books of the livingIn O.T. these are the registers of actual Israelite citizens, with a right to the temporal blessings of the chosen people. Cf. Exod. xxxii. 32, etc.; Ps. lxix. 28; Isa. iv. 3; also Jubilees xxx. 20, 22. In Dan. xii. 1, they refer to an immortality of blessedness. Cf. N.T. Phil. iv. 3; Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, etc., and the idea in Luke x. 20; Heb. xii. 23. Cf. too Enoch ciii. 4, 'the memorial of the righteous.' There were also books recording good and evil deeds. Ps. lvi. 8; Mal. iii. 16; Jubilees xxx. 22; also Dan. vii. 10; Rev. xx. 12; Asc. Isa. ix. 22, and in Enoch evil deeds only (as Isa. lxv. 6), lxxxi. 4, lxxxix. 61-77, xc. 17, 20, xcviii. 7, 8, civ. 7; also 2 Bar. xxiv. 1. Further there were the heavenly tablets of God's plans. Cf. Exod. xxv. 9, 40; Dan. x. 21. Also in Enoch lxxxi. 1, 2, xciii. 1-3, ciii. 2, 3, cvi. 19, cvii. 1, cviii. 7 ('books of the holy ones' as ciii. 2). See my Commentary in loc.Exod 32:32Ps 56:8Ps 69:28Isa 4:3Isa 65:6Dan 7:10Dan 10:21Dan 12:1Mal 3:16Luke 10:20Phil 4:3Heb 12:23Rev 3:5Rev 13:8Rev 20:12Rev 20:15 were opened before Him: |
| And all His host which is in heaven above and His counsellors stood before Him, |
|
4 And the hearts of the holy were filled with joy; |
| Because the number of the righteous had been offered,Rev 6:10-11 |
| And the prayer of the righteous had been heard, |
| And the blood of the righteous been required before the Lord of Spirits. |
|
XLVIII. The Fount of Righteousness: the Son of Man—the Stay of the Righteous: Judgement of the Kings and the Mighty.
Chapter 48
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1 And in that place I saw the fountain of righteousnessIsa 55:1 |
| Which was inexhaustible: |
| And around it were many fountains of wisdom: |
| And all the thirsty drank of them, |
| And were filled with wisdom, |
| And their dwellings were with the righteous and holy and elect. |
2 And at that houri.e. when Enoch was beholding these visions. The Parables assert the actual pre-existence of the Son of Man. See vv. 3 and 6, xlvi. 1, 2, xlix. 2, lxii. 7. Cf. 4 Ezra xii. 32, xiii. 26. that Son of Man was named |
| In the presence of the Lord of Spirits, |
| And his name before the Head of Days. |
|
3 Yea, before the sun and the signs were created,Job 38:32 |
| Before the stars of the heaven were made, |
| His name was named before the Lord of Spirits. |
|
4 He shall be a staff to the righteous whereon to stay themselves and not fall, |
| And he shall be the light of the Gentiles,Isa. xlii. 6, xlix. 6. He will become their light through his future coming and character being made known to them.Isa 42:6Isa 49:6 |
| And the hope of those who are troubled of heart.Isa 61:1-2 |
|
5 All who dwell on earth shall fall downeven his deniers, lxii. 6, 9, lxiii, xc. 37. Cf. Ps. lxxii. 9, 11; Phil. ii. 10.Ps 72:9Ps 72:11Phil 2:10 and worship before him, |
| And will praise and bless and celebrate with song the Lord of Spirits. |
|
6 And for this reason hath he been chosen and hidden before Him, |
| Before the creation of the world and for evermore. |
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7 And the wisdom of the Lord of Spirits hath revealed him to the holy and righteous; |
| For he hath preserved the lot of the righteous, |
| Because they have hated and despised this world of unrighteousness, |
| And have hated all its works and ways in the name of the Lord of Spirits: |
| For in his name they are saved,[Joel 2:32][Acts 2:21]Acts 4:12[Rom 10:13]1Cor 6:11 |
| And according to his good pleasure hath it been in regard to their life. |
|
8 In these days downcast in countenance shall the kings of the earth have become, |
| And the strong who possess the land because of the works of their hands, |
|
| For on the day of their anguish and affliction they shall not (be able to) save themselves. |
9 And I will give them over into the hands of Mine elect: |
| As straw in the fire so shall they burn before the face of the holy:Rev 14:10 |
| As leadCf. Exod. xv. 7, 10. Gehenna is here visible to the righteous, cf. xxvii. 2, 3, xc. 26, 27; 4 Ezra vi. 1, but not so in En. lxii. 12, 13; Rev. xx. 14; or in the last clause here – 'no trace'. Really the Parables transform the conception of Gehenna, and the spectacle is only temporary in this verse.Exod 15:7Exod 15:10Rev 20:14 in the water shall they sink before the face of the righteous, |
| And no trace of them shall any more be found. |
|
10 And on the day of their affliction there shall be rest on the earth, |
| And before them they shall fall and not rise again:Ps 36:12 |
| And there shall be no one to take them with his hands and raise them: |
| For they have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed.Ps. ii. 2. In O.T. Messiah is not an exact technical term, but is used of the Davidic kings, and even Cyrus (Isa. xlv. 1). It is first found in the later sense in the Parables here, xlviii. 10, lii. 4: then in Pss. Sol. xvii. 36, xviii. 6, 8; 4 Ezra vii. 29, xii. 32; 2 Bar. xxix. 3, etc.Ps 2:2Isa 45:1 |
| The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed. |
|
XLIX. The Power and Wisdom of the Elect One.
Chapter 49<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The Messiah's acts follow from his attributes. Cf. Isa. xi.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Isa.11.1-Isa.11.16">Isa 11:1-16</reference></note>
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1 For wisdomIsa 11:9 is poured out like water, |
| And glory faileth not before him for evermore. |
|
2 For he is mighty in all the secrets of righteousness, |
| And unrighteousness shall disappear as a shadow,Job 14:2 |
| And have no continuance;lit. ' standing-ground '. |
| Because the Elect One[Luke 9:35] standeth before the Lord of Spirits, |
| And his glory is for ever and ever,Isa 9:6-7Mic 5:2 |
| And his might unto all generations. |
|
3 And in him dwells the spirit of wisdom, |
| And the spirit which gives insight, |
| And the spirit of understanding and of might, |
| And the spirit of thoseHe perfectly realizes the eschatological hopes of those who in the past were faithful. who have fallen asleep in righteousness. |
|
4 And he shall judge the secret things, |
| And none shall be able to utter a lying word before him; |
| For he is the Elect One[Luke 9:35] before the Lord of Spirits according to His good pleasure.[Eph 1:9] |
|
L. The Glorification and Victory of the Righteous: the Repentance of the Gentiles.
Chapter 50<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Interpolated or at least containing incongruous details due to literary reminiscence. As in lxxxiii-xc and xci-civ the judgement of the sword precedes the Messianic kingdom which comes gradually together with the conversion of the heathen, and the final judgement follows. But in xxxvii-lxx the Son of Man suddenly appears and begins his reign with the resurrection and final judgement, with no place of repentance or time for conversion; cf. lxii, lxiii.</note>
|
1 And in those days a change shall take place for the holy and elect,A gradual change from the night of oppression to the light of glory and honour; cf. lviii. 5, 6. |
| And the light of days shall abide upon them, |
| And glory and honour shall turn to the holy, |
2 On the day of affliction on which evil shall have been treasured up against the sinners.For the period of the sword; cf. xc. 19, 34, xci. 12. |
|
| And the righteous shall be victorious in the name of the Lord of Spirits: |
| And He will cause the others to witness (this) |
| That they may repent |
| And forgo the works of their hands. |
|
3 They shall have no honour through the name of the Lord of Spirits,They are saved without honour. |
| Yet through His name shall they be saved, |
| And the Lord of Spirits will have compassion on them, |
| For His compassion is great. |
|
4 And He is righteous also in His judgement,The final judgement. The unrepentant perish. Cf. lx. 5, 25; also 4 Ezra vii. 33-4; 2 Bar. lxxxv. 12. |
| And in the presence of His glory unrighteousness also shall not maintain itself: |
| At His judgement the unrepentant shall perish before Him. |
5 And from henceforth I will have no mercy on them, saith the Lord of Spirits. |
|
LI. The Resurrection of the Dead, and the Separation by the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.
Chapter 51
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1 And in those days shall the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it,There are three Jewish doctrines of the resurrection, (1) All Israelites are to rise. Dan. xii. 2; 1 En. i-xxxvi (except xxii. 13), xxxvii-lxx, lxxxiii-xc; Ps. lxv (title) in LXX; 2 Macc. vii. 9, etc.; 2 Bar. l-li. 6. (2) All righteous Israelites, Isa. xxv. 8, xxvi. 19; Ps. xvi. 10, 11, xvii. 15, xlix. 15, lxxiii. 24-7; Job xiv. 13-15, xix. 26-7; 1 En. xci-civ; Pss. Sol. iii. 16, xiii. 9, xiv. 7, xv. 15; 2 Bar. xxx; Joseph. Ant. xviii. 1. 3; Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 14. This is the received Talmudic view. (3) All mankind are to rise, 4 Ezra vii. 32, 37; Test. 12 Patr. Benj. x. 6-8. Some Jews believed the soul was immortal, but the body would not rise. Wisdom of Sol. iii. 1, etc., iv. 7, v. 16, viii. 20 (compared with ix. 15, xv. 8); Jubilees xxiii. 30.Dan 12:2Isa 25:8Isa 26:19Job 14:13-15Job19:26-29Ps 16:10-11Ps 17:15Ps 49:15Ps 73:24-27 |
| And Sheol also shall give back that which it has received,So g save that it substitutes a gloss ' those who are treasured up in it '. Cf. 4 Ezra vii. 32. tu are defective: ' Sheol shall give back that which has been entrusted to it, that which it has received.' β conflates g and tu. The earth gives up the body just as Sheol and Abaddon give up the soul. They are both reunited at the Resurrection that they may be judged together, according to Sanh. 91ᵃ. |
| And hellhell=destruction or Abaddon, Job xxvi. 6; Rev. ix. 10. Here the body rises, cf. lxii. 15, i-xxxvi, lxxxiii-xc. Also 2 Macc. vii. 9 seqq.; 2 Bar. xxx, l-li. 6; 4 Ezra vii. 32, 37. In xci-civ the soul and spirit rise. Cf. Pss. Sol. iii. 16, etc. shall give back that which it owes.Job 26:6Isa 26:21Rev 9:11Rev 20:13 |
|
5a For in those days the Elect One shall arise,[Luke 9:35] |
2 And he shall chooseMatt 25:32 the righteous and holy from among them: |
| For the day has drawn nighLuke 21:28 that they should be saved. |
|
3 And the Elect One[Luke 9:35] shall in those days sit on My throne, |
| And his mouth shall pour forth all the secrets of wisdom and counsel: |
| For the Lord of Spirits hath given (them) to him and hath glorified him. |
|
4 And in those days shall the mountains leapCf. Ps. cxiv. 4, 6; and for the whole verse cf. Test. 12 Patr. Levi xviii. 5.Ps 114:4Ps 114:6 like rams, |
| And the hills also shall skip like lambs satisfied with milk,Ps 114:4Ps 114:6 |
| And the faces of [all] the angels in heaven shall be lighted up with joy.Cf. Luke xv. 10. We can translate either 'the angels .. as to their faces' or 'the angels—their faces'.Luke 15:10 |
|
5b And the earth shall rejoice,Ps 39:3Ps 39:9Ps 39:11Ps 39:29Ps 39:34 |
c And the righteous shall dwell upon it, |
d And the elect shall walk thereon. |
|
LII. The Seven Metal Mountains and the Elect One.
Chapter 52<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The mountains, and the metals symbolize the future kingdoms of the world. In Dan. ii. 31-45 the metals have this meaning, but the mountain is the Messianic kingdom. This chapter, however, seems to contain two independent documents. In verses 1-4 the mountains serve to exalt the Messiah's dominion, in 5-9 they are destroyed before his presence. Again, verse 4 and verse 5 give two independent answers to verse 3. Of the two sources suggested by Beer for the Parables, verses 3-4 thus belong to the Son of Man source, verses 5-9 the Elect One source. Verses 1-2 are common to both sources.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Dan.2.31-Dan.2.45">Dan 2:31-45</reference></note>
1 And after those days in that place where I had seen all the visions of that which is hidden—for I had been carried off in a whirlwind and they had borne me towards the west—
2 There mine eyes saw all the secret things of heaven that shall be, a mountain of iron, and a mountain of copper, and a mountain of silver, and a mountain of gold, and a mountain of soft metal, and a mountain of lead.We expect seven mountains here. Five are given in lxvii. 4, and tin is added in lii. 8. Cf. Origen, Contra Celsum, vi. 22 for the gates of the seven metals in the mysteries of Mithra.
3 And I asked the angel who went with me, saying, ‘What things are these which I have seen in secret?’
4 And he said unto me: ‘All these things which thou hast seen shall serve the dominion of His Anointed that he may be potent and mighty on the earth.’These world powers show the Messiah's might by melting before him, as metals before the fire.
5 And that angel of peace answered, saying unto me: ‘Wait a little, and there shall be revealed unto thee all the secret things which surround the Lord of Spirits.
|
6 And these mountains which thine eyes have seen,No metal will avail as ransom or weapon. |
| The mountain of iron, and the mountain of copper, and the mountain of silver, |
| And the mountain of gold, and the mountain of soft metal, and the mountain of lead, |
| All these shall be in the presence of the Elect One |
| As wax before the fire,[Ps 97:5][Mic 1:3-4] |
| And like the water which streams down from above [upon those mountains], |
| And they shall become powerless before his feet. |
7 And it shall come to pass in those days that none shall be saved,[Zeph 1:18][Isa 13:7] |
| Either by gold or by silver, |
| And none be able to escape.[Ez 7:19] |
8 And there shall be no iron for war, |
| Nor shall one clothe oneself with a breastplate. |
| Bronze shall be of no service, |
| And tin [shall be of no service and] shall not be esteemed, |
| And lead shall not be desired. |
9 And all these things shall be [denied and] destroyed from the surface of the earth, |
| When the Elect One shall appear before the face of the Lord of Spirits.’ |
|
LIII—LIV. 6. The Valley of Judgement: the Angels of Punishment: the Communities of the Elect One.
Chapter 53<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The valley of Jehoshaphat, where God was to assemble and judge the Gentiles, Joel iii. 2, 12. In Joel Theodotion renders XXX and the Targ. Jon. 'plain of the decision of judgement'. The Midrash Mishle 68ᵈ holds that God will judge the whole world in this valley. Though usually identified with the Kidron, the valley originally had no locality assigned to it. See Encyc. Bib. ii. 2353.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Joel.3.2">Joel 3:2</reference></note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Joel.3.12">Joel 3:12</reference></note>
1 There mine eyes saw a deep valley with open mouths, and all who dwell on the earth and sea and islands shall bring to him gifts and presents and tokens of homage, but that deep valley shall not become full.1, 2. The presents and homage of the mighty ones avail not, as they are sinners and oppressors, and therefore torments await them.
|
2 And their hands commit lawless deeds, |
| And the sinners devour all whom they lawlessly oppress: |
| Yet the sinners shall be destroyed before the face of the Lord of Spirits, |
| And they shall be banished from off the face of His earth, |
| And they shall perish for ever and ever. |
3 For I saw all the angels of punishment abiding (there) and preparing all the instruments of Satan. |
|
4 And I asked the angel of peace who went with me: ‘For whom are they preparing these instruments?’
5 And he said unto me: ‘They prepare these for the kings and the mighty of this earth, that they may thereby be destroyed.
|
6 And after this the Righteous and Elect One[Acts 3:14] shall cause the house of his congregationSee xxxviii. 1 (note) = synagogue. Cf. Ps. lxxiv. 8.Ps 74:8 to appear: henceforth they shall be no more hindered in the name of the Lord of Spirits. |
7 And these mountains shall not stand as the earth before his righteousness,Cf. lii. 6, and Isa. lxiv. 3; Zech. iv. 7. There is a return to the figurative language of lii, where the mountains = the kingdoms of the earth.Isa 64:3Zech 4:7 |
| But the hills shall be as a fountain of water, |
| And the righteous shall have rest from the oppression of sinners.’ |
|
Chapter 54<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The writer passes from the valley of judgement and the fetters still in making to the valley of Gehenna where the kings are cast. The fallen angels and the kings are mentioned together as in Isa. xxiv. 21, 22.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Isa.24.21">Isa 24:21</reference></note>
1 And I looked and turned to another part of the earth, and saw there a deep valleyGehenna. See xlviii. 9 (note), and cf. lvi. 3, 4. This valley of Hinnom lay to the south of Jerusalem. with burning fire.
2 And they brought the kings and the mighty, and began to cast them into this deep valley.
3 And there mine eyes saw how they made these their instruments, iron chains of immeasurable weight.3-5. The first judgement of the Watchers, cf. x-xvi. The ’abyss’ here is only the preliminary place of punishment, cf. x. 5, 12.
4 And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: ‘For whom are these chains being prepared?’
5 And he said unto me: ‘These are being prepared for the hosts of Azâzêl,[Matt 25:41] so that they may take them and cast them into the abyss of complete condemnation, and they shall cover their jaws with rough stones as the Lord of Spirits commanded.
6 And Michael, and Gabriel, and Raphael, and Phanuel shall take hold of them on that great day, and cast them on that day into the burning furnace, that the Lord of Spirits may take vengeance on them for their unrighteousness in becoming subject to Satan and leading astray those who dwell on the earth.’Their second judgement.Note that in the Parables the guilt of the Watchers lay in becoming subject to Satan. Cf. xl. 7; Jubilees x. 8 seqq. and 5° > q,abcde.[Rev 13:14]
LIV. 7.-LV. 2. Noachic Fragment on the first World Judgement.
7 And in those days shall punishment come from the Lord of Spirits, and He will open all the chambers of waters which are above the heavens, and of the fountains which are beneath the earth.LIV. 7–LV. 2. Interpolated. A digression on the first world-judgement–the Deluge and so a Noachic fragment. Cf. xxxix. 1, 2ᵃ, liv. 7-lv. 2, lx, lxv-lxix. 25. These all (1) disturb the context; (2) claim to be by Noah lx. 7-11, 24, 25, lxv-lxviii. 1; (3) misunderstand the Parables, e.g. combine lii. 1, 2 with liv. 1; (4) give a definite date, lx. 1; (5) in lxviii. 2-5 contradict liv. 4-6, lv. 3, 4; (6) confuse the Satans and the fallen angels, lxix, and make Semjâzâ the leader, not Azâzêl; (7) misuse borrowed technical terms and phrases, lx. 11, 24, lxvii. 8, 10: also liv. 9, lv. 1, lx. 10, lxvi. 1; (8) use the Samaritan chronology, not that of the LXX, see lxv. 2 (note) Jubilees x. 13, xxi. 10 mention a Book of Noah, whence these passages were interpolated to supply Enoch's silence about the Flood.
8 And all the waters shall be joined with the waters: that which is above the heavens is the masculine, and the water which is beneath the earth is the feminine.In primitive Babylonian cosmology water = the primitive element or the original male and female elements.
9 And they shall destroy all who dwell on the earth and those who dwell under the ends of the heaven.
10 And when they have recognized their unrighteousness which they have wrought on the earth, then by these shall they perish.’
Chapter 55
1 And after that the Head of Days repentedGen 8:21 and said: ‘In vain have I destroyed all who dwell on the earth.’
2 And He sware by His great name: ‘Henceforth I will not do so to all who dwell on the earth, and I will set a sign in the heaven: and this shall be a pledge of good faith between Me and them for ever, so long as heaven is above the earth. And this is in accordance with My command.[Gen 9:13]
LV. 3-LVI. 4. Final Judgement of Azazel, the Watchers and their children.
3 When I have desired to take hold of them by the hand of the angels on the day of tribulation and pain because of this, I will cause My chastisement and My wrath to abide upon them, saith God, the Lord of Spirits.
4 Ye †mighty kings† who dwell on the earth, ye shall have to behold Mine Elect One,[Luke 9:35] how he sits on the throne of glory and judges Azâzêl, and all his associates, and all his hosts in the name of the Lord of Spirits.’The kings have to witness Azâzêl's judgement, and thence infer their own. Perhaps we should read ‘Ye kings and mighty’.
Chapter 56
1 And I saw there the hosts of the angels of punishment going, and they held scourges and chains of iron and bronze.LVI. 1-4. The Watchers and the demons are now judged. The demons, or 'beloved' (x. 12, xiv. 6), at last fill the valley. See liii. 1.
2 And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: ‘To whom are these who hold the scourges going?’
3 And he said unto me: ‘To their elect and beloved ones, that they may be cast into the chasm of the abyss of the valley.
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4 And then that valley shall be filled with their elect and beloved, |
| And the days of their lives shall be at an end, |
| And the days of their leading astray shall not thenceforward be reckoned. |
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LVI. 5-8. Last Struggle of the Heathen Powers against Israel.
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5 And in those days the angels shall return5-LVII. 3ᵃ. Another section from the 'Elect One' source (see p. 169) which depicts the last struggle of the heathen powers against the Messianic kingdom set up in Jerusalem, and would suit lxxxiii-xc or xci-civ, but not xxxvii-lxix, where we have a superhuman Messiah with universal dominion, legions of angels, and the immediate presence of the Almighty, destroying all his enemies with the breath of his mouth. Not only is there a break in the context here, but the Parables deal only in general terms and avoid names and clear indications of date. Not Jerusalem, as here, but a new heaven and earth will be the seat of the kingdom. The date seems clear. The Syrians ceased to be formidable after 100 B.C.: while the Romans are not referred to here. Thus the Elect One Source, if this section belongs to it, may be fixed as written between 100-64 B.C. |
| And hurl themselves to the east upon the Parthians and Medes:The Gentiles are stirred up, not by God directly as in Ezek. xxxviii. 14-17, but by angels, as in Dan. x. 13 seqq.Ez 38:14-17Dan 10:13 |
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| They shall stir up the kings, so that a spirit of unrest shall come upon them, |
| And they shall rouse them from their thrones, |
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| That they may break forth as lions from their lairs, |
| And as hungry wolves among their flocks. |
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6 And they shall go up and tread under foot the land of His elect ones, |
| [And the land of His elect ones shall be before them a threshing-floorIsa 21:10 and a highway:] |
7 But the city of my righteous shall be a hindrance to their horses.The attack fails, Zech. xii. 2, 3; the invaders disagree, Ezek. xxxviii. 21; Zech. xiv. 13; Hag. ii. 22, and destroy one another. Cf. c. 1-3.Ez 38:21Hag 2:22Zech 12:2-3Zech 14:13 |
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| And they shall begin to fight among themselves, |
| And their right hand shall be strong against themselves, |
|
| And a man shall not know his brother, |
| Nor a son his father or his mother, |
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| Till there be no number of the corpses through their slaughter, |
| And their punishment be not in vain. |
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8 In those days Sheol shall open its jaws,Num 16:31-33Isa 5:14 |
| And they shall be swallowed up therein, |
|
| And their destruction shall be at an end; |
| Sheol shall devour the sinners in the presence of the elect.’ |
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LVII. The Return from the Dispersion.
Chapter 57<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Dispersed Israel returns from east and west. Cf. Isa. xxvii. 13, xliii. 5, 6, xlix. 12, 22, 23.</note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Isa.27.13">Isa 27:13</reference></note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Isa.43.5-Isa.43.6">Isa 43:5-6</reference></note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Isa.49.12">Isa 49:12</reference></note><note type="crossReference"><reference osisRef="Isa.49.22-Isa.49.23">Isa 49:22-23</reference></note>
1 And it came to pass after this that I saw another host of wagons, and men riding thereon, and coming on the winds from the east, and from the west to the south.
2 And the noise of their wagons was heard, and when this turmoil took place the holy ones from heaven remarked it, and the pillars of the earth were movedHag 2:6-7Joel 3:16 from their place, and the sound thereof was heard from the one end of heaven to the other, in one day.
3 And they shall all fall down and worship the Lord of Spirits. And this is the end of the second Parable.
LVIII-LXXI. The Third Parable.
LVIII. The Blessedness of the Saints.
Chapter 58<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The third Parable begins. Much seems to have been lost, to make room for the Noachic fragments. As it stands, it embraces lviii, lxi-lxiv, lxix. 26-9. The main theme is the final judgement by the Son of Man, specially over the great ones, and the ensuing bliss of the righteous.</note>
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1 And I began to speak the third Parable concerning the righteous and elect. |
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2 Blessed are ye, ye righteous and elect, |
| For glorious shall be your lot.preserved for them by the Messiah xlviii. 7. |
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3 And the righteous shall be in the light of the sun, |
| And the elect in the light of eternal life:See xxxvii. 4 (note). Cf. Dan. xii. 2; Pss. Sol. iii. 16.Dan 12:2 |
| The days of their life shall be unending, |
| And the days of the holy without number. |
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4 And they shall seek the light and find righteousness with the Lord of Spirits: |
| There shall be peace to the righteous in the name of the Eternal Lord. |
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5 And after this it shall be said to the holy in heaven |
| That they should seek out the secrets of righteousness,i.e. their hidden recompense, as in xxxviii. 3, and xlviii. 7. They must still 'seek', and so their life is progressive. the heritage of faith: |
| For it has become bright as the sun upon earth, |
| And the darkness is past.[1John 2:8] |
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6 And there shall be a light that never endeth,emended for MSS. 'cannot be numbered'. |
| And to a limit (lit. ‘number’) of days they shall not come, |
| For the darkness shall first have been destroyed, |
| [And the light established before the Lord of Spirits] |
| And the light of uprightness established for ever before the Lord of Spirits. |
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LIX. The Lights and the Thunder.
Chapter 59<note type="x-footnote" n="1">An intrusion of the same class as xli. 3-8, xliii, xliv, probably from a Noah-Apocalypse.</note>
1 [In those days mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightnings, and of the lights, and the judgements they execute (lit. ‘their judgement’): and they lighten for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of Spirits willeth.Cf. Job xxxvi. 31, xxxvii. 5, 13, xxxviii. 24-7, for their ethical ends.Job 36:31Job 37:5Job 37:13Job 38:24-30
2 And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, and how when it resounds above in the heaven, the sound thereof is heard, and he caused me to see the judgements executed on the earth, whether they be for well-being and blessing, or for a curse according to the word of the Lord of Spirits.
3 And after that all the secrets of the lights and lightnings were shown to me, and they lighten for blessing and for satisfying.]Job 38:24-30
Book of Noah—a Fragment.
LX. Quaking of the Heaven: Behemoth and Leviathan: the Elements.
Chapter 60<note type="x-footnote" n="1">One of the Noachic fragments. See liv. 7 (note), also notes on lx. 1, 2, 6, 10, 11, etc.</note>
1 In the year 500,This date is drawn from Gen. v. 32, and is a date in the life of Noah, not of Enoch; so for ' Enoch ' read ' Noah'.Gen 5:32 in the seventh month,the eve of the Feast of Tabernacles according to the Levitical Law. on the fourteenth day of the month in the life of †Enoch†. In that Parable I saw how a mighty quaking made the heaven of heavens to quake, and the host of the Most High, and the angels, a thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, were disquieted with a great disquiet.
2 And the Head of Days sat on the throne of His glory, and the angels and the righteouscould hardly have been before God's throne before the Deluge, as few if any righteous had as yet died. stood around Him.
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3 And a great trembling seized me, |
| And fear took hold of me, |
| And my loins gave way,Ps 69:23Isa 45:1 |
| And dissolved were my reins, |
| And I fell upon my face. |
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4 And Michael sent another angel from among the holy ones and he raised me up, and when he had raised me up my spirit returned; for I had not been able to endure the look of this host, and the commotion and the quaking of the heaven.Cf. Dan. v. 6, viii. 17, x. 9, 10. Michael as chief archangel (xl. 4, 9) sends 'the angel of peace' (v. 24).Dan 5:6Dan 8:17-18Dan 10:9-10
5 And Michael said unto me: ‘Why art thou disquieted with such a vision? Until this day lasted the day of His mercy; and He hath been merciful and long-suffering towards those who dwell on the earth.
6 And when the day, and the power, and the punishment, and the judgement come, which the Lord of Spirits hath prepared for those who worship not the righteous law, and for those who deny the righteous judgement, and for those who take His name in vain—that day is prepared, for the elect a covenant, but for sinners an inquisition.’Cf. 4 Ezra vii. 37. The Deluge has here features belonging properly to the Messianic judgement of the Parables.
25 When the punishment of the Lord of Spirits shall rest upon them, it shall rest in order that the punishment of the Lord of Spirits may not come, in vain, and it shall slay the children with their mothers and the children with their fathers. Afterwards the judgement shall take place according to His mercyi.e. after the Deluge. Cf. Gen. viii. 21, 22; En. lx. 5 (note). There is a dittograph preceding this verse 'in order that the punishment of the Lord of Spirits may not be (bcx: 'may not come' e; all other MSS. omit negative and verb) in vain and may slay the children with their mothers and the children with their fathers'. Before the last sentence 'Afterwards,...' all MSS. insert another dittograph' when the punishment of the Lord of Spirits shall rest upon these'.Gen 8:21-22 and His patience.’
7 And on that dayi.e. Creation. were two monsters parted, a female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the abysses of the ocean over the fountainsGen 7:11Job 38:16 of the waters.7-10. A fragment dealing with Creation myths.This strange fancy about Behemoth and Leviathan occurs first in Job xl, xli, but Jewish expounders find it also in Gen. i. 21; Ps. l. 10; Isa. xxvii. 1. See 4 Ezra vi. 49-52; 2 Bar. xxix. 4, where these monsters are to be the food of the righteous in the Messianic age. See too Weber, Jud. Theol. 202, 389, 402.7-9, 24. Both 4 Ezra vi. 49-52 and 2 Bar. xxix. 4 seem to have drawn on our text.Gen 1:21Ps 50:10Job 40:1-41:34Isa 27:1
8 But the male is named Behemoth, who occupied with his breast a waste wilderness named †Dûidâin†,Cf. 'land of Nod' Gen. iv. 16. See Jewish Encyc. viii. 39.Gen 4:16 on the east of the gardenSee xxxii. 3 (note). Whether the earthly or the heavenly garden, it is empty in xxxii. 3-6, and the righteous dead are in the West xxii; it is the abode of the righteous and elect in Enoch's and Noah's times, lxi. 12, lx. 8, 23: of the earliest fathers in Enoch's time, lxx. 2-4; of Enoch and Elijah in Elijah's time, lxxxix. 52; of Enoch in lxv. 2 (see - note), and here. This passage (lx. 8) and the LXX are the oldest witnesses for the translation of Enoch into Paradise. Cf. Latin version of Sir. xliv. 16, Ethiopic of Gen. v. 24. See Weber, L.d.T. 251.Gen 5:24 where the elect and righteous dwell, where my grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam,Jude 1:14 the first man whom the Lord of Spirits created.
9 And I besought the other angel that he should show me the might of those monsters, how they were parted on one day and cast, the one into the abysses of the sea, and the other unto the dry land of the wilderness.
10 And he said to me: ‘Thou son of man, herein thou dost seek to know what is hidden.’
11 And the other angel who went with me and showed me what was hidden told me what is first and last in the heaven in the height, and beneath the earth in the depth, and at the ends of the heaven, and on the foundation of the heaven.11-13. A long account about physical secrets. The answer to v. 9 comes in v. 24 and is given by the angel of peace.
12 And the chambers of the winds, and how the winds are divided, and how they are weighed,Job 28:25 and (how) the portals of the winds are reckoned, each according to the power of the wind, and the power of the lights of the moon, and according to the power that is fitting: and the divisions of the stars according to their names, and how all the divisions are divided.The powers of nature are personified or regarded as conscious intelligences. Cf. Jubilees ii. 2 'angels of the spirit of fire', etc; Rev. vii. 1, 2, xiv. 18, xix. 17; Asc. Isa. iv. 18.Rev 7:1-2Rev 14:18Rev 19:17
13 And the thunders according to the places where they fall, and all the divisions that are made among the lightnings that it may lighten, and their host that they may at once obey.Job 37:1-5
14 For the thunder has †places of rest† (which) are assigned (to it) while it is waiting for its peal; and the thunder and lightning are inseparable, and although not one and undivided, they both go together through the spirit and separate not.
15 For when the lightning lightens, the thunder utters its voice, and the spirit enforces a pause during the peal, and divides equally between them; for the treasury of their peals is like the sand, and each one of them as it peals is held in with a bridle, and turned back by the power of the spirit, and pushed forward according to the many quarters of the earth.
16 And the spirit of the sea is masculine and strong, and according to the might of his strength he draws it back with a rein, and in like manner it is driven forward and disperses amid all the mountains of the earth.The ebb and flow of the sea, which is also supposed to supply the springs in the mountains
17 And the spirit of the hoar-frost is his own angel, and the spirit of the hail is a good angel.Hail often hurts, but yet is not in charge of a demon.
18 And the spirit of the snow has forsaken his chambers on account of his strength—There is a special spirit therein, and that which ascends from it is like smoke, and its name is frost.
19 And the spirit of the mist is not united with them in their chambers, but it has a special chamber; for its course is †glorious† both in light and in darkness, and in winter and in summer, and in its chamber is an angel.Unlike the previous phenomena, mist appears in all seasons, and by night and by day.
20 And the spirit of the dew has its dwelling at the ends of the heaven, and is connected with the chambers of the rain, and its course is in winter and summer: and its clouds and the clouds of the mist are connected, and the one gives to the other.The dew dwells at the ends of the heaven. Cf. xxxiv. 1,2; xxxvi. 1 and lxxv. 5.
21 And when the spirit of the rain goes forth from its chamber, the angels come and open the chamber and lead it out, and when it is diffused over the whole earth it unites with the water on the earth. And whensoever it unites with the water on the earth . . .The rain is so important for the well-being of man (Job xxxvii. 12, 13) that its spirit is not independent, but subordinated to the angels. Cf. Job xxviii. 26, xxxviii. 25-8.Job 37:12-13Job 28:26Job 38:25-34
22 For the waters are for those who dwell on the earth; for they are nourishment for the earth from the Most High who is in heaven: therefore there is a measure for the rain, and the angels take it in charge.
23 And these things I saw towards the Garden of the Righteous.
24 And the angel of peace who was with me said to me: ‘These two monsters, prepared conformably to the greatness of God, shall feed . . .goes back to v. 9. The angel of peace is out of place here. See vv. 4, 9, 11.
LXI. Angels go off to measure Paradise: the Judgement of the Righteous by the Elect One: the Praise of the Elect One and of God.
Chapter 61
1 And I saw in those days how long cords were given to those angels, and they took to themselves wingsonly assigned to angels in the latest books of the O.T. cf. 1 Chron. xxi. 16.1Kgsn 21:16 and flew, and they went towards the north.The true text of the Parables is resumed, but the opening verses are difficult.
2 And I asked the angel, saying unto him: ‘Why have those (angels) taken these cords and gone off?’ And he said unto me: ‘They have gone to measure.’
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3 And the angel who went with me said unto me:3-5. The measures and ropes seem to represent the nature of the ideal community of the righteous living and departed, and the union and communion of such with one another and with the Lord of Spirits.Belong to Son of Man source, as 'the angel who went with me' interprets. |
| ‘These shall bring the measures of the righteous, |
| And the ropes of the righteous to the righteous, |
| That they may stay themselves on the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever. |
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4 The elect shall begin to dwell with the elect, |
| And those are the measures which shall be given to faith |
| And which shall strengthen righteousness. |
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5 And these measures shall reveal all the secrets of the depths of the earth,The righteous alone rise here; in li. 1, 2 all Israel. |
| And those who have been destroyed by the desert, |
| And those who have been devoured by the beasts, |
| And those who have been devoured by the fish of the sea, |
| That they may return and stay themselves |
| On the day of the Elect One; |
| For none shall be destroyed before the Lord of Spirits, |
| And none can be destroyed. |
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6 And all who dwell above in the heaveni.e. the angels as in vv. 8, 10, 12, ix. 3, xlvii. 2. received a command and power and one voice and one light like unto fire. |
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7 And that One (with) their first words they blessed, |
| And extolled and lauded with wisdom, |
| And they were wise in utterance and in the spirit of life. |
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8 And the Lord of Spirits placed the Elect One on the throne of glory.Ps 110:1 |
| And he shall judge all the works of the holy above in the heaven, |
| And in the balance shall their deeds be weighed. |
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9 And when he shall lift up his countenance |
| To judge their secret ways according to the word of the name of the Lord of Spirits, |
| And their path according to the way of the righteous judgement of the Lord of Spirits, |
| Then shall they all with one voice speak and bless, |
| And glorify and extol and sanctify the name of the Lord of Spirits. |
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10 And He will summon all the host of the heavens, and all the holy ones above, and the host of God, the Cherubin, Seraphin and Ophannin,Cf. xiv. 11, 18, xx. 7, lxxi. 7. The Cherubim were primarily symbolic figures, the means of revealing or concealing God's presence, but here = an order of angels. Cf. Rev. v. 6; 2 En. xix. 6, xx. 1. The Seraphim served in His immediate presence. They are not classed together in O. T. The Ophannim (i.e. wheels) come from Ezek. i. 15. The Talmud classes them with Cherubim and Seraphim, Weber, Jüd. Theol. 168, 205.Ez 1:15Rev 5:6 and all the angels of power,[2Thess 1:7] and all the angels of principalities,Rom 8:38Eph 1:21Col 1:16 and the Elect One, and the other powers on the earth (and) over the water.
11 On that day shall raise one voice, and bless and glorify and exalt in the spirit of faith, and in the spirit of wisdom, and in the spirit of patience, and in the spirit of mercy, and in the spirit of judgement and of peace, and in the spirit of goodness, and shall all say with one voice: "Blessed is He,Rev 4:9Rev 4:11Rev 5:13 and may the name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed for ever and ever."The seven virtues of the praising angels. Cf. xlix. 3.
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12 All who sleep not above in heaven shall bless Him: |
| All the holy ones who are in heaven shall bless Him, |
| And all the elect who dwell in the garden of life: |
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| And every spirit of lighti.e. good spirit, human or angelic. Cf. cviii. 11; Luke xvi. 8.Luke 16:8 who is able to bless, and glorify, and extol, and hallow Thy blessed name, |
| And all flesh shall beyond measure glorify and bless Thy name for ever and ever. |
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13 For great is the mercy of the Lord of Spirits, and He is long-suffering, |
| And all His works and all that He has created |
| He has revealed to the righteous and elect |
| In the name of the Lord of Spirits.’ |
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LXII. Judgement of the Kings and the Mighty: Blessedness of the Righteous.
Chapter 62<note type="x-footnote" n="1">A long account of the judgement, esp. of the kings and mighty. Short accounts occur in xlvi. 4-8, xlviii. 8-10, liii-liv. 3. They behold the Messiah with anguish, and pray for mercy, but are carried off to torment. The righteous are glorified.</note>
1 And thus the Lord commanded the kings and the mighty and the exalted, and those who dwell on the earth, and said:
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| ‘Open your eyes and lift up your hornsPs 75:4 if ye are able to recognize the Elect One.’ |
2 And the Lord of Spirits seated himSo Dillmann emends for MSS. 'sat'. Cf. Isa. xi. 4.Isa 6:4 on the throne of His glory, |
| And the spirit of righteousness was poured out upon him, |
| And the word of his mouth slays all the sinners, |
| And all the unrighteous are destroyed from before his face. |
3 And there shall stand up in that day all the kings and the mighty, |
| And the exalted and those who hold the earth, |
| And they shall see and recognize |
| How he sits on the throne of his glory, |
| And righteousness is judged before him, |
| And no lying word is spoken before him. |
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4 Then shall pain come upon them as on a woman in travail,[Isa 13:8][Isa 21:3][Isa 26:17][1Thess 5:3] |
| [And she has pain in bringing forth] |
| When her child enters the mouth of the womb, |
| And she has pain in bringing forth. |
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5 And one portionIsa. xiii. 8. Cf. Wisdom v. 1 seqq.Isa 13:8 of them shall look on the other, |
| And they shall be terrified, |
| And they shall be downcast of countenance, |
| And pain shall seize them, |
| When they see that Son of Man |
| Sitting on the throne of his glory.[Matt 19:28]Matt 25:31Luke 22:30Rev 6:16 |
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6 And the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all,Dan 7:14 who was hidden.or 'that was hidden', i. e. the unseen universe.[Isa 45:15]
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7 For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden,6. 7. hidden. Cf. xlviii. 6, 7. Revealed by the Lord of Spirits to the elect, who thus became a congregation, the plant of righteousness of x. 16. |
| And the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might, |
| And revealed him to the elect. |
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8 And the congregation of the elect and holy shall be sown. |
| And all the elect shall stand before him on that day. |
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9 And all the kings and the mighty and the exalted and those who rule the earth |
| Shall fall down before him on their faces, |
| And worship and set their hope upon that Son of Man, |
| And petition him and supplicate for mercy at his hands. |
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10 Nevertheless that Lord of Spirits will so press them |
| That they shall hastily go forth from His presence, |
| And their faces shall be filled with shame, |
| And theCf. xlvi. 6; 4 Ezra vii. 55. grow deeper gt,β-f. Cf. Nah. ii. 10.[Nah 2:10] darkness grow deeper on their faces. |
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11 And He will deliver them to the angels for punishment, |
| To execute vengeance on them because they have oppressed His children and His elect |
12 And they shall be a spectacle for the righteous and for His elect: |
| They shall rejoice over them, |
| Because the wrath of the Lord of Spirits resteth upon them, |
| And His sword is drunkIsa 34:6 with their blood. |
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13 And the righteous and elect shall be saved on that day, |
| And they shall never thenceforward see the face of the sinners and unrighteous. |
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14 And the Lord of Spirits will abide over them,God Himself (Isa. lx. 19, 20; Zeph. iii. 15-17) and the Messiah (xxxix. 6, 7, xlv. 4) will dwell with the righteous and elect for ever.Isa 60:19-20Zeph 3:15-17 |
| And with that Son of Man shall they eat |
| And lie downZeph 3:13 and rise up for ever and ever.[Rev 3:20] |
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15 And the righteous and elect shall have risen from the earth, |
| And ceased to be of downcast countenance. |
| And they shall have been clothed with garments of glory,15. 16. garments of glory . . . of life. Cf 2 Cor. v. 3, 4; Rev. iii. 4, 5, 18, iv. 4, vi. 11, vii. 9, 13, 14; 4 Ezra ii. 39. 45; Herm. Sim. viii. 2, also 1 En. cviii. 12..2Cor 5:3-4Rev 3:4-5Rev 3:18Rev 4:4Rev 6:11Rev 7:9Rev 7:13-14 |
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16 And these shall be the garments of life from the Lord of Spirits: |
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| And your garments shall not grow old,Deut 8:4Deut 29:5 |
| Nor your glory pass away before the Lord of Spirits. |
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LXIII. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty.
Chapter 63<note type="x-footnote" n="1">A last despairing appeal by the kings and mighty. They justify God's judgement. Cf. Wisdom v. 3-8.</note>
1 In those days shall the mighty and the kings who possess the earth implore (Him) to grant them a little respite from His angels of punishment to whom they were delivered, that they might fall down and worship before the Lord of Spirits, and confess their sins before Him.
2 And they shall bless and glorify the Lord of Spirits, and say:They confess what before they denied, xlvi. 5.
|
| ‘Blessed is the Lord of Spirits and the Lord of kings, |
| And the Lord of the mighty and the Lord of the rich, |
| And the Lord of glory and the Lord of wisdom, |
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3 And splendid in every secret thing is Thy power from generation to generation, |
| And Thy glory for ever and ever: |
|
| Deep are all Thy secrets and innumerable, |
| And Thy righteousness is beyond reckoning. |
|
4 We have now learnt that we should glorify |
| And bless the Lord of kings and Him who is king over all kings.’ |
5 And they shall say: |
| ‘Would that we had rest to glorify and give thanks |
| And confess our faith before His glory! |
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6 And now we long for a little rest but find it not: |
| We follow hard upon and obtain (it) not: |
|
| And light has vanished from before us, |
| And darkness is our dwelling-place for ever and ever: |
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7 For we have not believed before Him |
| Nor glorified the name of the Lord of Spirits, [nor glorified our Lord] |
|
| But our hope was in the sceptre of our kingdom, |
| And in our glory. |
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8 And in the day of our suffering and tribulation He saves us not,No place of repentance when the final judgement has come. |
| And we find no respite for confession |
|
| That our Lord is true in all His works, and in His judgements and His justice, |
| And His judgements have no respect of persons.[Rom 2:11] |
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9 And we pass away from before His face on account of our works, |
| And all our sins are reckoned up in righteousness.’ |
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10 Now they shall say unto themselves: ‘Our souls are full of unrighteous gain,Luke 16:9Luke 16:11 but it does not prevent us from descending from the midst thereof into the †burden† of Sheol.’See my Commentary for a full discussion of this word's history. (1) The oldest view occurs in e.g. Job xxx. 23; Num. xvi. 30. It is the place appointed for all living, is beneath the earth, and is the land of destruction, forgetfulness, and silence. The individual does exist, but without joy or contact with God or man. Good and bad fare alike, but the family, and national and social distinctions of the world above are reproduced. Cf. the Homeric Hades. (2) In the second century B.C. the doctrine of future retribution and the Resurrection altered the conception to that of a place of reward, and also that of an intermediate state (cf. li.1). (3) Owing to the Resurrection being limited to the righteous, Sheol came to mean hell, or Gehenna, as the preliminary or permanent abode of wicked souls (lxiii. 10, xcix. 11). See Charles, The Doctrine of a Future Life,–passim.Riches avail not to save them. Cf. lii. 7, liii. 1, 2; Ps. xlix. 7-12.Num 16:30Job 30:23Ps 49:7-12
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11 And after that their faces shall be filled with darknessBousset suggests that this verse is an interpolation. It resembles lxii. 10. |
| And shame before that Son of Man, |
| And they shall be driven from his presence, |
| And the sword shall abide before his face in their midst. |
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12 Thus spake the Lord of Spirits: ‘This is the ordinance and judgement with respect to the mighty and the kings and the exalted and those who possess the earth before the Lord of Spirits.’
LXIV. Vision of the fallen Angels in the Place of Punishment.
Chapter 64<note type="x-footnote" n="1">A digression on the fallen angels, judged in the second Parable, liv. 3, etc., lv. 3, 4. It is out of the context here, as 'that place' in v. 1 cannot be Sheol referred to in lxiii. 10.</note>
1 And other forms I saw hidden in that place.
2 I heard the voice of the angel saying: ‘These are the angels who descended to the earth, and revealed what was hidden to the children of men and seduced the children of men into committing sin.’
LXV. Enoch foretells to Noah the Deluge and his own Preservation.
Chapter 65<note type="x-footnote" n="1">LXV–LXIX. 25. Professedly part of a Noah Apocalypse (see liv. 7), giving here three accounts (1) lxv. l-lxvii. 3, the coming Flood and Noah's escape; (2) lxvii. 4-lxix. 1, the fallen angels' punishment, and that of the kings and the mighty; (3) lxix. 2-25, the angels' fall and the secrets they disclosed.</note>
1 And in those days Noah saw the earth that it had sunk down and its destruction was nigh.Note that the vision is Noah's. It opens with a sinking of the earth here as with a quaking of the heavens in lx. 1.
2 And he arose from thence and went to the ends of the earth,i. e. where the entrance to heaven is. Cf. cvi. 8. and cried aloud to his grandfatherreally great-grandfather. Cf. lx. 8. Enoch: and Noah said three times with an embittered voice: ‘Hear me, hear me, hear me.’
3 And I said unto him: ‘Tell me what it is that is falling out on the earth that the earth is in such evil plight and shaken, lest perchance I shall perish with it?’
4 And thereupon there was a great commotion on the earth, and a voice was heard from heaven, and I fell on my face.
5 And Enoch my grandfather came and stood by me, and said unto me: ‘Why hast thou cried unto me with a bitter cry and weeping?
6 And a command has gone forth from the presence of the Lord concerning those who dwell on the earth that their ruin is accomplished because they have learnt all the secrets of the angels, and all the violence of the Satans, and all their powers—the most secret ones—and all the power of those who practise sorcery, and the power of witchcraft,Cf. vii. 1 , viii. 3. The Deluge is due to the corruption wrought through the angels. and the power of those who make molten images for the whole earth:
7 And how silver is produced from the dust of the earth, and how soft metal originates in the earth.
8 For lead and tin are not produced from the earth like the first: it is a fountain that produces them, and an angel stands therein, and that angel is pre-eminent.’
9 And after that my grandfather Enoch took hold of me by my hand and raised me up, and said unto me: ‘Go, for I have asked the Lord of Spirits as touching this commotion on the earth.
10 And He said unto me: “Because of their unrighteousness their judgement has been determined upon and shall not be withheld by Me for ever. Because of the sorceries which they have searched out and learnt, the earth and those who dwell upon it shall be destroyed.”
11 And these—they have no place of repentance for ever, because they have shown them what was hidden, and they are the damned: but as for thee, my son, the Lord of Spirits knows that thou art pure, and guiltless of this reproach concerning the secrets.
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12 And He has destined thy name to be among the holy,Noah is to found a new and righteous generation. |
| And will preserve thee amongst those who dwell on the earth, |
| And has destined thy righteous seed both for kingship and for great honours, |
| And from thy seed shall proceed a fountainDeut 33:28Ps 68:26 of the righteous and holy without number for ever.’ |
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LXVI. The Angels of the Waters bidden to hold them in Check.
Chapter 66
1 And after that he showed me the angels of punishmentThey deal solely with the second judgement in the Parables. Here they wrongly are said to be the agents of the Deluge, and angels over the power of the waters. See xl. 7 (note). Cf liv. 7 and lx. 16. Cf. Rev. xvi. 5.Rev 16:5 who are prepared to come and let loose all the powers of the waters which are beneath in the earth in order to bring judgement and destruction on all who [abide and] dwell on the earth.
2 And the Lord of Spirits gave commandment to the angels who were going forth, that they should not cause the watersText corruptly reads 'the hands'. The angels are to pause that the ark may be built. Cf. Rev. vii. 1 seqq.Rev 7:1 to rise but should hold them in check; for those angels were over the powers of the waters.
3 And I went away from the presence of Enoch.
LXVII. God’s Promise to Noah: Places of Punishment of the Angels and of the Kings.
Chapter 67
1 And in those days the word of God came unto me, and He said unto me: ‘Noah, thy lot has come up before Me, a lot without blame, a lot of love and uprightness.Gen 6:9
2 And now the angels are making a wooden (building), and when they have completed that task I will place My hand upon it and preserve it, and there shall come forth from it the seed of life, and a change shall set in so that the earth will not remain without inhabitant.In lxxxix. 1, Noah himself makes the ark.
3 And I will make fast thy seed before me for ever and ever, and I will spread abroad those who dwell with thee: it shall not be unfruitful on the face of the earth, but it shall be blessed and multiply on the earth in the name of the Lord.’
4 And He will imprison those angels, who have shown unrighteousness, in that burning valley which my grandfather Enoch had formerly shown to me in the westborrowed from lii. 1. It increases the geographical confusion. among the mountains of gold and silver and iron and soft metal and tin.LXVII. 4 – LXIX. 1. This section deals with the fallen angels' punishment. Characteristic features of the second judgement are here transferred to the first, and localities distinct in the parables are here confused, e.g. the burning valley of Gehenna is placed among the metal mountains (lxvii. 4), while in liv. 1 it is in 'another part of the earth'. 4. The Deluge and the judgement of the fallen angels are mentioned together here as in x. 2, 4, but here (1) the prison is the burning valley (= the Gehenna of liv, though there it is a furnace of fire that receives the angels), and (2) this is the preliminary prison, not the final.
5 And I saw that valley in which there was a great convulsion and a convulsion of the waters.5, 6. Features of the Deluge, and volcanic disturbances are combined, the latter connected with the angels' punishment.
6 And when all this took place, from that fiery molten metal and from the convulsion thereof in that place, there was produced a smell of sulphur, and it was connected with those waters, and that valley of the angels who had led astray (mankind) burned beneath that land.A subterranean fire was believed to exist under the Gehenna valley. Cf. xxvii. 1 (note). Cf. too the fate of Sodom.
7 And through its valleys proceed streams of fire, where these angels are punished who had led astray those who dwell upon the earth.[Rev 3:10]
8 But those waters shall in those daysthose of the writer. serve for the kings and the mighty and the exalted, and those who dwell on the earth, for the healing of the body, but for the punishment of the spirit;i.e. in the final judgement. now their spirit is full of lust, that they may be punished in their body,At present the sin of their spirit entails suffering on the body only, which is healed by the waters, but in Gehenna spirit and body alike will suffer. for they have denied the Lord of Spirits and see their punishment daily,i.e. can read their future torments in the present ones of the angels. and yet believe not in His name.The hot springs result from the meeting of the water and fire underground by which the angels were punished. Herod the Great resorted to such a spring, Callirhoe to the east of the Dead Sea, Joseph. Ant. xvii. 6, 5. Cf. the hot springs of Machaerus, Joseph. Bell. Iud. vii. 6. 3.
9 And in proportion as the burning of their bodies becomes severe, a corresponding change shall take place in their spirit for ever and ever; for before the Lord of Spirits none shall utter an idle word.The kings will repent under torment, but without avail.
10 For the judgement shall come upon them, because they believe in the lust of their body and deny the Spirit of the Lord.This phrase is unique in Enoch.
11 And those same waters will undergo a change in those days; for when those angels are punished in these waters, these water-springs shall change their temperature, and when the angels ascend, this water of the springs shall change and become cold.With the angel's departure the waters cool. Cf. Origen, c. Celsum v. 52.
12 And I heard Michael answering and saying: ‘This judgement wherewith the angels are judged is a testimony for the kings and the mighty who possess the earth.’
13 Because these waters of judgement minister to the healing of the body of the kings and the lust of their body; therefore they will not see and will not believe that those waters will change and become a fire which burns for ever.The waters heal now, and their healing virtue blinds the kings to the fire below which is reserved for their future torment. Cf. v. 8.
LXVIII. Michael and Raphael astonied at the Severity of the Judgement.
Chapter 68
1 And after that my grandfather Enoch gave me the teaching of all the secrets in the book in the Parables which had been given to him, and he put them together for me in the words of the book of the Parables.Note that the Parables already exist as a complete work in the hands of the redactor, who confesses to combining them with the Noah fragments. The meaning of this chapter is far from clear.
2 And on that day Michael answered Raphael and said: ‘The power of the spirit transports and makes me to tremble because of the severity of the judgement of the secrets,Perhaps the penalty for the secrets divulged by the Satans. the judgement of the angels: who can endure the severe judgement which has been executed, and before which they melt away?’This dialogue of Michael and Raphael sets forth the severity of the judgement over the fallen angels, or rather the Satans.
3 And Michael answered again, and said to Raphael: ‘Who is he whose heart is not softened concerning it, and whose reins are not troubled by this word of judgement (that) has gone forth upon them because of those who have thus led them out?’i. e. the Satans who seduced these angels.
4 And it came to pass when he stood before the Lord of Spirits, Michael said thus to Raphael: ‘I will not take their part under the eye of the Lord; for the Lord of Spirits has been angry with them because they do as if they were the Lord.Isa 14:11-13
5 Therefore all that is hidden shall come upon them for ever and ever; for neither angel nor man shall have his portion (in it), but alone they have received their judgement for ever and ever.’neither angel nor man suffers their torments, but these fallen angels alone.
LXIX. The Names and Functions of the (fallen Angels and) Satans: the secret Oath.
Chapter 69
1 And after this judgement they shall terrify and make them to tremble because they have shown this to those who dwell on the earth.
2 And behold the names of those angels [and these are their names: the first of them is Samjâzâ, the second Artâqîfâ, and the third Armên, the fourth Kôkabêl, the fifth †Tûrâêl†, the sixth Rûmjâl, the seventh Dânjâl, the eighth †Nêqâêl†, the ninth Barâqêl, the tenth Azâzêl, the eleventh Armârôs, the twelfth Batarjâl, the thirteenth †Busasêjal†, the fourteenth Hanânêl, the fifteenth †Tûrêl†, and the sixteenth Simâpêsîêl, the seventeenth Jetrêl, the eighteenth Tumâêl, the nineteenth Tûrêl, the twentieth †Rûmâêl†, the twenty-first †Azâzêl†.2, 3. I have bracketed 3 and most of 2 as an intrusion. These angels are those who fell in the days of Jared, but in V. 4 seqq. we have Satans. So perhaps read in 2 'behold the names of those Satans,' and go on to 4.The thirteenth is superfluous and not in vi. 7, where see note.
3 And these are the chiefs of their angels and their names, and their chief ones over hundreds and over fifties and over tens].
4 The name of the first Jeqon: that is, the one who led astray [all] the sons of God,[Job 38:7] and brought them down to the earth, and led them astray through the daughters of men.In the Parables the Satans and the fallen angels are distinguished. The latter fell in the days of Jared in i-xxxvi, and xci-civ. Here, however, the functions of the two are confused. Azâzêl causes all sin in i-xxxvi (x. 8), and Semjâzâ in vi. 3, ix. 7.
5 And the second was named Asbeel: he imparted to the holy sons of God evil counsel, and led them astray so that they defiled their bodies with the daughters of men.
6 And the third was named Gadreel:a Satan, as he led astray Eve. In viii. I it is Azâzêl that makes weapons of war. In Aramaic Gadreel = ' God is my helper' עדריאל. he it is who showed the children of men all the blows of death, and he led astray Eve, and showed [the weapons of death to the sons of men] the shield and the coat of mail, and the sword for battle, and all the weapons of death to the children of men.dittograph from end of verse.
7 And from his hand they have proceeded against those who dwell on the earth from that day and for evermore.
8 And the fourth was named Penemue:Cf. פנימי 'the inside'. he taught the children of men the bitter and the sweet, and he taught them all the secrets of their wisdom.
9 And he instructed mankind in writing with ink and paper, and thereby many sinned from eternity to eternity and until this day.9-10. The art of writing is a proof of the degeneracy of the human race. Word of mouth should be sufficient pledge for the righteous.
10 For men were not created for such a purpose, to give confirmation to their good faith with pen and ink.
11 For men were created exactly like the angels, to the intent that they should continue pure and righteous, and death, which destroys everything, could not have taken hold of them, but through this their knowledge they are perishing, and through this power †it is consuming me†.Perhaps read 'they are being consumed'.Man was originally righteous and immortal. Cf. Wisdom, i. 13, 14; ii. 23, 24. Cf Talmud, Weber, Jüd. Theol. 215, 216, 222, 248. He lost his uprightness and immortality through the devil's envy, Wisdom ii. 24; the evil knowledge introduced by the Satans or angels, 1 En. lxix. 11; his own evil act, 1 En. xcviii. 4.
12 And the fifth was named Kâsdejâ: this is he who showed the children of men all the wicked smitings of spirits and demons, and the smitings of the embryo in the womb, that it may pass away, and [the smitings of the soul] the bites of the serpent, and the smitings which befall through the noontide heat, the son of the serpent named Tabâ’êt.Cf. Ps. xci. 5, 6, and Rosenmüller's Scholia on these verses.Ps 91:5-6
13 And this is the †task† of Kâsbeêl, the chief of the oath which he showed to the holy ones when he dwelt high above in glory, and its name is Biqâ.
14 This (angel) requested Michael to show him the hidden name, that he might enunciate it in the oath, so that those might quake before that name and oath who revealed all that was in secret to the children of men.
15 And this is the power of this oath, for it is powerful and strong, and he placed this oath Akâe in the hand of Michael.
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16 And these are the secrets of this oath ... |
| And they are strong through his oath: |
| And the heaven was suspendedJob 26:7 before the world was created, |
| And for ever. |
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17 And through it the earth was founded upon the water,Ps 24:2Ps 136:62Pet 3:5 |
| And from the secret recesses of the mountains come beautiful waters,Ps 104:10Ps 104:13 |
| From the creation of the world and unto eternity. |
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18 And through that oath the sea was created, |
| And †as its foundation† He set for it the sandJer 5:22Job 26:10Ps 104:9 against the time of (its) anger, |
| And it dare not pass beyond it from the creation of the world unto eternity. |
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19 And through that oath are the depths made fast,Prov 8:28 |
| And abide and stir not from their place from eternity to eternity. |
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20 And through that oath the sun and moon complete their course, |
| And deviate not from their ordinance from eternity to eternity. |
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21 And through that oath the stars complete their course, |
| And He calls them by their names,[Ps 147:4] |
| And they answer Him from eternity to eternity. |
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22 [And in like manner the spirits of the water, and of the winds,[Rev 7:1] and of all zephyrs, and (their) paths from all the quarters of the winds.
23 And there are preserved the voices of the thunder and the light of the lightnings: and there are preserved the chambers of the hail and the chambers of the hoar-frost, and the chambers of the mist, and the chambers of the rain and the dew.
24 And all these believe and give thanks before the Lord of Spirits, and glorify (Him) with all their power, and their food is in every act of thanksgiving: they thank and glorify and extol the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.]
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25 And this oath is mighty over them, |
| And through it [they are preserved and] their paths are preserved, |
| And their course is not destroyed. |
|
Close of the Third Parable.
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26 And there was great joy amongst them,26-29. These verses form the conclusion of the third Parable; we have returned to its main theme. |
| And they blessed and glorified and extolled |
| Because the name of that Son of Man had been revealed unto them.Rev 2:17Rev 3:12 |
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27 And he sat on the throne of his glory, |
| And the sumi.e. all Judgement. Cf. John v. 22, 27. For 'sum' cf. ראש in Ps. cxxxix. 17John 5:22John 5:27Ps 139:17 of judgement was given unto the Son of Man, |
| And he caused the sinnersesp. the mighty ones in the Parables, though in general also, cf. xxxviii. 1, 2, 3. xli. 2, xlv. 2, 5, 6, [L 2] liii. 2, 7, lxii. 2, 13. to pass away and be destroyed from off the face of the earth, |
| And those who have led the world astray. |
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28 With chains shall they be bound, |
| And in their assemblage-place of destruction shall they be imprisoned, |
| And all their works vanish from the face of the earth. |
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29 And from henceforth there shall be nothing corruptible; |
| For that Son of Man has appeared, |
| And has seated himself on the throne of his glory,[Matt 19:28][Matt 25:31] |
| And all evil shall pass away before his face, |
| And the word of that Son of Man shall go forth |
|
| And be strong before the Lord of Spirits. |
| This is the third Parable of Enoch. |
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LXX. The final Translation of Enoch.
Chapter 70<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The writer awkwardly makes Enoch describe his own translation. Otherwise this chapter is in keeping with the Parables.</note>
1 And it came to pass after this that his name during his lifetime was raised aloft to that Son of ManNote the actual pre-existence of the Son of Man here. Cf. xlviii. 2 (note), and xlvi. 2 (note). and to the Lord of Spirits from amongst those who dwell on the earth.
2 And he was raised aloft on the chariotsCf. 2 Kings ii. 11. For Enoch's translation cf. lxxxvii. 3, 4, lxxxix. 52.2Kgs 2:11 of the spirit and his name vanished among them.
3 And from that day I was no longer numbered amongst them: and he set me between the two winds, between the North and the West, where the angels took the cords to measure for me the place for the elect and righteous.
4 And there I saw the first fathers and the righteous who from the beginning dwell in that place.Paradise already contains his righteous forefathers. Cf. lxi. 12.
LXXI. Two earlier Visions of Enoch.
Chapter 71<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Seems to belong to the Parables. There are two visions in this chapter: (1) verses 1-4. Enoch is translated in spirit to the heavens, has a vision of God, and is shown by Michael the secrets of the spiritual and physical worlds. (2) verses 5-17. Again Enoch is translated in spirit to the heaven of heavens and has a vision of God's house, without Michael's guidance. Both visions should come before lxx, which describes the translation of 'his name', i.e. his final translation.</note>
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1 And it came to pass after this that my spirit was translated1-4. The first vision.Heb 11:5 |
| And it ascended into the heavens: |
| And I saw the holy sons of God.Text has 'sons of the holy angels'. See lxix. 4 (note), 5, cvi. 5. The expression 'sons of Elohim' in Gen. vi. is the source of this phrase.[Gen 6:2][Gen 6:4] |
| They were stepping on flames of fire: |
| Their garments were white [and their raiment], |
| And their faces shone like snow. |
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2 And I saw two streams of fire,Cf. xiv. 19; Dan. vii. 10, also vv. 1, 5, 6 here.Dan 7:10 |
| And the light of that fire shone like hyacinth, |
| And I fell on my face before the Lord of Spirits. |
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3 And the angel Michael [one of the archangels] seized me by my right hand, |
| And lifted me up and led me forth into all the secrets, |
| And he showed meAll MSS. but u prefix 'and he showed me all (>β) the secrets of mercy'. As 'mercy' is an alternative rendering for 'righteousness', this is a dittography. all the secrets of righteousness. |
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4 And he showed me all the secrets of the ends of the heaven,Physical secrets here as in xli. 3-8, xliii, xliv occur in contexts of an entirely ethical character. |
| And all the chambers of all the stars, and all the luminaries, |
| Whence they proceed before the face of the holy ones. |
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5 And he translated my spirit into the heaven of heavens,5-17. The second vision.[Ps 148:4][Heb 11:5] |
| And I saw there as it were a structure built of crystals, |
| And between those crystals tongues of living fire. |
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6 And my spirit saw the girdle which girt that house of fire, |
| And on its four sides were streams full of living fire, |
| And they girt that house. |
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7 And round about were Seraphin, Cherubin, and Ophannin:[Ez 1:13] |
| And these are they who sleep not |
| And guard the throne of His glory. |
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8 And I saw angels who could not be counted, |
| A thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand, |
| Encircling that house. |
|
| And Michael, and Raphael, and Gabriel, and Phanuel, |
| And the holy angels who are above the heavens, |
| Go in and out of that house. |
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9 And they came forth from that house, |
| And Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, |
| And many holy angels without number. |
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10 And with them the Head of Days,See xlvi. 1 (note); Dan. vii. 9.Dan 7:9 |
| His head white and pure as wool,[Rev 1:14] |
| And His raiment indescribable. |
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11 And I fell on my face, |
| And my whole body became relaxed, |
| And my spirit was transfigured; |
|
| And I cried with a loud voice, |
| . . . with the spirit of power, |
| And blessed and glorified and extolled. |
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12 And these blessings which went forth out of my mouth were well pleasing before that Head of Days.
13 And that Head of Days came with Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, thousands and ten thousands of angels without number. [Lost passage wherein the Son of Man was described as accompanying the Head of Days, and Enoch asked one of the angels (as in xlvi. 3) concerning the Son of Man as to who he was.]
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14 And he (i.e. the angel) came to me and greeted me with His voice, and said unto me:14-16. Owing to the loss of a reference to the Son of Man, some scribe has altered third to second persons in 14, 16, but not in 17, or 15. |
| ‘This is the Son of Man who is born unto righteousness,See xlvi. 3 (note) for this attribute of the Son of Man. |
| And righteousness abides over him, |
| And the righteousness of the Head of Days forsakes him not.’ |
15 And he said unto me: |
| ‘He proclaims unto thee peaceCf. Mic. iii. 5; Zech. ix. 10; Isa. lvii. 7.Mic 3:5Zech 9:10Isa 52:7 in the name of the world to come;the Messianic kingdom. Earliest use of the phrase. See Dalman, Worte Jesu, 120 seqq. |
| For from hence has proceeded peace since the creation of the world, |
| And so shall it be unto thee for ever and for ever and ever. |
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16 And all shall walk in his ways since righteousness never forsaketh him: |
| With him will be their dwelling-places, and with him their heritage, |
| And they shall not be separated from him for ever and ever and ever. |
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17 And so there shall be length of days with that Son of Man,Note on 14-17. I do not hold, as Bousset, Rel. des Jud. 348, Dalman, Worte Jesu 200, that our text elevates Enoch to the dignity of the Messiah. Bousset quotes 2 En. xxii. 6, lxvii. 2; Targ. Jon. on Gen. v. 24; Ps. Clem. Hom. xviii. 13; Recog. ii. 47.Gen 5:24 |
| And the righteous shall have peace and an upright way |
| In the name of the Lord of Spirits[Heb 12:9] for ever and ever.’ |
|
Section III.
Chapters LXXII-LXXXII.
The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries.
LXXII. The Sun.
Chapter 72
1 The book of the courses of the luminaries of the heaven, the relations of each, according to their classes, their dominion and their seasons, according to their names and places of origin,i.e. rising. and according to their months, which Uriel, the holy angel, who was with me, who is their guide, showed me; and he showed me all their laws exactly as they are, and how it is with regard to all the years of the world and unto eternity, till the new creationCf. xlv. 4, xci. 15, 16; Isa. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22; 2 Pet. iii. 3, 13; Rev. xxi. 1; also the Yasts xiii. 57-58 (S.B.E. xxiii. 194).Isa 65:17Isa 66:222Pet 3:13Rev 21:1 is accomplished which dureth till eternity.
2 And this is the first law of the luminaries: the luminary the Sun has its rising in the eastern portalsSee Babylonian Creation Epos v. 9; K.A.T³ 619, 630. Cf. xxxiii-xxxvi for portals of winds and stars. In lxxii-lxxxii, sun, moon, and stars pass through the same portals, but in xxxiii-xxxvi the stars' portals are small, while in lxxii. 6 one of the sun’s portals is called 'great'. of the heaven, and its setting in the western portals of the heaven.Here begins an account of the sun in its progress through the signs of the zodiac, and the resultant increase and decrease of the days and nights.
3 And I saw six portals in which the sun rises, and six portals in which the sun sets: and the moon rises and sets in these portals, and the leaders of the stars and those whom they lead: six in the east and six in the west, and all following each other in accurately corresponding order: also many windows to the right and leftright and left = south and north. of these portals.
4 And first there goes forth the great luminary, named the Sun, and his circumferencea disk or a sphere. Cf. lxxiii. 2, lxxviii. 3, also xviii. 4, lxxiii. 4. is like the circumference of the heaven, and he is quite filled with illuminating and heating fire.
5 The chariotCf. lxxiii. 2. lxxv. 3, 8; driven by the wind xviii. 4, lxxviii. 2. on which he ascends, the wind drives, and the sun goes down from the heaven and returns through the north in order to reach the east, and is so guidedpossibly by an angel. The sun is not, as the heavenly bodies are in i-xxxvi, semi-conscious. that he comes to the appropriate (lit. ‘that’) portal and shines in the face of the heaven.
6 In this way he rises in the first monthof the Hebrews, i.e. Abib (Exod. xiii. 4), the time of the spring equinox. It began the ecclesiastical year and corresponds to our April.Exod 13:4 in the great portal,6, 7. the great portal, so distinguished from the twelve window-openings of each portal (lxxii. 3, lxxv. 7), with their heat-giving flames. which is the fourth [those six portals in the east].
7 And in that fourth portal from which the sun rises in the first month are twelve window-openings, from which proceed a flame when they are opened in their season.
8 When the sun rises in the heaven, he comes forth through that fourth portal thirty mornings in succession, and sets accurately in the fourth portal in the west of the heaven.The author replaces the heathen signs of the zodiac by portals, cf. the 'chamber' of Ps. xix. 5. Though well aware of a solar year of 365¼ - days, he reckons it as consisting of 364 days, or 52 sabbaths of days. Thus he has eight months of 30 days, and four of 31 days each, the extra day in the latter being 'on account of the sign', i. e. that of the equinoxes or solstices. Cf. lxxii. 13, 19. The division into eighteen parts of the day suits northern Asia at a latitude of 49°.[Ps 19:5]
9 And during this period the day becomes daily longer and the night nightly shorter to the thirtieth morning.
10 On that day the day is longer than the night by a ninth part, and the day amounts exactly to ten parts and the night to eight parts.
11 And the sun rises from that fourth portal, and sets in the fourth and returns to the fifth portal of the east thirty mornings, and rises from it and sets in the fifth portal.
12 And then the day becomes longer by †two†Read 'one'. parts and amounts to eleven parts, and the night becomes shorter and amounts to seven parts.
13 And it returns to the east and enters into the sixth portal, and rises and sets in the sixth portal one-and-thirty mornings on account of its sign.i.e. the summer solstice here, cf. v. 19, lxxv. 3, lxxviii. 7.
14 On that day the day becomes longer than the night, and the day becomes double the night, and the day becomes twelve parts, and the night is shortened and becomes six parts.
15 And the sun mounts upto start on his return journey to the first portal. to make the day shorter and the night longer, and the sun returns to the east and enters into the sixth portal, and rises from it and sets thirty mornings.
16 And when thirty mornings are accomplished, the day decreases by exactly one part, and becomes eleven parts, and the night seven.
17 And the sun goes forth from that sixth portal in the west, and goes to the east and rises in the fifth portal for thirty mornings, and sets in the west again in the fifth western portal.
18 On that day the day decreases by †two†Read 'one'. parts, and amounts to ten parts and the night to eight parts.
19 And the sun goes forth from that fifth portal and sets in the fifth portal of the west, and rises in the fourth portal for one-and-thirty mornings on account of its sign, and sets in the west.
20 On that day the day is equalized with the night, [and becomes of equal length],[and . . . length], a duplicate rendering. and the night amounts to nine parts and the day to nine parts.
21 And the sun rises from that portal and sets in the west, and returns to the east and rises thirty mornings in the third portal and sets in the west in the third portal.
22 And on that day the night becomes longer than the day, and night becomes longer than night, and day shorter than day till the thirtieth morning, and the night amounts exactly to ten parts and the day to eight parts.
23 And the sun rises from that third portal and sets in the third portal in the west and returns to the east, and for thirty mornings rises in the second portal in the east, and in like manner sets in the second portal in the west of the heaven.
24 And on that day the night amounts to eleven parts and the day to seven parts.
25 And the sun rises on that day from that second portal and sets in the west in the second portal, and returns to the east into the first portal for one-and-thirty mornings, and sets in the first portal in the west of the heaven.
26 And on that day the night becomes longer and amounts to the double of the day: and the night amounts exactly to twelve parts and the day to six.
27 And the sun has (therewith) traversed the divisions of his orbit and turns again on those divisions of his orbit, and enters that portal thirty mornings and sets also in the west opposite to it.
28 And on that night has the night decreased in length by a †ninth† part, and the night has become eleven parts and the day seven parts.
29 And the sun has returned and entered into the second portal in the east, and returns on those his divisions of his orbit for thirty mornings, rising and setting.
30 And on that day the night decreases in length, and the night amounts to ten parts and the day to eight.
31 And on that day the sun rises from that portal, and sets in the west, and returns to the east, and rises in the third portal for one-and-thirty mornings, and sets in the west of the heaven.
32 On that day the night decreases and amounts to nine parts, and the day to nine parts, and the night is equal to the day and the year is exactly as to its days three hundred and sixty-four.
33 And the length of the day and of the night, and the shortness of the day and of the night arise—through the course of the sun these distinctions are made (lit. ‘they are separated’).
34 So it comes that its course becomes daily longer, and its course nightly shorter.
35 And this is the law and the course of the sun, and his return as often as he returns sixtyi.e. two months in each portal, one month on his northward and one month on his southward journey. The author disregards for the time being the extra day in the first, third, fourth, and sixth portals. times and rises, i.e. the great luminary which is named the sun, for ever and ever.
36 And that which (thus) rises is the great luminary, and is so named according to its appearance, according as the Lord commanded.
37 As he rises, so he sets and decreases not, and rests not, but runs day and night, and his light is sevenfold brighterCf. lxxiii. 2, lxxviii. 4. Also cf. Isa. xxx. 26.Isa 30:26 than that of the moon; but as regards sizeSo Lucretius believed, De Rer. Nat. v. 564-91. they are both equal.
LXXIII. The Moon and its Phases.
Chapter 73<note type="x-footnote" n="1">This chapter and LXXIV treat of the moon's course.</note>
1 And after this law I saw another law dealing with the smaller luminary, which is named the Moon.
2 And her circumference is like the circumference of the heaven, and her chariot in which she rides is driven by the wind, and light is given to her in (definite) measure.
3 And her rising and settingi.e. the place of her rising and setting. change every month: and her days are like the days of the sun, and when her light is uniform (i.e. full) it amounts to the seventh part of the light of the sun.
4 And thus she rises. And her first phaselit. 'her beginning', i.e. the new moon in the popular sense, in the first day of the visible reappearance. in the east comes forth on the thirtieth morning:of the solar month. and on that day she becomes visible, and constitutes for you the first phase of the moon on the thirtieth day together with the sun in the portal where the sun rises.
5 And the one half of her goes forth by a seventh part, and her whole circumference is empty, without light, with the exception of one-seventh partgqu. 'of the fourteenth part' mt,β. +'oi half'g, needlessly, as the fractions are fractions of half in this verse and the next. of it, (and) the fourteenth part of her light.5-8. The author's scheme is hard to follow. Apparently the lunar month amounts to 30 days and 29 days alternately, and is divided into two parts. During the first part the moon waxes from new moon to full moon in 14 days when the month is 29 days, and in 15 when the month is 30 days. During the second part it always wanes in 15 days. Again the moon is divided into fourteen parts, i.e. each half surface into seven parts, and the waxing of the moon is due to the successive lighting up of each fourteenth part. Verses 5, 6 suppose the period from new to full moon to be 14 days, verse 7 supposes it to be 15 days.
6 And when she receives one-seventh part²° gmqu,d. 'the thirteenth part ' t,l. 'the fourteenth part' β-dklo. Apparently 1⁄7 + 1⁄14 of 1⁄2=3⁄28 of the whole moon are lighted the first day when there are only 14 days to the full moon. of the half of her light, her light amounts to one-seventh part and the half thereof.
7 And she sets with the sun, and when the sun rises the moon rises with him and receives the half of one part of light,i.e. one twenty-eighth. When the waxing takes 15 days, the moon only receives one twenty-eighth part, and so is practically invisible, the first morning: on the second day she attains to one-fourteenth, and becomes visible. and in that night in the beginning of her morning [in the commencement of the lunar day] the moon sets with the sun, and is invisible that night with the fourteen parts and the half of one of them.
8 And she rises on that day with exactly a seventh part, and comes forth and recedes from the rising of the sun, and in her remaining days she becomes bright in the (remaining) thirteen parts.
LXXIV. The Lunar Year.
Chapter 74<note type="x-footnote" n="1">This chapter deals with the moon's waxing and waning, her monthly change of position with regard to the signs and the sun, and the difference between lunar and solar years.</note>
1 And I saw another course, a law for her, (and) how according to that law she performs her monthly revolution.
2 And all these Uriel, the holy angel who is the leader of them all,i.e. the moon's phases. showed to me, and their positions, and I wrote down their positions as he showed them to me, and I wrote down their months as they were, and the appearance of their lights till fifteen daysi.e. between conjunction and full moon. were accomplished.
3 In single seventh parts she accomplishes all her light in the east, and in single seventh parts accomplishes all her darkness in the west.
4 And in certain months she alters her settings, and in certain months she pursues her own peculiarindependent of the sun. course.
5 In two months the moon sets with the sun: in those two middle portals the third and the fourth.5, 6. During two months the moon sets with the sun as new moon and as full moon. When the sun is in Aries and Libra the new moon and the full moon are in the third and fourth portals. In verse 6 the moon goes forth as it waxes from the third portal to the first in 7 days, turns about and returns to the portal where the sun rises, i.e. the third, in 7 or 8 days, and there becomes full moon, and proceeds thence through the fourth and fifth to the sixth portal, where she arrives after 8 days. Thence she returns to the third portal in 7 days.
6 She goes forth for seven days, and turns about and returns again through the portal where the sun rises, and accomplishes'and in that accomplishes' t²,β. all her light: and she recedes from the sun, and in eight days enters the sixth portal from which the sun goes forth.
7 And when the sun goes forth from the fourth portal she goes forth seven days, until she goes forth from the fifth and turns back again in seven days into the fourth portal and accomplishes all her light: and she recedes and enters into the first portal in eight days.
8 And she returns again in seven days into the fourth portal from which the sun goes forth.
9 Thus I saw their position—how the moons rose and the sun set in those days.a-g. 'according to the order of their moons the sun rising and setting' q,β.
10 And if five years are added together the sun has an overplus of thirty days, and all the days which accrue to it for one of those five years, when they are full, amount to 364 days.10, 11. The difference between the lunar and the solar year. The lunar year has 354 days (see lxxviii. 15). The solar year has 12 months of 30 days, or 360, and also 4 intercalary days in the equinoxes and solstices, in all 364 days (lxxiv. 10, 12). In verses 10ᵃ and 11 these intercalary days are neglected, and so the solar year has only 360 days, or 6 days more than the lunar.
11 And the overplus of the sun and of the stars amounts to six days: in 5 years 6 days every year come to 30 days: and the moont²,β: ɑ has transposed the word to the next sentence, as subject to 'bring in'. falls behind the sun and stars to the number of 30 days.
12 And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days.Accuracy of the solar and sidereal time-division. Jubilees vi. 32-6 protests against the use of the lunar year.
13 In 3 years there are 1,092 days, and in 5 years 1,820 days, so that in 8 years there are 2,912 days.13-16. Merely seem to assert that the solar year of 364 days exceeds the lunar of 354 by 10 days. But why should eight years be referred to? The author seems to have in mind the eight-year cycle or octaetris, which, however, allowed for 365¼ days in the solar year. See special Introduction to lxxii-lxxxii, p. 150 in my new Commentary.
14 For the moon alone the days amount in 3 years to 1,062 days, and in 5 years she falls 50 days behind: [i.e. to the sum (of 1,770) there is to be added (1,000 and) 62 days.]The totals for 3 and 5 years are added together to give the total for 8 years. (1062 + 1770 = 2832.) The brackets indicate a marginal gloss. (1,000 and) found only in the margin of c.
15 And in 5 years there are 1,770 days, so that for the moon the days in 8 years amount to 2,832 days.
16 [For in 8 years she falls behind to the amount of 80 days], all the days she falls behind in 8 years are 80.[ ] a doublet.
17 And the year is accurately completed in conformity with their world-stations and the stations of the sun, which rise from the portals through which it (the sun) rises and sets 30 days.
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Chapter 75<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The intercalary days, the stars, and the sun.</note>
1 And the leaders of the heads of the thousands, who are placed over the whole creation and over all the stars, have also to do with the four intercalary days, being inseparable from their office, according to the reckoning of the year, and these render service on the four days which are not reckonedThe popular reckoning was 360 days to the year. Cf. lxxxii. 5. in the reckoning of the year.The four intercalary days are under charge of the highest stars, the leaders of the heads of ten thousands. See lxxxii. 11, 12.
2 And owing to them men go wrong therein, for those luminaries truly render service on the world-stations, one in the first portal, one in the third portal of the heaven, one in the fourth portal, and one in the sixth portal, and the exactness of the year is accomplished through its separate three hundred and sixty-four stations.Men reckon wrongly, by omitting these intercalary days, lxxxii. 4-6.
3 For the signsi.e. of the Zodiac, lxxii. 13, 19. and the times and the years and the days the angel Uriel showed to me, whom the Lord of glory hath set for ever over all the luminaries of the heaven, in the heaven and in the world, that they should rule on the face of the heaven and be seen on the earth, and be leaders for the day and the night, i.e. the sun, moon, and stars, and all the ministering creatures which make their revolution in all the chariots of the heaven.These days are, however, real. Uriel showed them to Enoch. Cf. lxxii. 1.
4 In like manner twelve doors Uriel showed me, open in the circumference of the sun’s chariot in the heaven, through which the rays of the sun break forth: and from them is warmth diffused over the earth, when they are opened at their appointed seasons.The variation in the sun's heat is explained by the twelve openings in the disk of the sun.
5 [And for the winds and the spirit of the dew† when they are opened, standing open in the heavens at the ends.]An intrusion. The first clause is unintelligible, the second 'when they' etc. seems to be a dittograph of the last clause in 4 and the first in 5.
6 As for the twelve portals in the heaven, at the ends of the earth, out of which go forth the sun, moon, and stars, and all the works of heaven in the east and in the west,6, 7. Adjoining each one of the sun’s twelve portals are twelve windows open to the left and right of them. Cf. lxxii. 3, 7. These diffuse warmth over the earth, one being open at a time, and all differing in heating power.6. This verse begins in ɑ with a dittograph 'when they are opened' from v. 4. (β inserts 'I saw', thus altering 'twelve portals' from a nominativus pendens into the acc. But Enoch had been viewing them since lxxii.
7 There are many windows open to the left and right of them, and one window at its (appointed) season produces warmth, corresponding (as these do) to those doors from which the stars come forth according as He has commanded them, and wherein they set corresponding to their number.
8 And I saw chariots in the heaven, running in the world, above those portals in which revolve the stars that never set.
9 And one is largerPerhaps the Great Bear. than all the rest, and it is that that makes its course through the entire world.
LXXVI. The Twelve Winds and their Portals.
Chapter 76<note type="x-footnote" n="1">A detailed account of the twelve portals of the winds and the nature of the winds which issue therefrom. Cf. xxxiii-xxxvi.</note>
1 And at the ends of the earth I saw twelve portals open to all the quarters (of the heaven), from which the winds go forth and blow over the earth.
2 Three of them are open on the face (i.e. the east) of the heavens, and three in the west, and three on the right (i.e. the south) of the heaven, and three on the left (i.e. the north).
3 And the three first are those of the east, and three are of †the north, and three [after those on the left] of the south†, and three of the west.
4 Through four of these come winds of blessing and prosperity, and from those eight come hurtful winds: when they are sent, they bring destruction on all the earth and on the water upon it, and on all who dwell thereon, and on everything which is in the water and on the land.Through the four portals come beneficial winds, i.e. the middle of the three in each quarter. For the hurtful winds cf. Rev. vii. 1 seqq.[Rev 7:1-3]
5 And the first wind from those portals, called the east wind, comes forth through the first portal which is in the east, inclining towards the south: from it come forth desolation, drought, heat, and destruction.5-6. Winds from the east, i.e. ESE., E., ENE.
6 And through the second portal in the middle comes what is fitting, and from it there come rain and fruitfulness and prosperity and dew; and through the third portal which lies toward the north come cold and drought.
7 And after these come forth the south winds through three portals: through the first portal of them inclining to the east comes forth a hot wind.
8 And through the middle portal next to it there come forth fragrant smells, and dew and rain, and prosperity and health.
9 And through the third portal lying to the west come forth dew and rain, locusts and desolation.
10 And after these the north winds: from the seventh portal in the east come dew and rain, locusts and desolation.10-11. NEN., N., NWN. winds.MSS. adds a gloss 'which is named the sea and which came forth'.
11 And from the middle portal come in a direct direction health and rain and dew and prosperity; and through the third portal in the westMSS. add ' which inclines to the north'. come cloud and hoar-frost, and snow and rain, and dew and locusts.Read perhaps 'what is fitting'. See v. 6 (note).
12 And after these [four] are the west winds: through the first portal adjoining the north come forth dew and hoar-frost, and cold and snow and frost.12-13. WNW., W., WSW. winds.
13 And from the middle portal come forth dew and rain, and prosperity and blessing; and through the last portal which adjoins the south come forth drought and desolation, and burning and destruction.
14 And the twelve portals of the four quarters of the heaven are therewith completed, and all their laws and all their plagues and all their benefactions have I shown to thee, my son Methuselah.
LXXVII. The Four Quarters of the World: the Seven Mountains, the Seven Rivers, etc.
Chapter 77
1 And the first quarter is called the east, because it is the first: and the second, the south, because the Most High will descend there, yea, there in quite a special sense will He who is blessed for ever descend.Rom 9:52Cor 11:31
2 And the west quarter is named the diminished, because there all the luminaries of the heaven wane and go down.
3 And the fourth quarter, named the north, is divided into three parts: the first of them is for the dwelling of men: and the second contains seas of water, and the abysses and forests and rivers, and darkness and clouds; and the third part contains the garden of righteousness.
4 I saw seven high mountains,not those of xviii. 6, xxiv. 2, xxxii. 1, though originally they are derived from the same source. higher than all the mountains which are on the earth: and thence comes forth hoar-frost, and days, seasons, and years pass away.Note recurrence of the number seven in this book, as in Jewish writers generally. Cf. xviii. 6, xxiv. 2, xxxiii. 1, lxi. 11, lxxii. 37, xci. 16, xciii. 10.
5 I saw seven rivers on the earth larger than all the rivers: one of them coming from the †west† pours its waters into the Great Sea.i.e. the Mediterranean. Cf. Num. xxxiv. 6, 7.[Num 34:6-7]
6 And these two come from the north to the sea and pour their waters into the Erythraean Seaa general name for the Arabian, Persian, and Indian seas. in the east.The Euphrates and the Tigris.
7 And the remaining four come forth on the side of the north to their own sea, 〈two of them to〉 the Erythraean Sea, and two into the Great Sea and discharge themselves there [and some say: into the desert].
8 Seven great islands I saw in the sea and in the mainland: two in the mainland and five in the Great Sea.
LXXVIII. The Sun and Moon: the Waxing and Waning of the Moon.
Chapter 78<note type="x-footnote" n="1">LXXVIII, LXXIX. The relations of the sun and moon are again described as well as the waxing and waning of the moon.</note>
1 And the names of the sun are the following: the first Orjârês, and the second Tômâs.For Halevy's interpretations of the names see my Commentary in loc. He connects the two names of the sun with the two seasons, cold and hot, in Palestine, and the four names of the moon with its phases.
2 And the moon has four names: the first name is Asônjâ, the second Eblâ, the third Benâsê, and the fourth Erâe.
3 These are the two great luminaries: their circumference is like the circumference of the heaven, and the size of the circumference of both is alike.
4 In the circumference of the sun there are seven portions of light which are added to it more than to the moon, and in definite measures it is transferred till the seventh portion of the sun is exhausted.In lxxii. 37 and lxxiii. 3 we are told that the sun's light is seven times that of the moon: in lxxiii. 2 that light is added to the moon in due measure. Here we are further told that one-seventh of the sun’s light is gradually transferred to the moon, till the moon is full.
5 And they set and enter the portals of the west, and make their revolution by the north, and come forth through the eastern portals on the face of the heaven.
6 And when the moon rises one-fourteenth part appears in the heaven: [the light becomes full in her]:ɑ-u. A duplicate of 'accomplishes her light', u is partly untranslatable. β reads in this verse 'and when the moon rises, she appears in the heaven, and has a fourteenth part of her light, and on the fourteenth day she accomplishes all her light'. on the fourteenth day she accomplishes her light.6-17 The waxing and waning of the moon, the length of the months, etc.See lxxiii. 5, 6 (notes) for the case of fourteen days' waxing.
7 And fifteen parts of light are transferred to her till the fifteenth day (when) her light is accomplished, according to the sign of the year, and she becomes fifteen parts, and the moon grows by (the addition of) fourteenth parts.See lxxiii. 7, 8 (notes) for the fifteen days' waxing.
8 And in her waning (the moon) decreases on the first day to fourteen parts of her light, on the second to thirteen parts of light, on the third to twelve, on the fourth to eleven, on the fifth to ten, on the sixth to nine, on the seventh to eight, on the eighth to seven, on the ninth to six, on the tenth to five, on the eleventh to four, on the twelfth to three, on the thirteenth to two, on the fourteenth to the half of a seventh, and all her remaining light disappears wholly on the fifteenth.As the moon wanes, her light decreases each day by one-fourteenth part: on the fifteenth the remainder, i.e. one twenty-eighth, vanishes.
9 And in certain months the month has twenty-nine days and once twenty-eight.a reference to the cycle of Callippus, in which the last month in seventy-six years had only 28 days. See my Commentary in loc., and cf. lxxiv. 13-16 for a reference to the octaetris.
10 And Uriel showed me another law: when light is transferred to the moon, and on which side it is transferred to her by the sun.
11 During all the period during which the moon is growing in her light, she is transferring it to herself when opposite to the sun during fourteen days [her light is accomplished in the heaven], and when she is illumined throughout, her light is accomplished full in the heaven.The moon waxes over against the sun on the side turned to the sun, i.e. the western side.
12 And on the first day she is called the new moon, for on that day the light rises upon her.
13 She becomes full moon exactly on the day when the sun sets in the west, and from the east she rises at night, and the moon shines the whole night through till the sun rises over against her and the moon is seen over against the sun.A true observation.
14 On the side whence the light of the moon comes forth, there again she wanes till all the light vanishes and all the days of the month are at an end, and her circumference is empty, void of light.
15 And three months she makes of thirty days, and at her time she makes three months of twenty-nine days each, in which she accomplishes her waning in the first period of time,i.e. the first half-year. The author recognizes only two seasons in the year; cf. iii, iv. As often as the moon is in the first portal during the first half-year, she is waning; cf. lxxix. 3, 4. and in the first portal for one hundred and seventy-seven days.
16 And in the time of her going out she appears for three months (of) thirty days each, and for three months she appears (of) twenty-nine each.i.e. the second half of the year.
17 At night she appears like a man for twenty days each time, and by day she appears like the heaven, and there is nothing else in her save her light.i.e. a human face. Hence perhaps the name Asônjâ in v. 2 (Halevy).
LXXIX-LXXX. 1. Recapitulation of several of the Laws.
Chapter 79
1 And now, my son, I have shown thee everything, and the law of all the stars of the heaven is completed.
2 And he showed me all the laws of these for every day, and for every season of bearing rule, and for every year, and for its going forth, and for the order prescribed to it every month and every week:
3 And the waning of the moon which takes place in the sixth portal: for in this sixth portal her light is accomplished, and after that there is the beginning of the waning:
4 〈And the waning〉 which takes place in the first portal in its season, till one hundred and seventy-seven days are accomplished: reckoned according to weeks, twenty-five (weeks) and two days.
5 She falls behind the sun and the order of the stars exactly five days in the course of one period, and when this place which thou seest has been traversed.
6 Such is the picture and sketch of every luminary which Uriel the archangel, who is their leader, showed unto me.
Chapter 80<note type="x-footnote" n="1">An interpolation. As soon as we pass from lxxix we enter into a world of new conceptions; the whole interest is ethical and - nothing else. There is no fixity at all in natural phenomena: their laws and uniformities are always dependent on the moral action of men. Cf. 4 Ezra v. 1-13.</note>
1 And in those days the angel Uriel answered and said to me: ‘Behold, I have shown thee everything, Enoch, and I have revealed everything to thee that thou shouldst see this sun and this moon, and the leaders of the stars of the heaven and all those who turn them,probably the winds. Cf. lxxii. 5, lxxiii. 2. their tasks and times and departures.
LXXX. 2-8. Perversion of Nature and the heavenly Bodies owing to the Sin of Men.
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2 And in the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened,2-8. Note the tristichs.Jer 3:3Jer 3:25 |
| And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields, |
| And all things on the earth shall alter, |
| And shall not appear in their time: |
| And the rain shall be kept back |
| And the heaven shall withhold (it). |
3 And in those times the fruits of the earth shall be backward, |
| And shall not grow in their time, |
| And the fruits of the trees shall be withheld in their time. |
4 And the moon shall alter her order,Joel 2:10Amos 8:9 |
| And not appear at her time. |
|
5 [And in those days the sun shall be seen and he shall journey in the evening †on the extremity of the great chariot in †the west]The first two lines are corrupt and out of the context. If we remove them, verses 4-5 form a tristich relating to the moon.
|
| And shall shine more brightly than accords with the order of light. |
6 And many chiefs of the starsCf. v. 1 (note). The MSS. read: 'chiefs of the stars of the order shall transgress.' shall transgress the order (prescribed). |
| And these shall alter their orbits and tasks, |
| And not appear at the seasons prescribed to them. |
7 And the whole order of the stars shall be concealed from the sinners, |
| And the thoughts of those on the earthhere in the same sense as in the interpolations in the Parables. See xxxvii. 5 (note). shall err concerning them, |
| [And they shall be altered from all their ways], |
| Yea, they shall err and take them to be gods.Acts 7:42 |
8 And evil shall be multiplied upon them, |
| And punishment shall come upon them |
| So as to destroy all.’ |
|
LXXXI. The Heavenly Tablets and the Mission of Enoch.
Chapter 81<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Also an interpolation. is a sort of mosaic, and came probably from the editor of the complete Enoch. 'Those seven holy ones' in lxxxi. 5 are taken from lxxxvii. 3: 'the heavenly tablets' in lxxxi. 1, 2 from xciii. 2, ciii. 2: 'the books of judgement' from lxxxix. 61, 64: while lxxxi. 5, 6 refer to lxxxii. 1, 2 and xci. 1.</note>
|
1 And he said unto me: |
| ‘Observe, Enoch, these heavenly tablets, |
| And read what is written thereon, |
| And mark every individual fact.’ |
|
2 And I observed the heavenly tablets, and read everything which was written (thereon) and understood everything, and read the book of all the deeds of mankind, and of all the children of flesh that shall be upon the earth to the remotest generations.
3 And forthwith I blessed the great Lord the King of glory for ever, in that He has made all the works of the world,
|
| And I extolled the Lord because of His patience, |
| And blessed Him because of the children of men. |
|
4 And after that I said:Contrast the blessing of lxxii-lxxix and lxxxii. 4, which is for the man who knows the right reckoning of the years, |
| ‘Blessed is the man who dies in righteousness and goodness, |
| Concerning whom there is no book of unrighteousness written, |
| And against whom no day of judgement shall be found.’ |
|
5 And those seven holy ones brought me and placed me on the earth before the door of my house, and said to me: ‘Declare everything to thy son Methuselah, and show to all thy children that no flesh is righteous in the sight of the Lord, for He is their Creator.5, 6. These verses are inserted to serve as an introduction to xci-civ.Job 9:2Ps 14:1
6 One year we will leave thee with thy son, till thou givest thy (last) commands, that thou mayst teach thy children and record (it) for them, and testify to all thy children; and in the second year they shall take thee from their midst.
|
7 Let thy heart be strong, |
| For the good shall announce righteousness to the good; |
|
| The righteous with the righteous shall rejoice, |
| And shall offer congratulation to one another. |
|
8 But the sinners shall die with the sinners, |
| And the apostate go downi.e. into Gehenna. with the apostate. |
|
9 And those who practise righteousness shall die on account of the deeds of men,The righteous die, yet they are taken away to the abodes of the blessed. The phrase is borrowed from Isa. lvii. 1, 'The righteous is taken away out of the way of (or 'because of) the evil.' Cf. 2 Kings xxii. 20; Wisdom iv. 7-14. The Hebrew word 'take away' occurs in e.g. Num. xx. 26; Ps. civ. 29.2Kgs 22:20Num 20:26Ps 104:29 |
| And be taken away on account of the doings of the godless.’ |
|
10 And in those days they ceased to speak to me, and I came to my people, blessing the Lord of the world.
LXXXII. Charge given to Enoch: the four Intercalary Days: the Stars which lead the Seasons and the Months.
Chapter 82<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Conclusion of the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries.</note>
1 And now, my son Methuselah, all these things I am recounting to thee and writing down for thee, and I have revealed to thee everything, and given thee books concerning all these: so preserve, my son Methuselah, the books from thy father’s hand, and (see) that thou deliver them to the generations of the world.In xxxiii. 4 Uriel writes down everything for Enoch; but in this book, cf. lxxii. 1, lxxiv. 2, lxxv. 3, lxxix. 2-6, lxxxii. 1, Uriel only shows the hidden things to Enoch, whereas Enoch writes them down.
|
2 I have given wisdom to thee and to thy children,Ps 78:5-6 |
| [And thy children that shall be to thee], |
| That they may give it to their children for generations, |
| This wisdom (namely) that passeth their thought. |
|
3 And those who understand it shall not sleep, |
| But shall listen with the ear that they may learn this wisdom, |
| And it shall please those that eat thereof better than good food.Ps 19:10Ps 119:103 |
|
4 Blessed are all the righteous, blessed are all those who walk in the way of righteousness and sin not as the sinners, in the reckoning of all their days in which the sun traverses the heaven, entering into and departing from the portals for thirty days with the heads of thousands of the order of the stars, together with the four which are intercalated which divide the four portions of the year, which lead them and enter with them four days.
5 Owing to them men shall be at fault and not reckon them in the whole reckoning of the year: yea, men shall be at fault, and not recognize them accurately.
6 For they belong to the reckoning of the year and are truly recorded (thereon) for ever, one in the first portal and one in the third, and one in the fourth and one in the sixth, and the year is completed in three hundred and sixty-four days.On the four intercalary days and their portals see lxxv.
7 And the account thereof is accurate and the recorded reckoning thereof exact; for the luminaries, and months and festivals, and years and days, has Uriel shown and revealed to me, to whom the Lord of the whole creation of the world hath subjected the host of heaven.
8 And he has power over night and day in the heaven to cause the light to give light to men—sun, moon, and stars, and all the powers of the heaven which revolve in their circular chariots.
9 And these are the orders of the stars, which set in their places, and in their seasons and festivals and months.9-20. An account of the stars as promised in lxxii. 1, and declared to be given in lxxix. 1.
10 And these are the names of those who lead them, who watch that they enter at their times, in their orders, in their seasons, in their months, in their periods of dominion, and in their positions.
11 Their four leaders who divide the four parts of the year enter first; and after them the twelve leaders of the orders who divide the months; and for the three hundred and sixty (days) there are heads over thousands who divide the days; and for the four intercalary days there are the leaders which sunder the four parts of the year.The leaders of the four intercalary days, the twelve months, and the 365 days.
12 And these heads over thousands are intercalated between leader and leader, each behind a station, but their leaders make the division.
13 And these are the names of the leaders who divide the four parts of the year which are ordained: Mîlkî’êl, Hel’emmêlêk, and Mêl’êjal, and Nârêl.Milkiel is an inversion of Helemmelek. These four are over the four seasons of the year, and each has three under him, one for every month.
14 And the names of those who lead them: Adnâr’êl, and Îjâsûsa’êl, and ’Elômê’êl—these three follow the leaders of the orders, and there is one that follows the three leaders of the orders which follow those leaders of stations that divide the four parts of the year.Not clear. The latter part of the verse seems to defy explanation.
15 In the beginning of the year Melkejâl rises first and rules, who is named †Tam’âinî and sun,† and all the days of his dominion whilst he bears rule are ninety-one days.15-17. The period from spring to summer = 91 days is under the dominion of Melkejâl or Milkiel. He is named 'the southern sun', as Goldschmidt and Beer point out 'Tam’âinî' and 'sun' should be read together, i.e. שמש תימני.
16 And these are the signs of the days which are to be seen on earth in the days of his dominion: sweat, and heat, and calms; and all the trees bear fruit, and leaves are produced on all the trees, and the harvest of wheat, and the rose-flowers,Isa 35:1 and all the flowers which come forth in the field, but the trees of the winter season become withered.not in O.T., except in English version of Isa. xxxv. 1; Cant, ii. 1.
17 And these are the names of the leaders which are under them: Berka’êl, Zêlebs’êl, and another who is added a head of a thousand, called Hîlujâseph: and the days of the dominion of this (leader) are at an end.The subordinate leaders are those of the months, three to the quarter.
18 The next leader after him is Hel’emmêlêk, whom one names the shining sun, and all the days of his light are ninety-one days.18-20. Summer to autumn.
19 And these are the signs of (his) days on the earth: glowing heat and dryness, and the trees ripen their fruits and produce all their fruits ripe and ready, and the sheep pair and become pregnant, and all the fruits of the earth are gathered in, and everything that is in the fields, and the winepress: these things take place in the days of his dominion.
20 These are the names, and the orders, and the leaders of those heads of thousands: Gîdâ’ijal, Kê’êl, and Hê’êl, and the name of the head of a thousand which is added to them, Asfâ’êl: and the days of his dominion are at an end.This verse is confused. The three names are those of the leaders of the three months. The fourth, Asfâ’êl, is an inversion of Hîlujâseph (verse 17), and belongs to the first triad. There is no account of the remaining six months. The redactor may have omitted them.
Section IV.
Chapters LXXXIII-XC.
The Dream-Visions.
LXXXIII-LXXXIV. First Dream-Vision on the Deluge.
Chapter 83<note type="x-footnote" n="1">LXXXIII–LXXXIV. The first Dream-Vision deals with the Deluge or first world-judgement.</note>
1 And now, my son Methuselah, I will show thee all my visions which I have seen, recounting them before thee.
2 Two visions I saw before I took a wife, and the one was quite unlike the other: the first when I was learning to write: the second before I took thy mother, (when) I saw a terrible vision.Enoch took a wife at 65 (Gen. v. 21). Her name was Edna, 1 En. lxxxv. 3, cf. Jubilees iv. 19, where these Dream - Visions are referred to. Note that lxxxiii-xc are only dreams, whereas in the other sections Enoch has open intercourse with the angels, and is translated bodily. Yet on ascetic grounds one would expect the bodily translation before marriage, and the dream-visions after.Gen 5:21
3 And regarding them I prayed to the Lord. I had laid me down in the house of my grandfather Mahalalel, (when) I saw in a vision how the heaven collapsed and was borne off and fell to the earth.
4 And when it fell to the earth I saw how the earth was swallowed up in a great abyss, and mountains were suspended on mountains, and hills sank down on hills, and high trees were rent from their stems, and hurled down and sunk in the abyss.
5 And thereupon a word fell into my mouth, and I lifted up (my voice) to cry aloud, and said: ‘The earth is destroyed.’
6 And my grandfather Mahalalel waked me as I lay near him, and said unto me: ‘Why dost thou cry so, my son, and why dost thou make such lamentation?’
7 And I recounted to him the whole vision which I had seen, and he said unto me: ‘A terrible thing hast thou seen, my son, and of grave moment is thy dream-vision as to the secrets of all the sin of the earth: it must sink into the abyss and be destroyed with a great destruction.
8 And now, my son, arise and make petition to the Lord of glory, since thou art a believer, that a remnant may remain on the earth, and that He may not destroy the whole earth.
9 My son, from heaven all this will come upon the earth, and upon the earth there will be great destruction.i. e. ordained of God.
10 After that I arose and prayed and implored and besought, and wrote down my prayer for the generations of the world, and I will show everything to thee, my son Methuselah.
11 And when I had gone forth below and seen the heaven, and the sun rising in the east, and the moon setting in the west, and a few stars, and the whole earth, and everything as †He had known†Read 'as I had known it,' or 'as He had made (or 'established') it'. it in the beginning, then I blessed the Lord of judgementHere only. and extolled Him because He had made the sun to go forth from the windowsNever used of the sun in i-xxxvi nor in lxxii-lxxxii, where 'portal' is the word. For 'windows' see lxxii. 3 (note). of the east, †and he ascended and rose on the face of the heaven, and set out and kept traversing the path shown unto him.
Chapter 84<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Enoch's Prayer for his Posterity.</note>
1 And I lifted up my hands in righteousness and blessed the Holy and Great One, and spake with the breath of my mouth, and with the tongue of flesh, which God has made for the children of the flesh of men, that they should speak therewith, and He gave them breath and a tongue and a mouth that they should speak therewith:
|
2 ‘Blessed be Thou, O Lord, King, |
| Great and mighty in Thy greatness, |
| Lord of the whole creation of the heaven, |
| King of kings and God of the whole world. |
| And Thy power and kingship and greatness abide for ever and ever, |
| And throughout all generations Thy dominion; |
| And all the heavens are Thy throneIsa 66:1 for ever, |
| And the whole earth Thy footstool for ever and ever. |
|
3 For Thou hast made and Thou rulest all things, |
| And nothing is too hard for Thee,Jer. xxxii. 17, 27, where the LXX render 'is hidden from thee'. The MSS. here add a dittograph 'and nothing' (or 'no').Jer 32:17Jer 32:27 |
| Wisdom departs notg. Other MSS. 'departs not from Thee.' from the place of Thy throne,Prov 8:30 |
| Nor turns away from Thy presence. |
| And Thou knowest and seest and hearest everything, |
| And there is nothing hidden from Thee [for Thou seest everything]. |
4 And now the angels of Thy heavens are guilty of trespass, |
| And upon the flesh of menJob 12:10 abideth Thy wrath until the great day of judgement. |
5 And now, O God and Lord and Great King, |
| I implore and beseech Thee to fulfil my prayer, |
| To leave me a posterity on earth, |
| And not destroy all the flesh of man, |
| And make the earth without inhabitant, |
| So that there should be an eternal destruction. |
6 And now, my Lord, destroy from the earth the flesh which has aroused Thy wrath, |
| But the flesh of righteousness and uprightness establish as a plant of the eternal seed, |
| And hide not Thy face from the prayer of Thy servant, O Lord.’ |
|
LXXXV-XC. The Second Dream-Vision of Enoch: the History of the World to the Founding of the Messianic Kingdom.
Chapter 85
1 And after this I saw another dream, and I will show the whole dream to thee, my son.
2 And Enoch lifted up (his voice) and spake to his son Methuselah: ‘To thee, my son, will I speak: hear my words—incline thine ear to the dream-vision of thy father.Prov 5:1
3 Before I took thy mother Edna, I sawDan 4:10 in a vision on my bed, and behold a bull came forth from the earth, and that bull was white;is the colour symbolizing righteousness throughout this vision. Cf. lxxxv. 8, lxxxvii. 2, etc., and Isa. i. 18, Ps. li. 7, Rev. vii. 14.Isa 1:18Ps 51:7Rev 7:14 and after it came forth a heifer,=Eve. and along with this (latter) came forth two bulls,Cain, black with his sin; Abel, red as a martyr. one of them black and the other red.
4 And that black bull gored the red one and pursued him over the earth, and thereupon I could no longer see that red bull.
5 But that black bull grew and that heifer=Cain's wife; according to Jubilees iv. 1, his sister, by name Avan. went with him, and I saw that many oxen proceeded from him which resembled and followed him.’
6 And that cow, that first one, went from the presence of that first bull in order to seek that red one, but found him not, and lamented with a great lamentation over him and sought him.Eve seeks Abel.
7 And I looked till that first bull came to her and quieted her, and from that time onward she cried no more.
8 And after that she bore another white bull, and after him she bore many bulls and black cows.Seth and his descendants are righteous.
9 And I saw in my sleep that white bull likewise grow and become a great white bull, and from him proceeded many white bulls, and they resembled him.
10 And they began to beget many white bulls, which resembled them, one following the other, (even) many.
LXXXVI. The Fall of the Angels and the Demoralization of Mankind.
Chapter 86
1 And again I saw with mine eyes as I slept, and I saw the heaven above, and behold a star fell from heaven,Rev 9:1 and it arose and eat and pastured amongst those oxen.a star, i.e. Azâzêl, cf. lxxxviii. 1;x. 4. In vi all the angels descend together, cf. Talmud (Weber, Jüd. Theol., 253).
2 And after that I saw the large and the black oxen, and behold they all changed their stalls and pastures and their cattle, and began to live with each other.
3 And again I saw in the vision, and looked towards the heaven, and behold I saw many stars descend and cast themselves down from heaven to that first star, and they became bulls amongst those cattle and pastured with themα 'were amongst those cattle and bulls, pasturing with them' β [amongst them].Fall of the rest of the angels.
4 And I looked at them and saw, and behold they all let out their privy members, like horses, and began to cover the cows of the oxen, and they all became pregnant and bare elephants, camels, and asses.represent the three classes of giants. See vii. 2 (note).
5 And all the oxen feared them and were affrighted at them, and began to bite with their teeth and to devour, and to gore with their horns.
6 And they began, moreover, to devour those oxen; and behold all the children of the earthThe symbolism is dropped for a moment. began to tremble and quake before them and to flee from them.
LXXXVII. The Advent of the Seven Archangels.
Chapter 87
1 And again I saw how they began to gore each other and to devour each other, and the earth began to cry aloud.The conflict of the bulls and giants.
2 And I raised mine eyes again to heaven, and I saw in the vision, and behold there came forth from heaven beings who were like white men: and four went forth from that place and three with them.The unfallen angels are symbolized by men, as men by animals.
3 And those three that had last come forth grasped me by my hand and took me up, away from the generations of the earth, and raised me up to a lofty place, and showed me a tower raised high above the earth, and all the hills were lower.3, 4. This tower seems to be Paradise, and thus we have in lxxxiii-xc a conception of its locality and inhabitants quite different from any that has preceded. See lx. 8 (note).
4 And one said unto me: ‘Remain here till thou seest everything that befalls those elephants, camels, and asses, and the stars and the oxen, and all of them.’
LXXXVIII. The Punishment of the Fallen Angels by the Archangels.
Chapter 88.<note type="x-footnote" n="1">LXXXVIII- LXXXIX. Closely connected with x. 1-14, but the variations are too many to presuppose it in quite its present form. Azâzêl is the only leader here.</note>
1 And I saw one of those four who had come forth first, and he seized that first star which had fallen from the heaven, and bound it hand and foot and cast it into an abyss: now that abyss was narrow and deep, and horrible and dark.Cf. x. 4-8, where Raphael binds Azâzêl.
2 And one of them drew a sword, and gave it to those elephants and camels and asses: then they began to smite each other, and the whole earth quaked because of them.In x. 9, 10 Gabriel performs this task.
3 And as I was beholding in the vision, lo, one of those four who had come forth stoned (them) from heaven, and gathered and took all the great stars whose privy members were like those of horses, and bound them all hand and foot, and cast them in an abyss of the earth.In x. 12-14 Michael binds and imprisons the Watchers. Semjâzâ is not mentioned here.
LXXXIX. 1-9. The Deluge and the Deliverance of Noah.
Chapter 89<note type="x-footnote" n="1">1-9. The Deluge, and Noah's deliverance.</note>
1 And one of those four went to that white bull and instructed him in a secret, without his being terrified: he was born a bull and became a man, and built for himself a great vessel and dwelt thereon; and three bullshis three sons. dwelt with him in that vessel and they were covered in.Cf. x. 1-3 where Uriel visits Noah for the same end. To build the ark, Noah becomes a man.Gen 7:16
2 And again I raised mine eyes towards heaven and saw a lofty roof, with seven water torrents thereon, and those torrents flowed with much water into an enclosure.
3 And I saw again, and behold fountains were opened on the surface of that great enclosure, and that water began to swell and rise upon the surface, and I saw that enclosure till all its surface was covered with water.3. 4. The Deluge.
4 And the water, the darkness, and mist increased upon it; and as I looked at the height of that water, that water had risen above the height of that enclosure, and was streaming over that enclosure, and it stood upon the earth.
5 And all the cattle of that enclosure were gathered together until I saw how they sank and were swallowed up and perished in that water.
6 But that vessel floated on the water, while all the oxen and elephants and camels and asses sank to the bottom with all the animals,i.e. the real animals. so that I could no longer see them, and they were not able to escape, (but) perished and sank into the depths.
7 And again I saw in the vision till those water torrents were removed from that high roof, and the chasms of the earth were levelled up and other abysses were opened.The writer conceives the flood as caused by a cleaving of the depths of the earth, and stayed by their closing up. Cf. Jub. vi. 26; Prayer of Manasses 3.
8 Then the water began to run down into these, till the earth became visible; but that vessel settled on the earth, and the darkness retired and light appeared.
9 But that white bull which had become a man came out of that vessel, and the three bulls with him, and one of those three was white like that bull, and one of them was red as blood, and one black: and that white bull departed from them.i. e. Noah died.
LXXXIX. 10-27. From the Death of Noah to the Exodus.
10 And they began to bring forth beasts of the field and birds, so that there arose different genera:Here 'ahzab means races of animals as well as of men. lions, tigers, wolves, dogs, hyenas, wild boars, foxes, squirrels, swine, falcons, vultures, kites, eagles, and ravens; and among them was born a white bull.The symbolism has a new meaning forced upon it by the author. His cattle produce all kinds of four-footed beasts, and birds of prey. Nearly all of these appear later as the enemies of Israel. Cf. Ezek. xxxix. 17.Ez 39:17
11 And they began to bite one another; but that white bullAbraham. which was born amongst them begat a wild assIshmael. In verses 15, 16 the Arabs or Midianites are called the 'wild asses', not inaptly. Cf. Gen. xvi. 12. Isaac is the 'white bull'.Gen 16:12 and a white bull with it, and the wild asses multiplied.
12 But that bull which was born from him begat a black wild boarEsau. Later Jewish hatred thus associates Edom with the animal most detested. Cf. verses 42, 43, 49, 66. In 72 it is used of the Samaritans. and a white sheep;Jacob. Israel is the sheep of God's pasture, Ps. lxxiv. 1, lxxix. 13, c. 3; Jer. xxiii. 1.Ps 74:1Ps 79:13Ps 100:3Jer 23:1 and the former begat many boars, but that sheep begat twelve sheep.
13 And when those twelve sheep had grown, they gave up one of themi.e. Joseph. to the asses, and those assesMidianites (v. 11). again gave up that sheep to the wolves,the Egyptians. and that sheep grew up among the wolves.
14 And the Lord brought the eleven sheep to live with it and to pasture with it among the wolves: and they multiplied and became many flocks of sheep.
15 And the wolves began to fear them, and they oppressed them until they destroyed their little ones, and they cast their young into a river of much water: but those sheep began to cry aloud on account of their little ones, and to complain unto their Lord.
16 And a sheep which had been saved from the wolvesi.e. Moses. fled and escaped to the wild asses; and I saw the sheep how they lamented and cried, and besought their Lord with all their might, till that Lord of the sheepThe usual title in this and the following chapters. descended at the voice of the sheep from a lofty abode, and came to them and pastured them.
17 And He called that sheep which had escaped the wolves, and spake with it concerning the wolves that it should admonish them not to touch the sheep.
18 And the sheep went to the wolves according to the word of the Lord, and another sheepAaron. met it and went with it, and the two went and entered together into the assembly of those wolves, and spake with them and admonished them not to touch the sheep from henceforth.
19 And thereupon I saw the wolves, and how they oppressed the sheep exceedingly with all their power; and the sheep cried aloud.
20 And the Lord came to the sheep and they began to smite those wolves: and the wolves began to make lamentation; but the sheep became quiet and forthwith ceased to cry out.20-27. The plagues of Egypt and the Exodus.
21 And I saw the sheep till they departed from amongst the wolves; but the eyes of the wolves were blinded, and those wolves departed in pursuit of the sheep with all their power.
22 And the Lord of the sheep went with them, as their leader, and all His sheep followed Him: and His face was dazzling and glorious and terrible to behold.
23 But the wolves began to pursue those sheep till they reached a sea of water.
24 And that sea was divided, and the water stood on this side and on that before their face, and their Lord led them and placed Himself between them and the wolves.
25 And as those wolves did not yet see the sheep, they proceeded into the midst of that sea, and the wolves followed the sheep, and [those wolves] ran after them into that sea.
26 And when they saw the Lord of the sheep, they turned to flee before His face, but that sea gathered itself together, and became as it had been created, and the water swelled and rose till it covered those wolves.
27 And I saw till all the wolves who pursued those sheep perished and were drowned.
LXXXIX. 28-40. Israel in the Desert, the Giving of the Law, the Entrance into Palestine.
28 But the sheep escaped from that water and went forth into a wilderness, where there was no water and no grass; and they began to open their eyesi.e. to recover their spiritual vision and return to God. Cf. lxxxix. 32, 33, 41, 44, 54, xc. 6, 9, 10, 35. and to see; and I saw the Lord of the sheep pasturing them and giving them water and grass, and that sheep going and leading them.28-40. Journeyings through the wilderness, the lawgiving on Sinai, and the occupation of Palestine.
29 And that sheep ascended to the summit of that lofty rock, and the Lord of the sheep sent it to them.Moses ascends Sinai, and returns to Israel. Exod. xix.Exod 19:1-25
30 And after that I saw the Lord of the sheep who stood before them, and His appearance was great and terrible and majestic, and all those sheep saw Him and were afraid before His face.
31 And they all feared and trembled because of Him, and they cried to that sheep with them= Aaron. [which was amongst them]: ‘We are not able to stand before our Lord or to behold Him.’
32 And that sheep which led them again ascended to the summit of that rock, but the sheep began to be blinded and to wander from the way which he had showed them, but that sheep wot not thereof.Exod 24:12-18Exod 32:1-35
33 And the Lord of the sheep was wrathful exceedingly against them, and that sheep discovered it, and went down from the summit of the rock, and came to the sheep, and found the greatest part of them blinded and fallen away.
34 And when they saw iti.e. Moses. they feared and trembled at its presence, and desired to return to their folds.= give up their errors.
35 And that sheep took other sheep with it, and came to those sheep which had fallen away, and began to slay them; and the sheep feared its presence, and thus that sheep brought back those sheep that had fallen away, and they returned to their folds.Exod 32:26-35
36 And I saw in this vision till that sheep became a man and built a house for the Lord of the sheep, and placed all the sheep in that house.i.e. made the tabernacle the centre of their worship.Moses becomes a man to build the tabernacle. Cf. verses 1, 9.
37 And I saw till this sheep which had met that sheep which led them fell asleep: and I saw till all the great sheep perished and little ones arose in their place, and they came to a pasture, and approached a stream of water.Jordan with a pasture to the east of it.Death of Aaron and of all the generation that had gone out of Egypt.
38 Then that sheep, their leader which had become a man, withdrew from them and fell asleep, and all the sheep sought it and cried over it with a great crying.Moses dies. Cf. Deut. xxxiv.Deut 34:1-12
39 And I saw till they left off crying for that sheep and crossed that stream of water, and there arose the two sheep as leaders in the place of those which had led them and fallen asleep (lit. ‘had fallen asleep and led them’).Joshua and Caleb. I emend kuellomu = 'all' to kel'ehomu = 'the two'.
40 And I saw till the sheep came to a goodly place, and a pleasant and glorious land, and I saw till those sheep were satisfied; and that house stood amongst them in the pleasant land.Palestine. Cf. Dan. xi. 16, 41.Dan 11:16Dan 11:41
LXXXIX. 41-50. From the Time of the Judges till the Building of the Temple.41-50. The times of the Judges and Kings till the Temple is built.
41 And sometimes their eyes were opened, and sometimes blinded, till another sheep arose and led them and brought them all back, and their eyes were opened.
42 And the dogs and the foxes and the wild boars began to devour those sheep till the Lord of the sheep raised up [another sheep] a ram from their midst, which led them. (Καὶ οἱ κύνες ἤρξαντο κατεσθίειν τὰ πρόβατα καὶ οἱ ὔες καὶ οἱ ἀλώπεκες κατήσθιον αὐτά, μέχρι οὗ ἤγειρεν ὁ κύριος τῶν προβάτων κριὸν ἕνα ἐκ τῶν προβάτων. | And the hounds tried to tame the sheep and the hens and the foxes to tame them, until the master of the sheep raised a ram from one of the sheep.)Gr Greek fragment from Vatican MS., published by Mai, Patrum Nova Bibliotheca, t. ii, deciphered by Gildemeister, in ZDMG, 1855, pp. 621, 622.Of 42-9 a fragment of the Greek version survives. Note the έξης in v. 49, and also the φησίν showing quotation from some catena of excerpts from Enoch.The dogs are the Philistines (46, 47). The foxes are the Ammonites (55), and the wild boars are the Edomites (12, 43, 49, 66).
43 And that ram began to butt on either side those dogs, foxes, and wild boars till he had destroyed them †all†. (Καὶ ὁ κριὸς οὗτος ἤρξατο κερατίζειν καὶ ἐπιδιώκειν ἐν τοῖς κέρασιν καὶ ἐνετίνασσεν εἰς τοὺς ἀλώπεκας καὶ μετ᾿ αὐτοὺς εἰς τοὺς ὔας καὶ ἀπώλεσεν ὔας πολλοὺς καὶ μετ᾿ αὐτοὺς . . . το τοὺς κύνας. | And this ram tore up its horns and hunted among the horns and threw it at the foxes and with them at the hounds and killed many of them and with them . . . the hounds.)GrSaul, who did not, however, destroy them all. The Greek has πολλοὺς. Note the Greek article = Ethiopic demonstrative 'those'.
44 And that sheep whose eyes were opened saw that ram, which was amongst the sheep, till it †forsook its glory† and began to butt those sheep, and trampled upon them, and behaved itself unseemly. (Καὶ τὰ πρόβατα ὧν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἠνοίγησαν ἐθεάσοντο τὸν κριὸν τὸν ἐν τοῖς προβάτοις, ἕως οὗ ἀφῆκεν τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἤρξατο πορεύεσθαι †ἀνοδία. | And the sheep whose eyes were opened saw the ram in the midst of the sheep, until he left his way and began to wander.)GrThat sheep whose eyes were opened, i.e. Samuel, who alone was seer when there had been no 'open' vision. Cf. i. 2; 1 Sam. iii. 1, 21. The Greek has 'sheep' in the plural.1Sam 3:11Sam 3:21
45 And the Lord of the sheep sent the lamb to another lamb and raised it to being a ram and leader of the sheep instead of that ram which had †forsaken its glory†. (Καὶ ὁ κύριος τῶν προβάτων ἀπέστειλεν τὸν ἄρνα τοῦτον ἐπὶ ἄρνα ἕτερον τοῦ στῆσαι αὐτὸν εἰς κριὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῶν προβάτων ἁντὶ τοῦ κριοῦ τοῦ ἀφέντος τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ. | And the Lord of the sheep sent this ram over another ram to set him up as a ram in the head of the sheep instead of the ram that let him go his way.)Gr45. 46. David anointed king. Both Samuel and David (until king) are lambs, as Solomon previous to coronation is a little sheep (v. 48b).
46 And it went to it and spake to it alone, and raised it to being a ram, and made it the prince and leader of the sheep; but during all these things those dogs oppressed the sheep. (Kαὶ ἐπορεύθη πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ σιγῇ κατὰ μόνας καὶ ἤγειρεν αὐτὸν εἰς κριὸν καὶ εἰς ἄρχοντα καὶ εἰς ἡγούμενον τῶν προβάτων καὶ οἱ κύνες ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις ἔθλιβον τὰ πρόβατα. | But he went to him and spoke to him, be quiet, and he made him a ram and a ruler and an abbot of the sheep, and the hounds on all of these afflicted the sheep.)Gr
47 And the first ram pursued that second ram, and that second ram arose and fled before it; and I saw till those dogs pulled down the first ram. ([Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις γέγραπται ὅτι] ὁ κριὸς ὁ πρῶτος τὸν κριὸν τὸν δεύτερον ἐπεδίωκεν καὶ ἔφυγεν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ· εἶτ᾽ ἐθεώρουν, [φησίν], τὸν κριὸν τὸν πρῶτον ἕως οὗ ἔπεσεν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν κυνῶν. | [Here it is written that] the first ram pursued the second ram and fled from his presence; when they saw the first ram until he fell before the dogs.)Gr
48 And that second ram arose and led the [little] sheep. (Καὶ τὰ πρόβατα ηὐξήθησαν καὶ ἐπληθύνθησαν καὶ πάντες οἱ κύνες καὶ οἱ ἀλώπεκες ἔψυγον ἀπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐφοβοῦντο αὐτόν. | And the ram, the second one that jumped up, told of the sheep.)Gr
49 And those sheep grew and multiplied; but all the dogs, and foxes, and wild boars feared and fled before it, and that ram butted and killed the wild beasts, and those wild beasts had no longer any power among the sheep and robbed them no more of ought. (Καὶ τὰ πρόβατα ηὐξήθησαν καὶ ἐπληθύνθησαν καὶ πάντες οἱ κύνες καὶ οἱ ἀλώπεκες ἔψυγον ἀπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐφοβοῦντο αὐτόν. | And the sheep increased and multiplied, and all the dogs and foxes grew cold from him and were afraid of him.)Gr
48b And that ram begat many sheep and fell asleep; and a little sheep became ram in its stead, and became prince and leader of those sheep.should follow v. 49, which suits best the reign of David. Gk. omits, as it ended with v. 49.
50 And that house became great and broad, and it was built for those sheep: 〈and〉 a tower lofty and great was built on the house for the Lord of the sheep, and that house= Jerusalem. So Test. Levi x. 4 (quoting this passage). The 'tower' is the Temple. 'A full table' refers to the offerings and sacrifices. was low, but the tower was elevated and lofty, and the Lord of the sheep stood on that tower and they offered a full table before Him.
LXXXIX. 51-67. The Two Kingdoms of Israel and Judah to the Destruction of Jerusalem.51-67. Gradual declension of Israel till the Temple is destroyed.
51 And again I saw those sheep that they again erred and went many ways, and forsook that their house,True only of the Ten Tribes. and the Lord of the sheep called some from amongst the sheep and senti.e. the prophets. them to the sheep, but the sheep began to slay them.1Kgs 18:4
52 And one of them was saved and was not slain, and it sped away and cried aloud over the sheep; and they sought to slay it, but the Lord of the sheep saved it from the sheep, and brought it up to me, and caused it to dwell there.Elijah's escape and translation. Cf. xciii. 8.
53 And many other sheep He sent to those sheep to testify unto them and lament over them.
54 And after that I saw that when they forsook the house of the Lord and His tower they fell away entirely, and their eyes were blinded; and I saw the Lord of the sheep how He wrought much slaughter amongst them in their herds until those sheep invited that slaughter and betrayed His place.called in the heathen to help them and so betrayed Jerusalem. Cf. 2 Kings xvi. 7.2Kgs 16:7
55 And He gave them over into the hands of the lions and tigers,Assyrians and Babylonians. In 56, 65 the 'lions' are the Babylonians. The 'wolves' are Egyptians, and perhaps the ' hyenas' are the Ethiopians. and wolves and hyenas, and into the hand of the foxes, and to all the wild beasts, and those wild beasts began to tear in pieces those sheep.The fall of the two kingdoms, and their oppressors' names.
56 And I saw that He forsook that their house and their tower and gave them all into the hand of the lions, to tear and devour them, into the hand of all the wild beasts.God forsakes His city and people. Ep. Barn. xvi. 5 refers to this verse.
57 And I began to cry aloud with all my power, and to appeal to the Lord of the sheep, and to represent to Him in regard to the sheep that they were devoured by all the wild beasts.
58 But He remained unmoved, though He saw it, and rejoiced that they were devoured and swallowed and robbed, and left them to be devoured in the hand of all the beasts.
59 And He called seventyβ. 'seven' α. The 'seventy shepherds' raise the most vexed question in Enoch. They are certainly angels, for (1) they exist contemporaneously and receive their commission together, lxxxix. 59. (2) They are to protect the sheep, and only allow so many to be destroyed by the Gentiles. So they cannot be heathen rulers. (3) Men would have been symbolized by animals. (4) During the earlier period God was Israel's shepherd, now He withdraws and commits their pasturing to seventy of his angels. (5) The angel recorder of lxxxix. 61 is called 'another'. (6) In the judgement they are classed with the fallen angels, xc. 21-25. (7) God speaks directly to them. After the exile, Israel was not immediately shepherded by God but by His delegates. How was it that righteous Jews as well as apostates perished? Because of the faithlessness with which the seventy angels discharged their trust, and this faithlessness was to be punished in due time. The theory of the seventy shepherds is an extension of the conception of the seventy years of Jeremiah and the seventy periods of Daniel. The events between the fall of Jerusalem and the Messianic kingdom are divided into four periods (1) to the Return under Cyrus, {2) to the conquests of Alexander, (3) to the Seleucid conquests of Palestine, (4) to the Messiah's reign. shepherds, and cast those sheep to them that they might pasture them, and He spake to the shepherds and their companions: ‘Let each individual of you pasture the sheep henceforward, and everything that I shall command you that do ye.
60 And I will deliver them over unto you duly numbered, and tell you which of them are to be destroyed—and them destroy ye.’ And He gave over unto them those sheep.The number to be destroyed was a definite one.
61 And He called another and spake unto him: 'Observe and mark everything that the shepherds will do to those sheep; for they will destroy more of them than I have commanded them.in xc. 14, 22 an archangel and Israel's guardian angel, i.e. Michael. This task devolves on Enoch in xii. 3, xv. I, xcii. 1; in 4 Ezra xiv. 22-26 on Ezra, in 2 En. xxii. 11 on Vretil. See K.A.T.³ 400 sq.
62 And every excess and the destruction which will be wrought through the shepherds, record (namely) how many they destroy according to my command, and how many according to their own caprice: record against every individual shepherd all the destruction he effects.
63 And read out before me by number how many they destroy, and how many they deliver over for destruction, that I may have this as a testimony against them, and know every deed of the shepherds, that I may comprehendemended by very slight change. and see what they do, whether or not they abide by my command which I have commanded them.
64 But they shall not know it, and thou shalt not declare it to them, nor admonish them, but only record against each individual all the destruction which the shepherds effect each in his time and lay it all before me.’No interference allowed with the shepherds, but only a record of their evil deeds.
65 And I saw till those shepherds pastured in their season, and they began to slay and to destroy more than they were bidden, and they delivered those sheep into the hand of the lions.65, 66. The lions are the Babylonians, who destroy the 'tower' and the 'house'. Thus the shepherds begin about 590, or if the Assyrians are meant, about 720. For the 'wild boars', or Edomites, cf. Obad. 10-12; Ezek. xxv. 12, xxxv. 5 seqq.; Isa. lxiii. 1-14; Ps. cxxxvii. 7.Obad 1:10-12Ez 25:12Ez 35:5Isa 63:1-14Ps 137:7
66 And the lions and tigers eat and devoured the greater part of those sheep, and the wild boars eat along with them; and they burnt that tower and demolished that house.
67 And I became exceedingly sorrowful over that tower because that house of the sheep was demolished, and afterwards I was unable to see if those sheep entered that house.
LXXXIX. 68-71. First Period of the Angelic Rulers—from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Return from the Captivity.
68 And the shepherds and their associates delivered over those sheep to all the wild beasts, to devour them, and each one of them received in his time a definite number: it was written by the other in a book how many each one of them destroyed of them.
69 And each one slew and destroyed many more than was prescribed; and I began to weep and lament on account of those sheep.
70 And thus in the vision I saw that one who wrote, how he wrote down every one that was destroyed by those shepherds, day by day, and carried up and laid down and showed actually the whole book to the Lord of the sheep—(even) everything that they had done, and all that each one of them had made away with, and all that they had given over to destruction.The first period ends. It lasts twelve hours (v. 72), i.e. twelve shepherds' reigns. The periods are divided thus: 12 + 23 + 23 + 12.
71 And the book was read before the Lord of the sheep, and He took the book from his hand and read it and sealed it and laid it down.
LXXXIX. 72-77. Second Period—from the Time of Cyrus to that of Alexander the Great.
72 And forthwith I saw how the shepherds pastured for twelve hours, and behold three of those sheepZerubbabel, Joshua, and either Ezra or Nehemiah. The difference in their date is disregarded. Büchler holds that these = three tribes, Levi, Judah, and Benjamin. Cf. T. Joseph xix. 3. turned back and came and entered and began to build up all that had fallen down of that house; but the wild boarsHere = Samaritans, not Edomites, as v. 66. tried to hinder them, but they were not able.
73 And they began again to build as before, and they reared up that tower, and it was named the high tower; and they began again to place a table before the tower, but all the bread on it was polluted and not pure.Cf. Mal. i. 7 ' polluted bread,' i.e. unclean offerings because of the unworthy and heathenized people and priesthood. Cf. Ass. Mosis. iv. 8.Mal 1:7
74 And as touching all this the eyes of those sheep were blinded so that they saw not, and (the eyes of) their shepherds likewise; and they delivered them in large numbers to their shepherds for destruction, and they trampled the sheep with their feet and devoured them.
75 And the Lord of the sheep remained unmoved till all the sheep were dispersed over the field and mingled with them (i.e. the beasts), and they (i.e. the shepherds) did not save them out of the hand of the beasts.The Dispersion.
76 And this one who wrote the book carried it up, and showed it and read it before the Lord of the sheep, and implored Him on their account, and besought Him on their account as he showed Him all the doings of the shepherds, and gave testimony before Him against all the shepherds.
77 And he took the actual book and laid it down beside Him and departed.’The second period ends with the fall of the Persian power, which lasts twenty-three hours.
XC. 1-5. Third Period—from Alexander the Great to the Graeco-Syrian Domination.
Chapter 90
1 And I saw till that in this manner thirty-five shepherds undertook the pasturing (of the sheep), and they severally completed their periods as did the first;As the twelve had fulfilled their times, so did the rest of the thirty-five. and others received them into their hands, to pasture them for their period, each shepherd in his own period.All the MSS. are corrupt, qt, β-ky read 'thirty-seven' (corrupted further in qu). In xc. 5 at the close of the third period the three periods are summed up as (12+)23+23=58.Here we have the transition to the Greek period, i.e. from Alexander to the establishment (expected) of the Messianic kingdom. This period has two divisions: (1) twenty-three shepherds of the Graeco-Egyptian rule of Palestine, 330-200; (2) twelve shepherds of Graeco-Syrian rule from 200 till about 140 or 130.
2 And after that I saw in my vision all the birds of heaven coming, the eagles, the vultures, the kites, the ravens; but the eagles led all the birds; and they began to devour those sheep, and to pick out their eyes and to devour their flesh.The new world power – of the Greeks, is represented by a new order–birds of prey. The 'eagles' are the Greeks or Macedonians. The 'ravens' are the Syrians under the Seleucidae (vv. 8, 9, 12). The 'vultures' and 'kites' must be the Egyptians under the Ptolemies.2-4. The Graeco-Egyptian domination.
3 And the sheep cried out because their flesh was being devoured by the birds, and as for me I looked and lamented in my sleep over that shepherd who pastured the sheep.
4 And I saw until those sheep were devoured by the dogs and eagles and kites, and they left neither flesh nor skinMic 3:2-3 nor sinew remaining on them till only their bones stood there: and their bones too fell to the earth and the sheep became few.
5 And I saw until that twenty-three had undertaken the pasturing and completed in their several periods fifty-eight times.
XC. 6-12. Fourth Period—from the Graeco-Syrian Domination to the Maccabean Revolt.
6-17. The fourth and last period of heathen supremacy, the Graeco-Syrian domination over Israel, from 200 to 140 or 130 B.C. See Commentary in loc.
6 But behold lambs were borne by those white sheep, and they began to open their eyesrise of the Chasids, who existed previous to the Maccabean outbreak. See 1 Macc. ii. 42, iii. 13, and 1 En. xc. 9. They possessed all the enthusiasm and religious doctrine of the nation. While champions of the law against the Hellenizing Sadducees they held advanced views on the Messianic kingdom and the Resurrection. The writer of these Dream-visions was evidently a Chasid. He teaches the Resurrection, the final judgement, and the kingdom of the Messiah, and above all he criticizes severely the moral and ceremonial irregularities in the services of the second temple (lxxxix. 73). For this writer the Chasid aims–the re-establishment of the Theocracy and the preparation for the Messianic kingdom– are bound up with the success of the Maccabean leader. This could not be the case after Jonathan's assumption of the high- priesthood in 153 B.C., which not merely alienated the Chasids from the Maccabean family, but made them its deadly enemies. Thus we date lxxxiii-xc before 153 B.C. and to see, and to cry to the sheep.6-7. The Chasids or 'lambs' appeal in vain to the nation, owing to foreign oppression.
7 Yea, they cried to them, but they did not hearken to what they said to them, but were exceedingly deaf, and their eyes were very exceedingly blinded.
8 And I saw in the vision how the ravens flew upon those lambs and took one of those lambs, and dashed the sheep in pieces and devoured them.Onias III, put to death by the Syrians in 171 B.C. See 2 Macc. iv. 33-35.
9 And I saw till horns grew upon those lambs, and the ravens cast down their horns; and I saw till there sprouted a great horn of one of those sheep, and their eyes were opened.The horned lambs must be the Maccabees, and the great horn must be Judas Maccabaeus. This section is thus earlier than Judas' death in 160 B.C. See my Commentary for further notes.Unlike the Chasids, the Maccabees do not appeal in vain.
10 And it †looked at† them [and their eyes opened], and it cried to the sheep, and the rams saw it and all ran to it.
11 And notwithstanding all this those eagles and vultures and ravens and kites still kept tearing the sheep and swooping down upon them and devouring them: still the sheep remained silent, but the rams lamented and cried out.11, 12. Syria uses every effort against Judas but in vain.
12 And those ravens fought and battled with it and sought to lay low its horn, but they had no power over it.
XC. 13-19. The last Assault of the Gentiles on the Jews (where vv. 13-15 and 16-18 are doublets).
13 And I saw till the †shepherds and† eagles and those vultures and kites came, and †they cried to the ravens†i.e. יִזְעֲקוּ (or יצעקו) for יִזְעֲקוּ (or יצעקו) 'were gathered together'. See v. 16 again. The LXX thus mistranslates יזעקו in Judges vi. 34, 35, xviii. 22, Jos. viii. 16, 1 Sam. xiv. 20. So I read 'and I saw till the ravens and eagles and vultures and kites were gathered together,' etc.Judg 6:34-35Judg 18:22Judg 8:161Sam 14:20 that they should break the horn of that ram, and they battled and fought with it, and it battled with them and cried that its help might come.The symbolism becomes looser here, and the 'vultures' and 'kites' are no longer restricted to the Graeco-Egyptians as in v. 2. See v. 16, and compare the varying reference of boars in lxxxix. 66 and 72. So perhaps here the vultures and kites are Ammon and Moab.
14 And I saw till that man, who wrote down the names of the shepherds [and] carried up into the presence of the Lord of the sheep [came and helped it and showed it everything: he had come down for the help of that ram].An intrusion. There is no intervention needed to save Israel which triumphs over Gog in v. 19. This clause, whether added in the Hebrew or the Greek, has a clear reference to the help which Michael gave to Judas Maccabaeus. See 2 Mace. xi. 6, 8. Michael is Israel's patron, as well as the heavenly scribe in these chapters.
15 And I saw till the Lord of the sheep came unto them in wrath, and all who saw Him fled, and they all fell †into His shadow† from before His face.15, 18. God himself destroys Israel's last foes like Korah and his followers. Num. xvi. 31 seqq. This is the first act of the final judgement; the remaining acts are quite forensic.Num 16:31
16 All the eagles and vultures and ravens and kites were gathered together, and there came with them all the sheep of the field, yea, they all came together, and helped each other to break that horn of the ram.
17 And I saw that man, who wrote the book according to the command of the Lord, till he opened that book concerning the destruction which those twelve last shepherds had wrought, and showed that they had destroyed much more than their predecessors, before the Lord of the sheep.
18 And I saw till the Lord of the sheep came unto them and took in His hand the staff of His wrath, and smote the earth,recall Num. xx. 11, while the earth clave asunder recalls Num. xvi. 31-33.Num 20:11Num 16:31-33 and the earth clave asunder, and all the beasts and all the birds of the heaven fell from among those sheep, and were swallowed up in the earth and it covered them.
19 And I saw till a great sword was given to the sheep, and the sheep proceeded against all the beasts of the field to slay them, and all the beasts and the birds of the heaven fled before their face.The sword is given to Israel to oppose the hosts of Gog and to avenge itself on its heathen oppressors; in xci. 12 the sword has a higher ethical significance, the judgement of oppression and sin.
XC. 20-27. Judgement of the Fallen Angels, the Shepherds, and the Apostates.
20 And I saw till a throne was erected in the pleasant land,i.e. Palestine, cf. lxxxix. 40 and Dan. xi. 16, 41, 45. God's throne is set up in Jerusalem (vv. 28, 29). The books are opened as in Dan. vii. 10. See xlvii. 3 (note). The Messiah does not appear till after the judgement in lxxxiii-xc.Dan 11:16Dan 11:41Dan 11:45Dan 7:10 and the Lord of the sheep sat Himself thereon, and the other took the sealed books and opened those books before the Lord of the sheep.
21 And the Lord called those men the seven first white ones,For these seven archangels cf. the Zoroastrian Amshaspands, and Tobit xii. 15; Rev. i. 4; iv. 5; viii. 2. See Cheyne, Origin of the Psalter pp. 281, 282, etc.; Jewish Encycl. i. 590.Rev 1:4Rev 4:5Rev 8:2 and commanded that they should bring before Him, beginning with the first star which led the way, all the stars whose privy members were like those of horses, and they brought them all before Him.
22 And He said to that man who wrote before Him, being one of those seven white ones, and said unto him: ‘Take those seventy shepherds to whom I delivered the sheep, and who taking them on their own authority slew more than I commanded them.’22-25. The shepherds are judged along with the fallen Watchers.
23 And behold they were all bound, I saw, and they all stood before Him.
24 And the judgement was held first over the stars, and they were judged and found guilty, and went to the place of condemnation, and they were cast into an abyss, full of fireTheir final prison, as in x. 6, xviii. 11, xxi. 7-10, liv. 6. Contrast xviii. 12. and flaming, and full of pillars of fire.
25 And those seventy shepherds were judged and found guilty, and they were cast into that fiery abyss.[Rev 20:15]
26 And I saw at that time how a like abyss was opened in the midst of the earth, full of fire, and they brought those blinded sheep, and they were all judged and found guilty and cast into this fiery abyss, and they burned; now this abyss was to the right of that house.The Apostates are cast into Gehenna, south of Jerusalem ('to the right', etc.).
27 And I saw those sheep burning †and their bones burning†.The Apostates suffer in view of the blessed Jerusalem. Cf. Isa. lxvi. 24, 1 En. xlviii. 9 (note).Isa 66:24
XC. 28-42. The New Jerusalem, the Conversion of the surviving Gentiles, the Resurrection of the Righteous, the Messiah. Enoch awakes and weeps.
28 And I stood up to see till they folded up that old house; and carried off all the pillars, and all the beams and ornaments of the house were at the same time folded up with it, and they carried it off and laid it in a place in the south of the land.28, 29. The old Jerusalem removed and the new set up. Cf. O.T. prophecy: Ezek. xl-xlviii; Isa. liv. 11, 12; lx; Hag. ii. 7-9; Zech. ii. 6-13. A New Jerusalem descending from heaven is a familiar idea in Jewish Apocalypses. Cf. 4 Ezra vii. 26; xiii. 36; 2 Bar. xxxii. 2; Rev. xxi. 2, 10.Isa 54:11-12Isa 60:1-22Ez 40-48Hag 2:7-9Zech 2:6-13Rev 21:2Rev 21:10
29 And I saw till the Lord of the sheep brought a new house greater and loftier than that first, and set it up in the place of the first which had been folded up: all its pillars were new, and its ornaments were new and larger than those of the first, the old one which He had taken away, and all the sheep were within it.
30 And I saw all the sheep which had been left, and all the beasts on the earth, and all the birds of the heaven, falling down and doing homage to those sheep and making petition to and obeying them in everylit. 'in every word'. thing.Conversion of the surviving Gentiles and their spontaneous submission to Israel. Cf. Isa. xiv. 2; lxvi. 12, 19-21, etc. Contrast the later Jewish view, Weber Jüd. Theol. 384-387, 395.Isa 14:2
31 And thereafter those threeseemingly Elijah, lxxxix. 52. who were clothed in white[Rev 3:5][Rev 4:4] and had seized me by my hand [who had taken me up before], and the hand of that ram also seizing hold of me, they took me up and set me down in the midst of those sheep †before the judgement took place†.These words are awkward here.
32 And those sheep were all white,=righteous; abundant and clean wool=righteousness in large measure. Cf. Isa. i. 26; iv. 3; lx. 21.Isa 1:26Isa 4:3Isa 60:21 and their wool was abundant and clean.
33 And all that had been destroyed and dispersed, and all the beasts of the field, and all the birds of the heaven, assembled in that house, and the Lord of the sheep rejoicedIsa 62:3-5Isa 65:19 with great joy because they were all good and had returned to His house.The righteous dead will rise to share in the kingdom. Cf. li. 1. Also the dispersion are gathered into it. Cf. Mic. iv. 6, 7.Mic 4:6-7
34 And I saw till they laid down that sword, which had been given to the sheep, and they brought it back into the house, and it was sealed before the presence of the Lord, and all the sheep were invited into that house, but it held them not.Israel's sword sealed and preserved as a memorial.Isa 49:19-21Zech 2:4Zech 10:10
35 And the eyes of them all were opened, and they saw the good, and there was not one among them that did not see.
36 And I saw that that house was large and broad and very full.
37 And I saw that a white bullThe Messiah emerges from the bosom of the community. He is not angelic, but human, yet superior to the righteous symbolized by sheep. As human he corresponds to the Messiah of the prophets, not that of the Parables (apocalyptic). He has, however, no function and comes after the judgement. The Messiah-hope was practically dead while such a leader as Judas lived. Later some revived the O.T. Messiah, the Son of David as in Pss. Solomon (70-40 B.C.), others followed the idea of the supernatural Son of Man given us in the Parables (94-70 B.C.). was born, with large horns, and all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air feared him and made petition to him all the time.
38 And I saw till all their generations were transformed, and they all became white bulls; and the first among them became a lamb, and that lamb became a great animal and had great black horns on its head; and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced over it and over all the oxen.All the members of the kingdom are transformed, and the Messiah becomes a lamb. Their life is now apparently unending, and there is a return to the primitive righteousness of Eden, i.e. Adam was a white bull.
39 And I slept in their midst: and I awoke and saw everything.
40 This is the vision which I saw while I slept, and I awoke and blessed the Lord of righteousness and gave Him glory.
41 Then I wept with a great weeping and my tears stayed not till I could no longer endure it: when I saw, they flowed on account of what I had seen; for everything shall come and be fulfilled, and all the deeds of men in their order were shown to me.
42 On that night I remembered the first dream, and because of it I wept and was troubled—because I had seen that vision.
Section V.XCI-XCIV. I have rearranged these chapters in what was apparently their original order (see above) and treated the Apocalypse of Weeks, i.e. xciii. 1-10, xci. 12-17, as an earlier fragment incorporated by the author of xci-civ or the editor of the whole book. Beer, however, taking xci. 1-11, 18-19 as the introduction to the Apocalypse of Weeks, rearranges the order as xci. 1-11, 18-19, xciii, xci. 12-17, xcii, xciv.
Chapters XCI-CIV (i.e. XCII, XCI. 1-10, 18-19, XCIII. 1-10, XCI. 12-17, XCIV—CIV).
A Book of Exhortation and Promised Blessing for the Righteous and of Malediction and Woe for the Sinners.
XCII, XCI. 1-10, 18-19. Enoch’s Book of Admonition for his Children.
Chapter 92<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The beginning of the new book composed of xci-civ. The original order was xcii, xci. 1-10, 18-19, xciii. 1-10, xci. 12-17, xciv, as printed here.</note>
1 The book written by Enoch—[Enoch indeed wrote this complete doctrine of wisdom, (which is) praised of all men and a judge of all the earth]For wisdom as God's assessor see lxxxiv. 3 (note). for all my children who shall dwell on the earth. And for the future generations who shall observe uprightness and peace.
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2 Let not your spirit be troubled on account of the times;The times though evil are ordained of God. |
| For the Holy and Great One has appointed days for all things. |
|
3 And the righteous one shall arise from sleep, |
| [Shall arise] and walk in the paths of righteousness, |
| And all his path and conversation shall be in eternal goodness and grace. |
|
4 He will be gracious to the righteous and give him eternal uprightness, |
| And He will give him powerUprightness and power will no longer be dissevered. so that he shall be (endowed) with goodness and righteousness, |
| And he shall walk in eternal light.[1John 1:7] |
|
5 And sin shall perish in darkness for ever, |
| And shall no more be seen from that day for evermore. |
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XCI. 1-10. 18-19. Enoch’s Admonition to his Children.
Chapter 91
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1 ‘And now, my son Methuselah, call to me all thy brothersEnoch calls his sons together. Cf. lxxxi. 5, 6. |
| And gather together to me all the sonsTheir names are given in 2 En. i. 10, lvii. 2. of thy mother; |
| For the word calls me, |
| And the spirit is poured out upon me, |
| That I may show you everything |
| That shall befall you for ever.’ |
|
2 And thereupon Methuselah went and summoned to him all his brothers and assembled his relatives. |
3 And he spake unto all the children of righteousness and said: |
|
| ‘Hear, ye sons of Enoch, all the words of your father, |
| And hearken aright to the voice of my mouth; |
| For I exhort you and say unto you, beloved: |
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4 Love uprightness and walk therein. |
| And draw not nigh to uprightness with a double heart,Ps 12:2Jas 1:8 |
| And associate not with those of a double heart, |
|
| But walk in righteousness, my sons. |
| And it shall guide you on good paths,Perhaps a reference to the Two Ways. Cf. v. 19. |
| And righteousness shall be your companion. |
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5 For I know that violence must increaseEmended easily from text which = 'the state of violence shall increase.' on the earth,The Deluge. |
| And a great chastisement be executed on the earth, |
| And all unrighteousness come to an end: |
|
| Yea, it shall be cut off from its roots, |
| And its whole structure be destroyed. |
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6 And unrighteousness shall again be consummated on the earth, |
| And all the deeds of unrighteousness and of violence |
| And transgression shall prevail in a twofold degree. |
|
7 And when sin and unrighteousness and blasphemy7, 8. This fresh development of wickedness will call forth the final judgement. |
| And violence in all kinds of deeds increase, |
| And apostasy and transgression and uncleanness increase, |
|
| A great chastisement shall come from heaven upon all these, |
| And the holy Lord will come forth with wrath and chastisement |
| To execute judgement on earth. |
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8 In those days violence shall be cut off from its roots, |
| And the roots of unrighteousness together with deceit, |
| And they shall be destroyed from under heaven. |
|
9 And all the idols of the heathen shall be abandoned,The absolute rejection of the heathen seems to be taught here, the prevailing, though not the universal, belief of later Judaism. Contrast v. 14. |
| And the temples burned with fire, |
| And they shall remove them from the whole earth, |
|
| And they (i.e. the heathen) shall be cast into the judgement of fire, |
| And shall perish in wrath and in grievous judgement for ever. |
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10 And the righteousThe singular used collectively, as in xcii. 3. In xci-civ only the righteous attain to the Resurrection. See li. 1 (note). shall arise from their sleep, |
| And wisdom shall arise and be given unto them. |
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11 [And after that the roots of unrighteousness shall be cut off, and the sinners shall be destroyed by the sword . . . shall be cut off from the blasphemers in every place, and those who plan violence and those who commit blasphemy shall perish by the sword.]This verse is an interpolation by the final editor, added to introduce vv. 12-17, which originally followed xciii.1-10 Judgement has already been consummated in xci. 7-9, and the resurrection attained xci. 10. Verse 11 reverts to the period of the sword -which precedes the Resurrection (xc. 19. xci. 12; cf. c. 4, 5).12-17. I read these verses after xciii. 14.
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18 And now I tell you, my sons, and show you |
| The paths of righteousness and the paths of violence. |
| Yea, I will show them to you again |
| That ye may know what will come to pass. |
19 And now, hearken unto me, my sons, |
| And walk in the paths of righteousness, |
| And walk not in the paths of violence; |
| For all who walk in the paths of unrighteousness shall perish for ever.’ |
|
XCIII, XCI. 12-17. The Apocalypse of Weeks.
Chapter 93
1 And after that Enoch both †gave† and began to recount from the books.1-10. An account of the great events of the world during the first seven weeks of its history, which are already past. The three last weeks of xci. 12-17 belong to the future. This Apocalypse of weeks refers to the Dream-visions, lxxxiii-xc, but not being by the same author is irreconcilable with them. The ten weeks are not definite and equal periods, but of varying length, each marked, especially towards its close, by some great event, e.g. the first by Enoch's birth, the third by Abraham's call, the seventh by the publication of Enoch's writings. In the eighth the Messianic kingdom is established and lasts to the close of the tenth week. The final judgement in xci. 15 is held at the close of the Messianic kingdom.
2 And Enoch said:These disclosures are for the children of righteousness. Cf. xcii. 1.
|
| ‘Concerning the children of righteousness and concerning the elect of the world,Here only in Enoch. |
| And concerning the plant of uprightness, I will speak these things, |
| Yea, I Enoch will declare (them) unto you, my sons: |
|
| According to that which appeared to me in the heavenly vision, |
| And which I have known through the word of the holy angels, |
| And have learnt from the heavenly tablets.’ |
|
3 And Enoch began to recount from the books and said: |
| ‘I was born the seventh in the first week,Cf. 'seventh from Adam', Jude 14; also Gen. v. 24 where he is the seventh of the patriarchs. This does not imply that each week = Exactly seven generations, as the sixth and seventh must = fourteen or more.Gen 5:24Jude 1:14 |
| While judgement and righteousness still endured.i.e. goodness still prevailed. Or we may render 'were still held back', i.e. the Deluge was not yet. |
|
4 And after me there shall arise in the second week great wickedness,This growth of wickedness should belong to Jared's days as in vi. 6 and cvi. 13. The Deluge and the covenant with Noah (a law for the sinners) occur in this week. |
| And deceit shall have sprung up; |
| And in it there shall be the first end. |
|
| And in it a man shall be saved; |
| And after it is ended unrighteousness shall grow up, |
| And a law shall be made for the sinners.[1Tim 1:9-10] |
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5 And after that in the third week at its closeAbraham and his seed are chosen to reveal God's righteous judgements. Cf. x. 16 (note) and xciii. 2, 10. |
| A man shall be elected as the plant of righteous judgement, |
| And his posterityText reads 'after him (or 'it') it shall come' (or 'become'). shall become the plant of righteousness for evermore. |
|
6 And after that in the fourth week, at its close, |
| VisionsDivine manifestations in favour of Israel in Egypt. of the holy and righteous shall be seen, |
| And a lawgiven on Sinai, binding for all time. Cf. xcix. 2. for all generations and an enclosure shall be made for them.i.e. Palestine. Cf. lxxxix. 2.[John 14:2] |
|
7 And after that in the fifth week, at its close,The Temple will stand for ever, though one form of it may give place to another. In xci-civ proper, there appears to be no Temple after the final judgement. The risen righteous enjoy a purely spiritual existence like the angels. Cf. Jub. and possibly Pss. Sol. |
| The house of glory and dominion shall be built for ever. |
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8 And after that in the sixth week all who live in it shall be blinded,The divided kingdoms, Elijah (lxxxix. 52), the Temple's fall and the Captivity. |
| And the hearts of all of them shall godlessly forsake wisdom. |
|
| And in it a man shall ascend;[John 20:17] |
| And at its close the house of dominion shall be burnt with fire, |
| And the whole race of the chosen root shall be dispersed. |
|
9 And after that in the seventh week shall an apostate generation arise,From the captivity to the author's time an apostate period. Cf. lxxxix. 73 75. |
| And many shall be its deeds, |
| And all its deeds shall be apostate. |
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10 And at its close shall be electedThe writer's own disclosures are to be made known at the end of the seventh week. For the extravagant claims he makes cf. Sir. xxiv. 28-32. |
| The elect righteous of the eternal plant of righteousness, |
| To receive sevenfold instruction concerning all His creation. |
|
11 [For who is there of all the children of men that is able to hear the voice of the Holy Onei.e. the thunder. Cf. Job xxxvii. 4, 5; Ps. xxix.Job 37:4-5Ps 29 without being troubled? And who can think His thoughts?Job 5:9Job 9:10Job 38:33Ps 40:5Ps 92:5Eccl 11:5 and who is there that can behold all the works of heaven?11-14. These verses are quite out of place in their present context, and suit rather the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries lxxii-lxxix, lxxxii; but are foreign to the whole tone of this book, xci-civ.
12 And how should there be one who could behold the heaven, and who is there that could understand the things of heaven and see a soul or a spirit and could tell thereof, or ascend and see all their endsi.e. of the things of heaven. But the text may be corrupt for 'their causes'. and think them or do like them?Enoch's journey through heaven and Hades is referred to.
13 And who is there of all men that could know what is the breadth and the length of the earth, and to whom has been shown the measure of all of them?Not given in Enoch. Cf. Job xxxviii. 4, 5.Job 38:4-5
14 Or is there any one who could discern the length of the heaven and how great is its height, and upon what it is founded, and how great is the number of the stars, and where all the luminaries rest?]Not given in Enoch. Jer. xxxi. 37; Job xi. 8.Jer 31:37Job 11:8
XCI. 12-17. The Last Three Weeks.
Chapter 91
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12 And after that there shall be another, the eighth week, that of righteousness,12-17. These verses giving an account of the last three weeks of the world's history are here restored to their place after xciii. 1-10, the account of the first seven weeks.The eighth week sees the setting up of the Messianic kingdom, and the first act of the final judgement–the period of the sword (xc. 19), when the wicked are given into the hand of the righteous. Cf. xcv. 7, xcvi. 1, xcviii. 12, xcix. 4, 6, also xxxviii. 5. |
| And a sword shall be given to it that a righteous judgement may be executed on the oppressors, |
| And sinners shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous. |
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13 And at its close they shall acquire houses through their righteousness,After strife will follow rest and quiet possession of the earth. Cf. Isa. lx. 21, 22, lxv. 20-23.Isa 60:21-22Isa 65:20-23 |
| And a house shall be built for the Great KingThe temple, and also Jerusalem. g reads 'the house of the Great King shall be built'. in glory for evermore, |
14d And all mankind shall look to the path of uprightness.This verse may refer to the conversion of the Gentiles, as l. 2-5, xc. 30, 33, 35, cf. 14ᵈ. Or it may refer to the open punishment by God of the wicked. Cf. 14ᶜ. |
|
14a And after that, in the ninth week, the righteous judgement shall be revealed to the whole world, |
b And all the works of the godless shall vanish from all the earth, |
c And the world shall be written down for destruction.m, β: 'He shall write down (i.e. decree) the destruction of the world' g: 'He shall write down the world for destruction' t: > u: q = a. corruption of g (?). This is to take place in the end of the tenth week. |
|
15 And after this, in the tenth week in the seventh part, |
| There shall be the great eternal judgement, |
| In which He will execute vengeance amongst the angels.a-t. The structure of the stanza supports this text. t,β-in insert a gloss and read 'There shall be the eternal judgement. And it shall be executed on the watchers of the eternal heaven. The great (judgement) in which He will execute vengeance among the angels.' |
|
16 And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, |
| And a new heaven shall appear,(cf. Isa. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22; Ps. cii. 26), but no new earth. Cf. civ. 2 (note). For a new creation, cf. xlv. 4, lxxii. 1 (note).Isa 65:17Isa 66:22Ps 102:26 |
| And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold light.Isa 30:26Isa 60:19-20 |
|
17 And after that there will be many weeks without number for ever,End of Apocalypse of Weeks. |
| And all shall be in goodness and righteousness, |
| And sin shall no more be mentioned for ever. |
|
XCIV. 1-5. Admonitions to the Righteous.
Chapter 94<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Introduces the practical part of this section.</note>
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1 And now I say unto you, my sons, love righteousness and walk therein; |
| For the paths of righteousness are worthy of acceptation,1Tim 1:15[1Tim 4:9] |
| But the paths of unrighteousness shall suddenly be destroyedCf. Ps. i. 6. On the 'Two Ways' see xci. 19 (note).Ps 1:6 and vanish. |
|
2 And to certain men of a generation shall the paths of violence and of deathProv 14:12Jer 21:8 be revealed,The revelations through Moses and the Prophets. |
| And they shall hold themselves afar from them, |
| And shall not follow them. |
|
3 And now I say unto you the righteous: |
| Walk not in the paths of wickedness, nor in the paths of death, |
| And draw not nigh to them, lest ye be destroyed. |
|
4 But seek and choose for yourselves righteousness and an elect life, |
| And walk in the paths of peace, |
| And ye shall live and prosper. |
|
5 And hold fast my words in the thoughts of your hearts, |
| And suffer them not to be effaced from your hearts; |
|
| For I know that sinners will tempt men to evilly-entreat wisdom, |
| So that no place may be found for her, |
| And no manner of temptation may minish. |
|
XCIV. 6-11. Woes for the Sinners.
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6 Woe to those who build unrighteousness and oppression6-10. Woes, cf. Isa. v. 8-25; Matt, xxiii. 13-33, etc.Isa 5:8-25Matt 23:13-33 |
| And lay deceit as a foundation; |
| For they shall be suddenly overthrown, |
| And they shall have no peace. |
|
7 Woe to those who build their houses with sin;from Jer. xxii. 13. Cf. 1 En. xcix. 13.Jer 22:13 |
| For from all their foundations shall they be overthrown, |
| And by the sword shall they fall. |
| [And those who acquire gold and silver in judgement suddenly shall perish.]The subject of 'riches' conies in the next verse, and this clause spoils the stanza here. |
|
8 Woe to you, ye rich, for ye have trusted in your riches,[Mark 10:24] |
| And from your riches shall ye depart, |
| Because ye have not remembered the Most High in the days of your riches. |
|
9 Ye have committed blasphemy and unrighteousness,Jas 5:1-5 |
| And have become ready for the day of slaughter, |
| And the day of darkness and the day of the great judgement. |
|
10 Thus I speak and declare unto you: |
| He who hath created you will overthrow you, |
| And for your fall there shall be no compassion, |
| And your Creator will rejoiceContrast Ezek. xviii. 23, 32, xxxiii. 11, and cf. Pss. ii. 3, 4; xxxvii. 12, 13; 1 En. lxxxix. 58 and xcvii. 2.Ez 18:23Ez 18:32Ez 33:11Ps 2:3-4Ps 37:12-13 at your destruction. |
|
11 And your righteous ones in those days shall be |
| A reproach to the sinners and the godless. |
|
XCV. Enoch’s Grief: fresh Woes against the Sinners.
Chapter 95
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1 Oh thatFrom Jer. ix. 1. Quoted by 2 Bar. xxxv. 2.Jer 9:1 mine eyes were [a cloud of] waters |
| That I might weep over you, |
| And pour down my tears as a cloud †of waters†: |
| That so I might rest from my trouble of heart! |
|
2 †Who has permittedg,β (=מי נתנכם). But a-g read, and possibly rightly, 'Oh that ye were' (=מי יתנכם). Then, either omitting with g 'to practise', or emending it to 'become', and adopting the subjunctive in the next line with β, and not the indicative in ɑ, we have: Oh that ye were become a reproach and an evil, And that so judgement might overtake you, sinners. you to practise reproaches and wickedness? |
| And so judgement shall overtake you, sinners.† |
|
3 Fear not the sinners, ye righteous; |
| For againas in the first Maccabean victories. Though now even the Maccabean princes are Sadducees, the righteous will again prevail. will the Lord deliver them into your hands, |
| That ye may execute judgement upon them according to your desires. |
|
4 Woe to you who fulminate anathemas which cannot be reversed:Cf. viii. 3. Magical practices and incantations are referred to, but the expression is strange. |
| Healing shall therefore be far from you because of your sins. |
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5 Woe to you who requite your neighbour with evil;Prov 20:22Prov 24:29Rom 12:17 |
| For ye shall be requited according to your works.Judg 1:7 |
|
6 Woe to you, lying witnesses, |
| And to those who weigh out injustice, |
| For suddenly shall ye perish. |
|
7 Woe to you, sinners, for ye persecute the righteous; |
| For ye shall be delivered up and persecuted because of injustice, |
| And heavy shall its yoke be upon you. |
|
XCVI. Grounds of Hopefulness for the Righteous: Woes for the Wicked.
Chapter 96<note type="x-footnote" n="1">The righteous are to hope for the coming Messianic kingdom.</note>
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1 Be hopeful, ye righteous; for suddenly shall the sinners perish before you, |
| And ye shall have lordship over them according to your desires. |
|
2 [And in the day of the tribulation of the sinners,Is it suffered or caused by the sinners ? |
| Your children shall mount and riseIsa 40:31 as eagles,Interpolation. The wicked will hide themselves, not the righteous, in the coming time; xcvii. 3, c. 4, cii. 1, civ. 5. But the first three lines may be original. |
| And higher than the vulturesJer 49:16 will be your nest, |
| And ye shall ascend and enter the crevicesIsa. ii. 10, 19, 21, from the presence of the Lord, not as here 'before the unrighteous' – a clumsy insertion.Isa 2:10Isa 2:19Isa 2:21 of the earth, |
| And the clefts of the rock for ever as coneys before the unrighteous, |
| And the sirens'as the sirens' qt,β. These may be satyrs or sirens–by the same word the Eth. version renders σειρήνες in Isa. xiii. 21, Jer. xxvii. (1.) 39.Isa 13:21 shall sigh because of you—and weep.] |
|
3 Wherefore fear not, ye that have suffered; |
| For healing shall be your portion, |
| And a bright light shall enlighten you, |
| And the voice of rest ye shall hear from heaven. |
|
4 Woe unto you, ye sinners, for your riches make you appear like the righteous,Prosperity was a mark of righteousness, in the O.T. doctrine of retribution. |
| But your hearts convict you of being sinners, |
| And this fact shall be a testimony against you for a memorial of (your) evil deeds. |
|
5 Woe to you who devour the finest of the wheat,Ps 8:16Ps 147:14 |
| And drink wine in large bowls,i.e. not in ordinary wine-cups. Cf. the flagons of the magnates in Samaria, Amos vi. 6. The text is corrupt = 'the strength of the root of the fountain' = כח עִיקָר עַיִן which I emend to במזרקי ייִן the phrase in Amos.Amos 6:6 |
| And tread under foot the lowly with your might. |
|
6 Woe to you who drink water from every fountain,The self-indulgent life will fail, for want of the fountain of true life. Cf. Jer. ii. 13; Ps. xxxvi. 9.Jer 2:13Ps 36:9 |
| For suddenly shall ye be consumed and wither away, |
| Because ye have forsakenJer 2:13 the fountain of life. |
|
7 Woe to you who work unrighteousness |
| And deceit and blasphemy: |
| It shall be a memorial against you for evil. |
|
8 Woe to you, ye mighty, |
| Who with might oppress the righteous; |
| For the day of your destruction is coming. |
|
| In those days many and good days shall come to the righteous—in the day of your judgement.a temporary Messianic kingdom, in which the righteous then alive will share. |
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XCVII. The Evils in Store for Sinners and the Possessors of Unrighteous Wealth.
Chapter 97<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Woes of the wicked.</note>
|
1 Believe, ye righteous, that the sinners will become a shame |
| And perish in the day of unrighteousness.i.e. the judgement day. See xlv. 2 (note). |
2 Be it known unto you (ye sinners) that the Most High is mindful of your destruction, |
| And the angels of heaven rejoice over your destruction.Cf. xciv. 10 and contrast Luke xv. 10. angels of heaven ɑ-n. 'angels' β-n.Luke 15:10 |
|
3 What will ye do, ye sinners, |
| And whither will ye flee on that day of judgement, |
| When ye hear the voice of the prayer of the righteous?Cf. v. 5, and xlvii. 2, xcvii. 3, xcix. 3, 16, civ. 3, and Rev. vi. 10.Rev 6:10 |
|
4 Yea, ye shall fare like unto them, |
| Against whom this wordCf. xcvi. 4. Note the Pharisaic idea of separateness from the unrighteous. shall be a testimony: |
| “Ye have been companions of sinners.” |
|
5 And in those days the prayer of the righteous shall reach unto the Lord, |
| And for you the days of your judgement shall come. |
|
6 And all the words of your unrighteousness shall be read outfrom the books. See xlvii. 3 (note). Cf. Matt. xii. 36.Matt 12:36 before the Great Holy One, |
| And your faces shall be covered with shame, |
| And He will reject every work which is grounded on unrighteousness. |
|
7 Woe to you, ye sinners, who live on the mid ocean and on the dry land, |
| Whose remembrance is evil against you. |
|
8 Woe to you who acquire silver and gold in unrighteousness and say:Cf. xciv. 7, 8 (note); also Sir. xi. 19; Luke xii. 19.Luke 12:19 |
| ‘We have become rich with riches and have possessions;[Rev 3:17] |
| And have acquired everything we have desired. |
|
9 And now let us do what we purposed: |
| For we have gathered silver, |
9c And many are the husbandmen in our houses.’ |
9d And our granaries are (brim) full as with water, |
10 Yea and like water your lies shall flow away;A rejoinder to the boasting of the sinners. |
| For your riches shall not abide |
| But speedily ascendProv 23:5 from you; |
|
| For ye have acquired it all in unrighteousness, |
| And ye shall be given over to a great curse. |
|
XCVIII. Self-indulgence of Sinners: Sin originated by Man: all Sin recorded in Heaven: Woes for the Sinners.
Chapter 98<note type="x-footnote" n="1">A new division begins, xcviii-cii. 3, a denunciation of the sinners' errors in life and doctrine. Their coming judgement.</note>
|
1 And now I swearHere first, but frequently after, in verses 4, 6, xcix. 6, etc. unto you, to the wise and to the foolish,xcviii-cii. 3 to the foolish; cii. 4-civ to the wise. |
| For ye shall have manifold experiences on the earth. |
|
2 For ye men shall put on more adornments than a woman,Their personality will be lost in their possessions, as water is lost in the earth. Cf. Ps. xxii. 14 for the phrase.Ps 22:14 |
| And coloured garments more than a virgin: |
| In royalty and in grandeur and in power, |
| And in silver and in gold and in purple, |
| And in splendour and in food they shall be poured out as water. |
|
3 Therefore they shall be wanting in doctrine and wisdom, |
| And they shall perish thereby together with their possessions; |
| And with all their glory and their splendour, |
| And in shame and in slaughter and in great destitution, |
| Their spiritscf. verse 10, ciii. 8. As incorporeal spirits the wicked are cast into the final place of punishment. shall be cast into the furnace of fire. |
|
4 I have sworn unto you, ye sinners, as a mountain has not become a slave,Sin is of man†’s own devising. See lxix. 11 (note). Contrast c. 4. It is not original or unavoidable, but voluntary, and therefore punished. Cf. 2 Baruch xviii. 2, liv. 15. |
| And a hill does not become the handmaid of a woman, |
| Even so sin has not been sent upon the earth, |
| But man of himself has created it, |
| And under a great curse shall they fall who commit it. |
|
5 And barrenness has not been given to the woman,The instance is an illustration of the general law. Cf. Hos. ix. 14.Hos 9:14 |
| But on account of the deeds of her own hands she dies without children. |
|
6 I have sworn unto you, ye sinners, by the Holy Great One,God does concern Himself with men's deeds. Cf. Job xxii. 13; Ps. lxxiii. 11.Job 22:13Ps 73:11 |
| That all your evil deeds are revealed in the heavens, |
| And that none of your deeds of oppression are covered and hidden. |
|
7 And do not think in your spirit nor say in your heart that ye do not know and that ye do not see that every sin is every day recorded in heaven in the presence of the Most High.
8 From henceforthafter the publication of Enoch's book. ye know that all your oppression wherewith ye oppress is written down every day till the day of your judgement.
9 Woe to you, ye fools, for through your folly shall ye perish: and ye transgress against the wise, and so good hap shall not be your portion.
10 And now, know ye that ye are prepared for the day of destruction: wherefore do not hope to live, ye sinners, but ye shall depart and die; for ye know no ransom;Ps 49:7-9 for ye are prepared for the day of the great judgement, for the day of tribulation and great shame for your spirits.
11 Woe to you, ye obstinate of heart, who work wickedness and eat blood:Cf vii. 5; Jubilees vii, 28-32, xxi. 6; Acts xv. 29.Acts 15:29 Whence have ye good things to eat and to drink and to be filled? From all the good things which the Lord the Most High has placed in abundance on the earth; therefore ye shall have no peace.
12 Woe to you who love the deeds of unrighteousness: wherefore do ye hope for good hap unto yourselves? know that ye shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous, and they shall cut off your necks and slay you, and have no mercy upon you.
13 Woe to you who rejoice in the tribulation of the righteous; for no grave shall be dug for you.No burial. Cf. Jer. viii. 2, xxii. 19.Jer 8:2Jer 22:19
14 Woe to you who set at nought the words of the righteous; for ye shall have no hope of life.
15 Woe to you who write down lying and godless words; for they write down their lies that men may hear them and act godlessly towards (their) neighbour.Cf. civ. 10. Note the literary strife here revealed between Hellenist and I'haribce.
16 Therefore they shall have no peace but die a sudden death.Cf. xciv. 1, 6, 7, xcv. 6, xcvi. 1,6.
XCIX. Woes pronounced on the Godless, the Lawbreakers: evil Plight of Sinners in the Last Days: further Woes.
Chapter 99
|
1 Woe to you who work godlessness,Here the admirers of Hellenistic literature are denounced. Cf. xciv. 5, xcviii. 15. |
| And glory in lying and extol them: |
| Ye shall perish, and no happy life shall be yours. |
|
2 Woe to them who pervert the words of uprightness, |
| And transgress the eternal law,i.e. of Moses. Cf. v. 4, xcix. 14. |
| And transform themselvesadopt Gentile customs, become apostates, and possibly undergo the operation mentioned in Ass. Mos. viii. 3. into what they were not [into sinners]:A gloss. |
| They shall be trodden under foot upon the earth. |
|
3 In those days make ready, ye righteous, to raise your prayers as a memorial, |
| And place themɑ. 'ye have placed them' β. as a testimony before the angels,For angelic mediation cf. ix. 2-11, and in O.T. Job v. 1; Zech. i. 12; in NT. only Rev. viii. 3, 4. See too my notes in T. Levi iii. 5; T. Dan vi. 2.Job 5:1Zech 1:12Rev 8:3-4 |
| That they may place the sin of the sinners for a memorial before the Most High.in all sections of the book; ix. 3, x. 1, xlvi. 7, lx. 1, 22, lxii. 7, lxxvii. 1, xciv. 8, xcvii. 2, xcviii. 7, 11, xcix. 3, 10, ci. 1, 6, 9.[Acts 10:4] |
|
4 In those days the nations shall be stirred up,Wars, tumults, and the period of the sword. Cf. xc. 19, etc. |
| And the families of the nations shall arise on the day of destruction. |
|
5 And in those days the destitute shall go forth and carry off their children, |
| And they shall abandon them,ɑ. 'abandon their children' β. so that their children shall perish through them: |
| Yea, they shall abandon their children (that are still) sucklings, and not return to them, |
| And shall have no pity on their beloved ones. |
|
6 And again I swear to you, ye sinners, that sin is prepared for a day of unceasing bloodshed.Denunciation of idolatry.See xci. 12 (note), xlv. 2 (note). Quoted by Tertullian De Idol. iv. See my Comm. on 1 En. in loc.
7 And they who worship stones, and grave images of gold and silver and wood 〈and stone〉inserted from Tertullian. and clay, and those who worship impureβ. 'evil' ɑ. spirits and demons,Cf. xvi. 1, xix. 1, also Rev. ix. 20.Rev 9:20 and all kinds of idols not according to knowledge, shall get no manner of help from them.
|
8 And they shall become godless by reason of the folly of their hearts,Idolaters go from bad to worse. Cf. Wisdom xiv. 12, 27; Rom. i. 21.Rom 1:21 |
| And their eyes shall be blinded through the fear of their hearts |
| And through visions in their dreams. |
|
9 Through these they shall become godless and fearful; |
| For they shall have wrought all their work in a lie, |
| And shall have worshipped a stone: |
| Therefore in an instant shall they perish. |
|
10 But in those days blessed are all they who accept the words of wisdom, and understand them,Salvation is for those who accept the true wisdom. |
| And observe the paths of the Most High, and walk in the path of His righteousness, |
| And become not godless with the godless; |
| For they shall be saved. |
|
11 Woe to you who spread evil to your neighbours; |
| For you shall be slain in Sheol.Cf. cviii. 3 – the extreme penalty of sin. Condemnation to Sheol is less severe than the slaying of the soul. Cf. xxii. 13. Sheol is here the eternal place of punishment. See lxxiii. 10 (note). |
|
12 Woe to you who make deceitful and false measures, |
| And (to them) who cause bitterness on the earth; |
| For they shall thereby be utterly consumed. |
|
13 Woe to you who build your houses through the grievous toil of others,Cf. Jer. xxii. 13; also 1 En. xciv. 7, xcvii. 8.Jer 22:13 |
| And all their building materials are the bricks and stones of sin; |
| I tell you ye shall have no peace. |
|
14 Woe to them who reject the measure and eternal heritagethe Mosaic law. Prim. v. 2. of their fathers |
| And whose souls follow after idols; |
| For they shall have no rest.Cf. the sufferings of the righteous, ciii. 13; also 'no peace', xciv. 6. |
|
15 Woe to them who work unrighteousness and help oppression, |
| And slay their neighbours until the day of the great judgement.See xciv. 9, xcviii. 10, also xlv. 2 (note). |
|
16 For He shall cast down your glory, |
| And bring affliction on your hearts, |
| And shall arouse His fierce indignation |
| And destroy you all with the sword; |
| And all the holy and righteous shall remember your sins.and so hasten your destruction. See xcvii. 5 (note). |
|
C. The Sinners destroy each other: Judgement of the Fallen Angels: the Safety of the Righteous: further Woes for the Sinners.
Chapter 100
|
1 And in those days in one place the fathers together with their sons shall be smitten |
| And brothers one with another shall fall in death |
| Till the streams flow with their blood.Isa 34:3Isa 34:7Ps 58:10 |
|
2 For a man shall not withhold his hand from slaying his sons and his sons’ sons, |
| And the sinner shall not withhold his hand from his honoured brother:Aristobulus slew his beloved brother Antigonus (Josephus, Ant. xiii. 11. 1, 2). On the internecine strife that was to initiate the kingdom cf lvi. 7, xcix. 5, 6; Zech. xiv. 13; Ezek. xxxviii. 21; Hag. ii. 22; Mic. vii. 6; Matt. x. 21, 34, 35, xxiv. 10, etc.Zech 14:13Ez 38:21Hag 2:22Mic 7:6Matt 10:21Matt 10:34Matt 10:35Matt 24:10 |
| From dawn till sunset they shall slay one another. |
|
3 And the horse shall walk up to the breastRev 14:20 in the blood of sinners, |
| And the chariot shall be submerged to its height. |
|
4 In those days the angels shall descendMatt 13:39Matt 13:41Matt 13:49 into the secret places |
| And gather together into one place all those who brought down sin, |
| And the Most High will arise on that day of judgement |
| To execute great judgement amongst sinners. |
|
5 And over all the righteous and holy He will appoint guardians from amongst the holy angelsThe righteous souls in the place of the departed are guarded. Cf. the promptuaria of 4 Ezra vii. 85, 95; also 4 Ezra iv. 32, 40, vii. 32; 2 Bar. xxx. 2. |
| To guard them as the apple of an eye,Cf. Deut. xxxii. 10; Ps. xvii. 8.Deut 32:10Ps 17:8 |
| Until He makes an end of all wickedness and all sin, |
| And though the righteous sleep a long sleep,The writer of xci-civ did not expect the resurrection at the beginning of the temporary Messianic kingdom, which was to come at the commencement of the eighth week. The 'long sleep' seems to last till the end of the tenth week, and the resurrection of the righteous in xci-civ follows the final judgement. they have nought to fear. |
|
6 And (then) the children of the earth shall see the wise in security,Text = πιστόν or πεποιθότα - a wrong rendering of בֶּטַח used pregnantly = dwelling in security. Cf. Gen. xxxiv. 25.Gen 34:25I have transposed 'the children of the earth' from the second line to the first, and with 1gq taken 'the wise' in the acc. and not in the nom. as gmt, β. 'The wicked see the bliss of the wise.' Cf. 4 Ezra vii. 85; Wisdom iv. 17, etc. |
| And shall understand all the words of this book, |
| And recognize that their riches shall not be able to save them |
| In the overthrow of their sins. |
|
7 Woe to you, Sinners, on the day of strong anguish, |
| Ye who afflict the righteous and burn them with fire: |
| Ye shall be requited according to your works. |
|
8 Woe to you, ye obstinate of heart, |
| Who watchIsa 29:20 in order to devise wickedness: |
| Therefore shall fear come upon you |
| And there shall be none to help you. |
|
9 Woe to you, ye sinners, on account of the words of your mouth, |
| And on account of the deeds of your hands which your godlessness has wrought, |
| In blazing flames burning worse than fire shall ye burn. |
|
10 And now, know ye that from the angels He will inquire as to your deeds in heaven, from the sun and from the moon and from the stars in reference to your sins because upon the earth ye execute judgement on the righteous.All the heavenly powers which witness the sins of the wicked testify against them. Cf. xcviii. 6-8, also xcvii. 7, civ. 1. Cf. the witness of stones and beams in their houses against the wicked, Hab. ii. 11.Hab 2:11
11 And He will summon to testify against you every cloud and mist and dew and rain; for they shall all be withheld because of you from descending upon you, and they shall be mindful of your sins.All the natural -powers which minister to the earth's fruitfulness will testify against sinners, as they are withheld on account of their sins. Cf. lxxx (interpolation in lxxii-lxxxii): cf Jer. iii. 3.Jer 3:3
12 And now give presents to the rain that it be not withheld from descending upon you, nor yet the dew, when it has received gold and silver from you that it may descend.Ironically spoken.
13 When the hoar-frost and snow with their chilliness, and all the snow-storms with all their plagues fall upon you, in those days ye shall not be able to stand before them.Even the punishment by the elements will be irresistible.
CI. Exhortation to the Fear of God: all Nature fears Him but not the Sinners.
Chapter 101
1 Observe the heaven, ye children of heaven,equivalent to 'sons of God' i.e. righteous Israelites. See Test. Lev. iv. 2 (note); Wisd. ii. 13,18. For 'children of heaven' cf. Pirke Aboth iii. 22. and every work of the Most High, and fear ye Him and work no evil in His presence.The same subject continued, but verse 1 contains an aside to the righteous.
2 If He closes the windows of heaven, and withholds the rain and the dew from descending on the earth on your account, what will ye do then?Address to the wicked resumed, c. 11, 12.Gen 7:11
3 And if He sends His anger upon you because of your deeds, ye cannot petition Him; for ye spake proud and insolent words against His righteousness: therefore ye shall have no peace.
4 And see ye not the sailors of the ships, how their ships are tossed to and fro by the waves, and are shaken by the winds, and are in sore trouble?Sailors fear the sea: how much more should men fear God, of whom the sea is sore afraid. Cf. Ps. cvii. 23-27.Ps 107:23-27
5 And therefore do they fear because all their goodly possessions go upon the sea with them, and they have evil forebodings of heart that the sea will swallow them and they will perish therein.
6 Are not the entire sea and all its waters, and all its movements, the work of the Most High, and has He not set limits to its doings, and confined it throughout by the sand?6, 7. The sea is in the hand of God. Cf. Jer. v. 22; Job xxvi. 10, xxxviii. 8-11; Ps. lxxxix. 9, civ. g; Prov. viii. 29.Jer 5:22Job 26:10Job 38:8-11Ps 89:9Ps 104:9Prov 8:29
7 And at His reproofIsa 1:2 it is afraid and dries up, and all its fish die and all that is in it; but ye sinners that are on the earth fear Him not.
8 Has He not made the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein? Who has given understanding and wisdom to everything that moves on the earth and in the sea?
9 Do not the sailors of the ships fear the sea? Yet sinners fear not the Most High.A pregnant summing up.
CII. Terrors of the Day of Judgement: the adverse Fortunes of the Righteous on the Earth.
Chapter 102
|
1 In those days when He hath brought a grievous firei.e. hell. Cf. xcix. 11. upon you,1-3 Whither they will flee on the terrible day of the Lord, when heaven and earth will be aghast and the very angels seek to hide themselves? |
| Whither will ye flee, and where will ye find deliverance? |
| And when He launches forth His word against youi.e. of judgement. |
| Will you not be affrighted and fear? |
|
2 And all the luminaries shall be affrighted with great fear, |
| And all the earth shall be affrighted and tremble and be alarmed. |
|
3 And all the †angelsCorrupt: for 'angels' read kings. Cf. Rev. vi. 15. shall execute their commands†I cannot emend.Rev 6:15 |
| And shall seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Great Glory, |
| And the children of earth shall tremble and quake; |
| And ye sinners shall be cursed for ever, |
| And ye shall have no peace. |
|
4 Fear ye not, ye souls of the righteous,4-CIV. 9. Discussion and condemnation of Sadducean views of the future life.4, 5. The righteous are to be of good cheer, though their life and death be in grief. |
| And be hopeful ye that have died in righteousness. |
|
5 And grieve not if your soul into Sheol has descended in grief,Strong in the belief in a blessed future for the righteous, the writer can concede the apparent equality of righteous and wicked in life and death. |
| And that in your life your body fared not according to your goodness, |
| But wait for the day of the judgement of sinnersText = 'ye became sinners'. The next line requires this emendation here. |
| And for the day of cursing and chastisement.Hos 5:9 |
|
6 And yet when ye die the sinners speak over you:6-8. The Sadducean argument–the O.T. view of the retribution of the righteous in this life was interpreted as implying that men could be judged by their fortunes in this life, and that where there is no difference in this life there will be none in the next. Cf. Wisdom ii. 1-5, iii. 2-4; Eccles. ii. 14-16, iii. 19-21, etc.Eccl 2:14-16Eccl 3:19-21 |
| ‘As we die, so die the righteous, |
| And what benefit do they reap for their deeds? |
|
7 Behold, even as we, so do they die in grief and darkness,The O.T. view of Sheol, lxiii. 10 (note). |
| And what have they more than we? |
| From henceforth we are equal. |
|
8 And what will they receive and what will they see for ever? |
| Behold, they too have died, |
| And henceforth for ever shall they see no light.’ |
|
9 I tell you, ye sinners, ye are content to eat and drink, and rob and sin, and strip men naked, and acquire wealth and see good days.So LXX of Ps. xxxiv. 12.Ps 34:129-10. Answer of the writer. The distinction of righteous and wicked is not an outward, but a religious and ethical one. The wicked man’s life is moulded by material and temporal aims only.
10 Have ye seen the righteous how their end falls out, that no manner of violence is found in them till their death?
11 ‘Nevertheless they perished and became as though they had not been, and their spirits descended into Sheol in tribulation.’The wicked rejoin that Death awaits both alike.
CIII. Different Destinies of the Righteous and the Sinners: fresh Objections of the Sinners.
Chapter 103
1 Now, therefore, I swear to you, the righteous, by the glory of the Great and Honoured and1-4. The writer turns to the righteous, and assures them from the heavenly tablets and the holy books that every good thing is in store for them.A more solemn oath than in xcviii. 1, 4, 6, etc.
2 Mighty One in dominion, and by His greatness I swear to you.
|
| I know a mystery |
| And have read the heavenly tablets, |
| And have seen the holy books, |
| And have found written therein and inscribed regarding them: |
|
3 That all goodness and joy and glory are prepared for them,Where are these blessings to be enjoyed, in Sheol, or in the spiritual theocracy set up after the final judgement? There seems to be only a resurrection of the spirit. |
| And written down for the spirits of those who have died in righteousness, |
| And that manifold good shall be given to you in recompense for your labours, |
| And that your lot is abundantly beyond the lot of the living. |
|
4 And the spirits of you who have died in righteousness shall live and rejoice, |
| And their spirits shall not perish, nor their memorial from before the face of the Great One |
| Unto all the generations of the world: wherefore no longer fear their contumely. |
|
5 Woe to you, ye sinners, when ye have died,5-8. The wicked are not at an end after death. Darkness, chains and a burning fire await them. |
| If ye die in the wealth of your sins, |
| And those who are like you say regarding you: |
| “Blessed are the sinners: they have seen all their days. |
|
6 And now they have died in prosperity and in wealth, |
| And have not seen tribulation or murder in their life; |
| And they have died in honour, |
| And judgement has not been executed on them during their life.” |
|
7 Know ye, that their souls will be made to descend into SheolSee lxiii. 10 (note). Here, unlike in cii. 5, 11, it is the final place of punishment. Our text is a development of Jub. vii. 29, as it adds to Sheol one of the characteristics of Gehenna. See v. 8a. |
| And they shall be wretched in their great tribulation. |
|
8 And into darkness and chains and a burning flame where there is grievous judgement shall your spirits enter; |
| And the great judgement shall be for all the generations of the world. |
| Woe to you, for ye shall have no peace. |
|
9 Say not in regard to the righteous and good who are in life:9-15. An ironical description of the lot of the righteous. Cf. the Sadducean view in cii. 6, 7.From this verse to the end of the chapter 1g stands frequently alone, exhibiting nearly sixty variations, mostly between ist and 3rd plurals. The MSS. evidence goes to prove that the 3rd person was original, for whereas 1g gives the 3rd person in all but seven instances (these are confined to vv. 14 and 15), all other MSS. with few exceptions give the 1st person. Thus the wicked assume the role of the righteous and speak in their person in ciii. 9-15. Yet in civ. 1-6 the author addresses his reply not directly to the sinners who have just spoken but to the righteous (cf. ciii. 1), and returns to the sinners in civ. 7-9. |
| “In our troubled days we have toiled laboriously and experienced every trouble, |
| And met with much evil and been consumed, |
| And have become few and our spirit small.Deut 28:62Not 'humble 'but 'poor-spirited'. |
|
10 And we have been destroyed and have not found any to help us even with a word:ɑ-1gt. So 1gt but with a change of persons. 'There has been none to help us in word or deed: we are powerless and have found nothing' t, β. |
| We have been tortured [and destroyed], and not hoped to see life from day to day. |
|
11 We hoped to be the headDeut 28:13 and have become the tail: |
| We have toiled laboriously and had no satisfaction in our toil; |
| And we have become the food of the sinners and the unrighteous, |
| And they have laid their yoke heavily upon us.Deut 28:48 |
|
12 They have had dominion over us that hated us†I think this is a dittograph from the line before, and 'that smote us' belongs to this line. Thus we have: 'They have had dominion over us hat hated us. And to those that smote us we have bowed our necks, But they pitied us not.' and smote us;Esth 9:1 |
| And to those that hated us† we have bowed our necks |
| But they pitied us not. |
|
13 We desired to get away from them that we might escape and be at rest, |
| But found no place whereunto we should flee and be safe from them. |
|
14 And we complained to the rulers in our tribulation,14, 15. These verses help to fix the date of xci-civ. In lxxxiii-xc the rulers appear as the divinely appointed leaders of the righteous. Here they are shown as the aiders and abettors of the persecutors. These enemies are the Sadducees, sinners, apostates, and paganizers. The righteous are the Pharisaic party. These issues only became clear in the Maccabean period, and after the breach between John Hyrcanus and the Pharisees. 'Dispersed' and 'murdered' point to Jannaeus, and the date 94-79 B.C. Possibly it is later, 70-64 B.C., when for the last time Sadducees and rulers acted in concert. |
| And cried out against those who devoured us, |
| But they did not attend to our cries |
| And would not hearken to our voice. |
|
15 And they helped those who robbed us and devoured us and those who made us few; and they concealed their oppression, and they did not remove from us the yoke of those that devoured us and dispersed us and murdered us, and they concealed their murder, and remembered not that they had lifted up their hands against us.
CIV. Assurances given to the Righteous: Admonitions to Sinners and the Falsifiers of the Words of Uprightness.
Chapter 104<note type="x-footnote" n="1">CIV. Again the writer replies, not to the wicked, but to the righteous, as in ciii. 1. The righteous have indeed no hope in this life, but must look for the blessed future awaiting them in heaven.</note>
1 I swear unto you, that in heaven the angels remember youFor angelic mediation cf. xv. 2 (note), xl. 5-7, xlvii. 2, lxxxix. 76. for good before the glory of the Great One: and your names are writtenxlvii. 3 (note). The Great One: xiv. 2, ciii. 4. before the glory of the Great One.
2 Be hopeful; for aforetime ye were put to shame through ill and affliction; but nowused here of the impending future. ye shall shine as the lightsDan 12:3 of heaven, ye shall shine and ye shall be seen, and the portals of heavenFor the open gates cf. Rev. xxi. 25. There is no hope of a new earth. Cf. xci. 16 (note). shall be opened to you.Rev 21:25
3 And in your cry, cry for judgement, and it shall appear to you; for all your tribulation shall be visited on the rulers, and on all who helped those who plundered you.Their demand for justice, unheard on earth, ciii. 14, 15, will one day be satisfied. Cf. for the cry of the righteous xcvii. 3, 5 (note), xcix. 3, 16.
4 Be hopeful, and cast not away your hope; for ye shall have great joy as the angels of heaven.Cf. Matt. xxii. 30; 1 En. civ. 6.Matt 22:30[Mark 12:25]
5 What shall ye be obliged to do? Ye shall not have to hide on the day of the great judgement and ye shall not be found as sinners, and the eternal judgementCf. xci. 15, also xlv. 2 (note). This verse seems to imply no judgement for the righteous. Contrast li. 2. shall be far from you for all the generations of the world.
6 And now fear not, ye righteous, when ye see the sinners growing strong and prospering in their ways: be not companions with them, but keep afar from their violence; for ye shall become companionscf. civ. 2, 4. In 2 Bar. li. 5, 10, 12 the righteous attain and even transcend the glory of the angels. of the hosts of heaven.Note Pharisaic exclusiveness. Cf. xci. 3, 4. The hope of the righteous can be realized in heaven alone. The Messianic kingdom falls into the background.So β, reading hara. Cf. Luke ii. 13; Rev. xix. 14; gmqt read herana = τῶν ἀγαθῶν (corrupt for ἀγγέλων, Flemming).Luke 2:13Rev 19:14
7 And, although ye sinners say: “All our sins shall not be searched out and be written down,” nevertheless they shall write down all your sins every day.7. 8. He warns the wicked that, though they know it not, their sins are recorded daily.
8 And now I show unto you that light and darkness, day and night, see all your sins.For the witness of natural powers cf. c. 10 (note).
9 Be not godless in your hearts, and lie not and alter not the words of uprightness, nor charge with lying the words of the Holy Great One, nor take account of your idols; for all your lying and all your godlessness issue not in righteousness but in great sin.9-13. Disclosures and directions regarding his own book.The wicked are bidden not to alter or misinterpret the O.T. Cf. xciv. 5, xcviii. 14, xcix. 2
10 And now I know this mystery, that sinners will alter and pervert the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practise great deceits, and write books concerning their words.A time will come when the words of revelation will be perverted, and books be written enforcing wicked and heathen doctrine.
11 But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages,i.e. Greek and Aramaic. and do not change or minish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully—all that I first testified concerning them.But the writings of Enoch will counteract these heathen teachings. The writer speaks here from Enoch's standpoint.
12 Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom.At last a righteous and wise generation will receive and understand his works (cf. i. 2). Cf. Dan. xii. 4, 9, 10.Dan 12:4Dan 12:9-10
13 And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefrom all the paths of uprightness be recompensed.’i.e. find their reward in these books (xciii. 10, c. 6, civ. 12, 13, cv. 1), or perhaps in the Messianic kingdom thereupon set up.
CV. God and the Messiah to dwell with Man.
Chapter 105<note type="x-footnote" n="1">CV. This chapter does not seem to belong to xci-civ. (1) Children of earth is used in a good sense. Contrast c. 6. (2) The Messiah is introduced, here alone in xci-civ. (3) The emphasis is on the finite life of the saints on earth (an idea of i-xxxvi), not on the immortal life in heaven, as in xci-civ.</note>
1 In those days the Lord bade (them) to summon and testify to the children of earth concerning their wisdom: Show (it) unto them; for ye are their guides, and a recompense over the whole earth.
2 For I and My Son will be united with them for ever in the paths of uprightness in their lives;thus finite. and ye shall have peace:Contrast the curse of the wicked, xciv. 6 (note). rejoice, ye children of uprightness. Amen.i.e. the Messiah. Cf 4 Ezra vii. 28, 29, xiii. 32, 37, 52, xiv. 9. The righteous are God's children, and pre-eminently so the Messiah. Cf the early Messianic interpretation of Ps. ii, also 1 En. lxii. 14; John xiv. 23.Ps 2:1-12John 14:23
Fragment of the Book of Noah
Chapters CVI-CVII.
Chapter 106<note type="x-footnote" n="1">CVI—CVII. A fragment of a Noah Apocalypse. Part of this section has been preserved in a Latin Version which I print side by side with the text.</note>
1 And after some days my son Methuselah took a wife for his son Lamech, and she became pregnant by him and bore a son. (Latin Fragment: Factum est autem [cum esset Lamech annorum tricentorum quinquagenta] natus est ei filiu(s) | And it came to pass [when Lamech was three hundred and fifty years old] that a son(s) was born to him.)L
2 And his body was white as snow and red as the blooming of a rose, and the hair of his head †and his long locks were white as wool, and his eyes beautiful†.The Latin does not mention these 'long locks', and the Lth. is easily emended into ’was white . . . and his eyes were like the rays of the sun’. Cf. the Eth. version in v. 5, and v. 10. In the Latin (v. 2) septies seems corrupt for capitis. Cf. v. 10. And when he opened his eyes, he lighted up the whole house like the sun, and the whole house was very bright. (cui oculi sunt sicut radi solis capilli autem eius candi di ores in septies niue corpori autem eius nemo hominum potest intueri. | Whose eyes are like the rays of the sun, but his white lips are seven times snow-white, but no man can look upon his body.)L
3 And thereupon he arose in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and †conversed with† the Lord of righteousness. (et surexit inter manus obstetricis suae et adorauit dominutn uiuentem in secula [laudauit]. | And he arose between the hands of his midwife and worshipped the Lord who lives forever.)L
4 And his father Lamech was afraid of him and fled, and came to his father Methuselah. (et timuit Lamech. | And Lamech was afraid.)L
5 And he said unto him: ‘I have begotten a strange son, diverse from and unlike man, and resembling the sons of the God of heaven; and his nature is different and he is not like us, and his eyes are as the rays of the sun, and his countenance is glorious. (et uenit ad patrem suum Mathusalem et narrauit illi omnia. | And he came to his father Methuselah and told him everything.)L
6 And it seems to me that he is not sprung from me but from the angels,The Lat. gives a different idea. Nontius = ἄγγελος. The Lat. of 6 follows 'Lamech' in v. 4. and I fear that in his days a wonder may be wrought on the earth. (ne non ex co natus esset nisi nontius dei. | lest he should be born out of cohabitation except by the messenger of God.)L
7 And now, my father, I am here to petition thee and implore thee that thou mayst go to Enoch, our father, and learn from him the truth, for his dwelling-place is amongst the angels.’i.e. at the ends of the earth, as in lxv. 2. (dixit Mathusalem: Ego autem non possum seire nisi eamus ad patrem nostrum Enoc. | said Methuselah: 'But I cannot sow unless we go to our father Enoch.')L
8 And when Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me to the ends of the earth; for he had heard that I was there, and he cried aloud, and I heard his voice and I came to him. And I said unto him: ‘Behold, here am I, my son, wherefore hast thou come to me?’ (quum autem uidit Enoc filium suum Mathusalem uenientem ad se [et] ait. quid est quod uenisti ad me nate? | And when Enoch saw his son Methuselah coming to him [and] he said: ‘What is it that you have come to me?†’)L
9 And he answered and said: ‘Because of a great cause of anxiety have I come to thee, and because of a disturbing vision have I approached. (dixit | he said)L
10 And now, my father, hear me: unto Lamech my son there hath been born a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like man’s nature, and the colour of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose, and the hair of his head is whiter than white wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun,Borrowed by Apoc. Petri. and he opened his eyes and thereupon lighted up the whole house. (quod natus est filio suo [nomine] Lamech cui oculi sunt sicut radi solis capilli[s] eiuscandidiores septies niue, corpori autem eius nemo hominum potest intueri | that he gave birth to his son [name] Lamech, whose eyes are like the rays of the sun’s hair [seven times] brighter than his snow, but no man can look at his body)L
11 And he arose in the hands of the midwife, and opened his mouth and blessed the Lord of heaven.Here only in Enoch. But note Lat. = 'dominum viventem in saecula.' Also cf. v. 1. (et surexit inter manus obstetricis suae eadem hora, qua procidit de utero matris suae, orauit dominum uiuentem in secula et laudauit. | And he rose up in the hands of his midwife at the same hour that he came out of his mother's womb, prayed and praised the Lord who lives forever.)L
12 And his father Lamech became afraid and fled to me, and did not believe that he was sprung from him, but that he was in the likeness of the angels of heaven; and behold I have come to thee that thou mayst make known to me the truth.’ (et timuit Lamech. | And Lamech was afraid.)L
13 And I, Enoch, answered and said unto him: ‘The Lord will do a new thingNum 16:30Isa 43:19 on the earth, and this I have already seen in a vision, and make known to thee that in the generation of my father Jared some of the angels of heaven transgressed the word of the Lord. (et dixit Enoc: nontiatum esi mihi fili quia post quingentos annos | And Enoch said: 'You have been informed my son that after five hundred years)L
14 And behold they commit sin and transgress the law, and have united themselves with women and commit sin with them, and have married some of them, and have begot children by them.
17 And they shall produce on the earth giants not according to the spirit, but according to the flesh, and there shall be a great punishment on the earth, and the earth shall be cleansed from all impurity.
15 Yea, there shall come a great destruction over the whole earth, and there shall be a deluge and a great destruction for one year.Gen 7:11Gen 8:14 (mittel deus cataclismum aquae ut deleat omnem creaturam [xl.] ostendit oculis nostris. | God shows the cataclysm of water to destroy all creation [xl.] before our eyes.)L
16 And this son who has been born unto you shall be left on the earth, and his three children shall be saved with him: when all mankind that are on the earth shall die [he and his sons shall be saved]. (et erunt illi • III • filii [et erunt nomina filiorum cius • Sem • Cham • Iafeth] | and they will be • 3 • sons [and the names of the sons will be Cius • Shem • Ham • Japheth])L
18 And now make known to thy son Lamech that he who has been born is in truth his son, and call his name Noah; for he shall be left to you, and he and his sons shall be saved from the destruction, which shall come upon the earth on account of all the sin and all the unrighteousness, which shall be consummated on the earth in his days. (et ipse uocabitur Noe qui interpretatur requies quia requiem prestabit in archam. | and he himself will be called Noah, which is interpreted as rest, because he will provide rest in the ark.)L
19 And after that there shall be still more unrighteousness than that which was first consummated on the earth; for I know the mysteries of the holy ones;Either the secrets known to the angels, or the secrets relating to the righteous in the future. for He, the Lord, has showed me and informed me, and I have read (them) in the heavenly tablets.
Chapter 107
1 And I saw written on them that generation upon generation shall transgress, tillt,β: 'that' g1gmq a generation of righteousness arises, and transgression is destroyed and sin passes away from the earth, and all manner of good comes upon it.The fresh growth of sin after the Deluge: its destruction and the advent of the Messianic kingdom.
2 And now, my son, go and make known to thy son Lamech that this son, which has been born, is in truth his son, and that (this) is no lie.’
3 And when Methuselah had heard the words of his father Enoch—for he had shown to him everything in secretɑ: 'every secret thing' β.—he returned and showed (them) to him and called the name of that son Noah; for he will comfort the earth after all the destruction.The meaning of the name Noah given in Gen. v. 29 is here repeated.Gen 5:29
Chapter 108<note type="x-footnote" n="1">This final chapter forms an independent addition. The writer is acquainted with i-xxxvi and xci-civ, or at least with parts of those sections. But his acquaintance with i-xxxvi is very inaccurate. What in chapters xviii and xxi was the place of punishment for the disobedient stars becomes in cviii. 3-6 practically Gehenna. Note the Essene tone of this chapter, the high honour paid to asceticism, the scorn of silver and gold in 8-10, the blessed immortality of the soul but apparently not of the body, and the duration of light and darkness so prominent in 11-14. This chapter is more akin to xci-civ than any other in the book. Its object is to encourage the righteous still to hope on despite the long delay in the coming of the kingdom.</note>
1 Another book which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who will come after him, and keep the law in the last days.Contrast 'fall away from the law', xcix. 2.
2 Ye who have done good shall wait for those days till an end is made of those who work evil, and an end of the might of the transgressors.The faithful are exhorted to further patience.
3 And wait ye indeed till sin has passed away, for their names shall be blotted out of the book of life and out of the holy books, and their seed shall be destroyed for ever, and their spirits shall be slain,Cf. xxii. 13; xcix. 11 (note). It does not imply annihilation as the victims still 'cry and make lamentation'. and they shall cry and make lamentation in a placeThis chaotic flaming hell beyond the limits of the earth is the place of punishment for the angels in xviii. 12-16; xxi. 1-7. that is a chaoticEth. αόρατος, the LXX rendering of תהו in Gen. i. 2.[Gen 1:2] wilderness, and in the fire shall they burn; for there is no earth there.
4 And I saw there something like an invisible cloud; for by reason of its depth I could not †look over†,We might emend to 'behold its height' or 'tell its circuit' (or 'size'). and I saw a flame of fire blazing brightly, and things like shining mountains circling and sweeping to and fro.Further description of this hell and its inhabitants in terms borrowed from xviii. 13; xxi. 3.
5 And I asked one of the holy angelsThis phrase is borrowed from i-xxxvi: cf. xxvii. 2. who was with me and said unto him: ‘What is this shining thing? for it is not a heaven but only the flame of a blazing fire, and the voiceCf. xviii. 13. of weeping and cryingɑ: လ β. and lamentation and strong pain.’
6 And he said unto me: ‘This place which thou seest—here are cast the spirits of sinners and blasphemers,Cf. xci. 7. and of those who work wickedness, and of those who pervert everything that the Lord hath spokenmtu, β: 'done' g1gq. through the mouth of the prophetsHere only expressly mentioned in Enoch.—(even) the things that shall be.This hell which is outside the earth is the final place of punishment for sinners and blasphemers and perverters of God's revelation through the prophets. In vv. 3-6 the writer has confounded places (i.e. Gehenna, and the hell of the disobedient stars) that are most carefully distinguished in i-xxxvi, and yet he has borrowed the phraseology of that section.
7 For some of them are written and inscribed above in the heaven, in order that the angels may read them and know that which shall befall the sinners, and the spirits of the humble, and of those who have afflicted their bodies, and been recompensed by God; and of those who have been put to shame by wicked men:refers to the heavenly tablets. Cf. xlvii. 3. These records are also called the books of the holy ones, for their purpose is to let the angels know of the future: cf. ciii. 2. See also Asc. Isa. vii. 27.7-9. The עננים. and עברים of the Psalms. They constitute the true Israel as opposed to the proud, the selfish and the paganizers. Cf. Cheyne on Ps. ix. 13.Ps 9:13
8 Who love God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things which are in the world,[1John 2:15] but gave over their bodies to torture.
9 Who, since they came into being, longed not after earthly food,'those who have afflicted their bodies . . . loved neither gold nor silver . . . longed not after earthly food. These phrases would apply well to the Essene party. Cf. xlviii. 7, cii. 5. These marks of the righteous have their counterpart in those of the wicked: cf. xcvi. 5-7, xcvii. 8-10, xcviii. 2. but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly, and the Lord tried them much, and their spirits were found pure so that they should bless His name.
10 And all the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And He hath assigned them their recompense, because they have been found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world, and though they were trodden under foot of wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, yet they blessed Me.Enoch speaks, and refers his hearers and readers to his books.
11 And now I will summon the spirits of the good who belong to the generation of light,Cf. lxi. 12 (note), xxxviii. 4 (note).[Luke 16:8][John 12:36][Eph 5:8][1Thess 5:5] and I will transform those who were born in darkness, who in the flesh were not recompensed with such honour as their faithfulness deserved.Verses 11 and 12 are spoken by God.Of those who are born in darkness, i.e. heathenism, the faithful who were not recompensed with honour are transformed: but those who remain in their darkness are cast therein as their condemnation. Cf. v. 14.
12 And I will bring forth in shining light those who have loved My holy name, and I will seat each on the throne of his honour.i.e. clad in it. Cf. Matt. vii. 15. Or we might render 'into shining light'. Cf. 2 En. xxii. 8-10, the garments of the blessed are composed of God's glory. In 1 En. lxii. 16, they are 'garments of life'. Really they are the spiritual bodies of the blessed. Cf. Rev. iii. 4, 5, 18, etc.; 4 Ezra ii. 39, 45; Asc. Isa. iv. 16, vii. 22, viii. 14.ɑ,n. 'throne of honour, of his honour' β-n. Cf. Matt. xix. 28; Rev. iii. 21, iv. 4; Asc. Isa. ix. 10, 18.Matt 7:15Matt 19:28Rev 3:4-5[Rev 3:18]Rev 3:21Rev 4:4
13 And they shall be resplendentcf. xxxix. 7, civ. 2, cviii. 14. for times without number; for righteousness is the judgement of God; for to the faithful He will give faithfulness in the habitation of upright paths.Enoch again speaks.
14 And they shall see those who were born in darkness led into darkness, while the righteous shall be resplendent.
15 And the sinners shall cry aloud and see them resplendent, and they indeed will go where days and seasons are prescribed for them.’