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Why Not
Canonical?
What is the key for
understanding why some things are considered "inspired
by God" and others are not.
THREE PRINCIPLES
First let's examine three principles, then we will
list out the criteria historically applied by
theologians and scholars.
- "God-breathed"
Paul tells us that all scripture is inspired by God,
specifically saying it is "God-breathed" in
2 Timothy 3:16. He
does NOT define what is or is not scripture. In
fact, he only quotes a few of the Old Testament
books. But he spoke in the synagogues, so we may
deduce that he accepted most of the scrolls used by
the Jewish synagogues as being scripture. Did he
know his own writings would eventually be classified
as "scripture"? Probably, but no such indication
exists.
- "Whatever you
bind..."
Jesus told his disciples that "whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in heaven" in
Matthew 18:18. That
statement is sometimes considered to be exclusively
to the Apostles, but Jesus does not make that
exclusionary perspective readily apparent. Instead,
there are other places where Jesus tells us that we
will do greater things and if we have the faith of a
mustard seed we can move mountains. So, I personally
do not see the exclusionary restriction that some
advocate.
- The Councils
There have been various councils over time, even
back into the time of the early Jewish rabbis. These
"scholars" deliberately, by consensus of a large
number, determined by vote what would be considered
inspired scripture. This process would certainly
have some "agendas" inserted by nefarious
individuals, but by making the council a large
number, the general expectation is that with a
majority consensus, improper motives may be weeded
out to arrive at a generally trustworthy
determination of the council as a whole.
Having considered
those three principles, now let's examine the
criteria.
THE
CRITERIA
The criteria for one of the early councils
determination of what should be considered
authoritative canon versus
apocryphal or pseudepigraphal
is included here for your understanding.
These criteria are not
listed in any particular order of significance or
weight given by the participants of the individual
councils as they applied to the several criteria.
- Distribution
This is regarding how extensively copied and widely
distributed manuscripts became. Christian
communities wanted guidance from those determined to
be "leaders" in the new religion, thus valuable
documents were widely distributed, frequently read,
continuously quoted in sermons and other writings,
etc.
- Volume of
Manuscripts
This has to do with the number of copies and their
consistency. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found,
numerous copies of the book of Isaiah (for example)
were in some cases 600 to 800 years older than the
existing copies at the time of the discovery. Upon
examination, these manuscripts were LETTER FOR
LETTER identical... hundreds of years past,
yet identical. That is fairly convincing evidence of
accuracy. When you combine that fact with the sheer
volume of manuscripts, it becomes a solid basis for
further determination.
As an example, consider the writings of Plato
regarding Socrates. The earliest examples of extant
manuscripts are far in excess of 1,000 years
subsequent to the life of Plato, and there are only
a handful or manuscripts, yet no one questions the
accuracy of Plato's writings regarding Socrates.
Now compare that to the manuscripts of the canonical
books. We have tens of thousands of manuscripts, all
identical, and some as close to the life of the
author as 20 years (as in the case of the Apostle
John who was exiled to the Isle of Patmos).
The early Christian church, just like the Jewish
scribes, believed their documents of significance,
copied them faithfully letter for letter, and
distributed them widely. Centuries later, the
councils would consider that an indicator of the
value the early Christians placed on these works.
-
Cross-Referenced, Quoted
This criteria is particularly interesting since we
have examples of quotations or references that are
later determined to be to non-canonical works. The
most notable example is in the book of Jude wherein
the Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch which is not
considered canonical. How should we view this? Think
of when Paul quotes Greek philosophers (such as in
Acts 22:17-28).
These are certainly not of the Judeo-Christian
faith, yet nevertheless, they were quoted. So,
quotation alone is not sufficient to establish
"canon", rather the whole of the criteria must be
satisfied by the council making the determination.
Note also how the writings of recognized historians,
such as Josephus, are considered when making the
determination as to what those, hundreds of years
earlier, considered legitimate texts.
- Judaic/Prior
Councils
Christian councils often relied on the prior
councils' determinations, particularly regarding the
Old Testament, since the Jewish rabbis were very
thorough in their documented referencing of what
they considered "scripture".
CONCLUSION
So what should be concluded? Here is my personal
decision.
- The canon was
determined by generally honest men trying to decide
what was of authoritative value, edification, and
not of much value, and in doing so determined three
generalizations:
a.) Canon -- fully authoritative.
b.) Apocrypha -- instructional/edification, but not
authoritative on its own.
c.) Pseudepigrapha -- interesting but of extremely
limited or even no value.
- Jesus did say,
"Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven..." so with a large council of decent and
honest scholars agreeing, they have "bound"
something on earth.
- God via the Holy
Spirit often inspires writers, speakers, and
musicians. That inspiration is no less valuable,
though not necessarily subjected to a canonical
determination by a council. This brings to mind two
important statements:
a.) "The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth"
John 16:13
b.) "Test everything and hold on to what is good"
1 Thessalonians 5:21
Therefore, I may find "God-breathed" information
outside of the recognized canon, but because the
canon is what was "bound on earth and in heaven",
such information would not contradict the Gospel of
Jesus Christ (as Paul said in
2 Corinthians 11:4
and in
Galatians 1:8).
Important Post Script
There is presently a "miracle" occurring regarding
what has been accepted as scripture. This "miracle"
will affect our acceptance of the historical canon.
This is extremely difficult to accept for most
Christians, but it will become inevitable that what
has been viewed as "The Bible" will end up becoming a
useless book of fairy tales. This will be hard for
people to accept, but the documentation is extensive
and continues to grow.
Click here to begin that study.
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Why is the Book of Enoch not
considered canonical? See column at right.
The oldest surviving manuscripts of
the Book of Enoch (1) are Aramaic fragments found among the Dead
Sea Scrolls (Qumran caves). These fragments date back to the 2nd
century BC, providing the earliest evidence of the text, whole
the only complete version exists in the Ge'ez language
(Ethiopic).
NOTE: "2 Enoch" only dates back to
the 14th century Slovonic manuscripts.
The Epistle of Jude verses 14 and
15 refer to the Book of Enoch by quoting 1 Enoch 1:9 and
directly states it originated with the historical figure Enoch
who was "the seventh from Adam". Thus an early church 'father'
acknowledged the pre-flood origin of the Book of Enoch.
Furthermore, early Christian
writers referred to the Book of Enoch regarding the explanation
of fallen angels and 'the watchers'. A couple of other canonical
references exist, such as 1 Peter 2:4 which refers to the
binding of fallen angels and is similar in explanations noted in
1 Enoch 10.
It is interesting that the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church considers the Book of Enoch to be
canonical. However, the Roman Catholic Augustine criticized its
mythological content and thus rejected it as canonical.
Additionally, while Josephus never
specifically mentions the Book of Enoch, he does refer to some
of the material included in that volume when he refers to
Sethite pillars (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1,
Chapter 2, Section 3) and the fallen angels marrying human women
who then gave birth to giants (Antiquities of the Jews,
Book 1, Chapter 3, Section 1). For the Antiquities of the
Jews written by Josephus,
click here.
The Following is
the Entire Book of Enoch
This is a copy/paste of
https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/
without edit for any grammatical or spelling errors. (Download
a PDF of this page by clicking here)
THE
BOOK OF ENOCH
TRANSLATED BY
R. H. CHARLES, D.LITT., D.D.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
W. O. E. OESTERLEY, D.D.
London
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
[1917]
Scanned at sacred-texts.com, June
2004. Proofed and formatted by John Bruno Hare.
This text is in the public domain in the United States because
it was published prior to 1923.
EDITORS' PREFACE
THE object of this series of translations is primarily to
furnish students with short, cheap, and handy text-books, which,
it is hoped, will facilitate the study of the particular texts
in class under competent teachers. But it is also hoped that the
volumes will be acceptable to the general reader who may be
interested in the subjects with which they deal. It has been
thought advisable, as a general rule, to restrict the notes and
comments to a small compass; more especially as, in most cases,
excellent works of a more elaborate character are available.
Indeed, it is much to be desired that these translations may
have the effect of inducing readers to study the larger works.
Our principal aim, in a word, is to make some difficult texts,
important for the study of Christian origins, more generally
accessible in faithful and scholarly translations.
In most cases these texts are not available in a cheap and handy
form. In one or two cases texts have been included of books
which are available in the official Apocrypha; but in every such
case reasons exist for putting forth these texts in a new
translation, with an Introduction, in this series.
W. O. E. OESTERLEY.
G. H. Box.
INTRODUCTION
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE
As the Book of Enoch is, in some respects, the most notable
extant apocalyptic work outside the canonical Scriptures, it
will not be inappropriate to offer a few remarks here on the
Apocalyptic Literature generally. In writing about the books
which belong to this literature, Prof. Burkitt says very
pointedly that "they are the most characteristic survival of
what I will venture to call, with all its narrowness and its
incoherence, the heroic age of Jewish history, the age when the
nation attempted to realize in action the part of the peculiar
people of God. It ended in catastrophe, but the nation left two
successors, the Christian Church and the Rabbinical Schools,
each of which carried on some of the old national aims. And of
the two it was the Christian Church that was most faithful to
the ideas enshrined in the Apocalypses, and it did consider
itself, not without some reason, the fulfilment of those ideas.
What is wanted, therefore, in studying the Apocalypses is, above
all, sympathy with the ideas that underlie them, and especially
with the belief in the New Age. And those who believe that in
Christianity a new Era really did dawn for us ought, I think, to
have that sympathy. . . . We study the Apocalypses to learn how
our spiritual ancestors hoped again that God would make all
right in the end; and that we, their children, are here to-day
studying them is an indication that their hope was not wholly
unfounded." 1
Hope is, indeed, the main underlying motive-power which prompted
the writers of the Apocalypses. And this hope is the more
intensive and ardent in that it shines forth from a background
which is dark with despair; for the Apocalyptists despaired of
the world in which they lived, a world in which the godly were
of no account, while the wicked seemed too often triumphant and
prosperous. With evil everywhere around, the Apocalyptists saw
no hope for the world as it was; for such a world there was no
remedy, only destruction; if the good were ever to triumph it
must be in a new world. Despairing, therefore, of the world
around them, the Apocalyptists centred their hope upon a world
to come, where the righteous would come to their own and evil
would find no place. It is this thought which underlies the
opening words of the Book of Enoch: "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." Nowhere in this book is the essence
of this hope more beautifully expressed than in a short metrical
piece in the first chapter:
"But with the righteous He will make peace,
And will protect the elect,
And mercy shall be upon them.
"And they shall all belong to God,
And they shall all be prospered,
And they shall all be blessed.
"And He will help them all,
And light shall appear unto them,
And He will make peace with them" (1 Enoch i. 8).
In all the books belonging to this literature which have come
down to us this hope is expressed more or less vividly; nor is
the dark background wanting. with prophecies of coming wrath. It
will, therefore, be realized that the Apocalyptic Literature is
almost wholly concerned with the future; it is true that again
and again the Apocalyptist glances at the contemporary history
of the world around him, to which many a cryptic reference is
made--a fact which necessitates some knowledge of the history of
this period (circa 200 B.C.-A.D. 100) for a full
understanding of the books in question--but these references are
only made with a view to comforting the oppressed and afflicted
with the thought that even the most mighty of earthly powers are
shortly to be overthrown by. the advent of the new and glorious
era when every injustice and all the incongruities of life will
be done away with. So that every reference to the present is
merely a position taken up from which to point to the future.
Now, since, as we have seen, the Apocalyptists despair of any
bettering of the present world, and therefore contemplate its
destruction as the preliminary of the new order of things, they
look away from this world in their visions
of the future; they conceive of other-worldly forces coming into
play in the reconstitution of things, and of society generally;
and since these are other-worldly forces the
supernatural plays a great part in the Apocalyptic Literature.
This supernatural colouring will often strike the reader of this
literature as fantastic, and at times bizarre;
but this should not be permitted to obscure the reality which
often lies behind these weird shadows. Mental visions are not
always easily expressed in words; the seer who in a vision has
received a message in some fantastic guise necessarily has the
impress upon his mind of what he has seen when giving his
message; and when he describes his vision the picture he
presents is, in the nature of the case, more fantastic to the
ear of the hearer than to the eye of him who saw it. Allowance
should be made for this; especially by us Westerns who are so
lacking in the rich imaginativeness of the Oriental. Our love of
literalness hinders the play of the imagination because we are
so apt to "materialize" a mental picture presented by another.
The Apocalypses were written by and for Orientals, and we cannot
do justice to them unless we remember this; but it would be best
if we could get into the Oriental mind and look at things from
that point of view.
Another thing which the reader of the Apocalyptic Literature
must be prepared for is the frequent inconsistency of thought to
be found there, together with variableness of teaching often
involving contradiction. The reason of this is not to be sought
simply in the fact that in the Apocalypses the hand of more than
one author is frequently to be discerned, a fact which would
easily account for divergence of views in one and the same
book-no, the chief reason is that, on the one hand. the minds of
the Apocalyptists were saturated with the traditional thoughts
and ideas of the Old Testament, and, on the, other, they were
eagerly absorbing the newer conceptions which the spirit of the
age had brought into being. This occasioned a continual conflict
of thought in their minds; the endeavour to harmonize the old
and the new would not always succeed, and in consequence there
often resulted a compromise which was illogical and which
presented contradictions. Inconsistency of teaching on certain
points is, therefore, not surprising under the circumstances.
Again, to realize the significance of much that is found in
these Apocalypses one has to reckon with a rigid
predestinarianism which was characteristic of the Apocalyptists
as a whole. They started with the absolute conviction that the
whole course of the world, from beginning to end, both as
regards its physical changes and also in all that concerns the
history of nations, their growth and decline, and of every
single individual, was in every respect predetermined by God
Almighty before all time. This belief of the Apocalyptists is
well illustrated in one of the later Apocalypses by these words:
"For He hath weighed the age in the balance,
And by number hath He numbered the seasons;
Neither will He move nor stir things,
Till the measure appointed be fulfilled."
(ii. (iv.) Esdras iv. 36, 37.)
Thus "the times and periods of the course of the world's history
have been predetermined by God. The numbers of the years have
been exactly fixed. This was a fundamental postulate of the
Apocalyptists, who devoted much of their energy to calculations,
based upon a close study of prophecy, as to the exact period
when history should reach its consummation . . . the underlying
idea is predestinarian." 1 But
all these things, according to the Apocalyptists, were divine
secrets hidden from the beginning the world, but revealed to
God-fearing men to whom was accorded the faculty of peering into
the hidden things of God and of understanding them; upon these
men was laid the privilege and duty of revealing the divine
secrets to others, hence their name of Apocalyptists or
"revealers." It was because the Apocalyptists believed so firmly
in this power which they possessed of looking into the deep
things of God that they claimed to be able to measure the
significance of what had happened in the past and of what was
happening in the present; and upon the basis of this knowledge
they believed that they also had the power, given them by God,
of foreseeing the march of future events; above all, of knowing
when the end of the world would come, a consummation towards
which the whole history of the world had been tending from the
beginning.
In spite of all the mysticism, sometimes of a rather fantastic
kind, and of the frequently supra-mundane vision with which the
Apocalyptic Literature abounds, the Apocalyptists fully realized
the need of practical religion; they were upholders, of the Law,
the loyal observance of which they regard as a necessity for all
God-fearing men. In this the Apocalyptists were at one, in
principle, with Pharisaism; but their conception of what
constituted loyal observance of the Law differed from that of
the Pharisees, for, unlike these, the Apocalyptists laid all
stress on the spirit of its observance rather than upon the
letter. Characteristic of their attitude here are the words in 1
Enoch v. 4:
"But ye--ye have not been steadfast, nor done the
commandments of the Lord,
But ye have turned away, and have spoken proud and hard
words
With your impure mouths against His greatness,
O ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace."
And again, in xcix. 2:
"Woe to them that pervert the words of uprightness,
And transgress the eternal Law."
We do not find in this Literature that insistence on the literal
carrying-out of the minutest precepts of the Law which was
characteristic of Pharisaism. Veneration for the Law is
whole-hearted; it is the real guide of life; punishment awaits
those who ignore its guidance; but the Pharisaic interpretation
of the Law and its requirements is alien to the spirit of the
Apocalyptists.
As a whole, the Apocalyptic Literature presents an
universalistic attitude very different from the nationalistic
narrowness of the Pharisees. It is true, the Apocalyptists are
not always consistent in this, but normally they embrace the
Gentiles equally with the men of their own nation in the divine
scheme of salvation; and, in the same way, the wicked who are
excluded are not restricted to the Gentiles, but the Jews
equally with them shall suffer torment hereafter according to
their deserts. 1
The Apocalyptic Literature, as distinct from the Apocalyptic
Movement owing to which it took its rise, began to come into
existence about the period 200-150 B.C.; at any rate, the
earliest extant example of this Literature--the earliest
portions of the Book of Enoch--belongs to this period. Works of
an Apocalyptic character, continued to be written for about
three centuries; the Second (Fourth) Book of Esdras, one of the
most remarkable Apocalypses, belongs to the end of the first
Christian century, approximately. There are Apocalypses of later
date, some of subordinate interest are of much later date; but
the real period of the Apocalyptic Literature is from about 200
B.C. to about A.D. 100; its beginnings date, therefore, from a
time prior to that great landmark in Jewish history, the
Maccabæan Era.
THE BOOK OF ENOCH: ITS COMPONENT PARTS AND THEIR DATES
The Book of Enoch is now usually designated 1 Enoch, to
distinguish it from the later Apocalypse, The Secrets of
Enoch, known as 2 Enoch. The former is also called the
Ethiopic Enoch, the latter the Slavonic Enoch, after the
languages of the earliest versions extant of each respectively.
No manuscript of the original language of either is known to be
in existence.
According to Canon Charles, the various elements of which our
book in its present form is made up belong to different dates.
The following table will show the dates of the different parts
of the book. Canon Charles believes that these are approximately
correct, without committing himself to the certainty
of this in each case:
| CHAPTERS |
|
|
xii.-xxxvi.
xclii.
xci. 12-17 |
"The Apocalypse of
Weeks." |
The oldest pre-Maccabæan
portions. |
vi.-xi.
liv. 7-lv. 2
lx.
lxv.-lxix. 25
cvi., cvii. |
Fragments of "The
Book of Noah." |
Pre-Maccabæan at
the latest. |
| lxxxiii.-xc. |
"The
Dream-Visions," |
165-161 B.C. |
| lxxii.-lxxxii. |
"The Book of the
Heavenly Luminaries." |
Before 110 B.C. |
xxxvii.-lxxi.
xci. 1-11, 18, 19-civ. |
"The Parables," or
"Similitudes." |
circa 105-64 B.C. |
| i.-v. |
The latest portion, |
but pre-Christian. |
[paragraph continues]Chapter
cv, which consists of only two verses, cannot be dated; while
cviii. is in the nature of an appendix, probably added
subsequently, to the whole work.
While these dates may be regarded as approximately correct, it
should be pointed out that differences of opinion exist among
scholars on the subject. Schürer holds, for example, that, with
the exception of chapters xxxvii.-lxxi. (the "Parables," or "Similitudes"),
the entire book belongs to the period 130-100 B.C.; the
"Parables" he assigns to a time not earlier than Herod the
Great. Beer thinks that the "Dream-Visions" (chapters
lxxxiii.-xc.) belong to the time of John Hyrcanus (135-105
B.C.), and he includes under the pre-Maccabæan portions only xci.
12-17, xcii. xciii. 1-14; and holds that the rest of the book
was written before 64 B.C. Dalman maintains that it cannot be
proved that the important section xxxvii.-lxxi. (the "Similitudes")
is "the product of the pre-Christian period," though he fully
recognizes its Jewish character. Burkitt regards the writer as
"almost contemporary" with the philosopher Posidonius (135-51
B.C.). There is thus some diversity of opinion as to the date of
the book among leading authorities. That it is, as a whole,
pre-Christian, may be regarded as definitely established. More
difficult is the question whether any portions of it are pre-Maccabæan;
Charles gives various reasons for his belief that considerable
parts are pre-Maccabæan; we are inclined to agree with him,
though it may be questioned whether the last word on the subject
has been spoken.
AUTHORSHIP
As the various parts of the book 1 clearly
belong to different dates, diversity of authorship is what one
is naturally led to expect; and of this there can, indeed, be no
shadow of doubt. The author of the earliest portions was a Jew
who lived, as Burkitt has shown, in northern Palestine, in the
land of Dan, south-west of the Hermon range, near the headwaters
of the Jordan. This is important, as it tends to show that the
book, or books, is really Palestinian, and one which, therefore,
circulated among Jews in Palestine. "If, moreover, the author
came from the north, that helps to explain the influence the
book had upon the Religion that was cradled in Galilee." 2 Of
the authors of the other three books of which "Enoch" is made up
(viz. "The Dream-Visions," "The Book of the Heavenly
Luminaries," and "The Similitudes") we know nothing save what
can be gathered from their writings as to their religious
standpoint.
Charles holds that though there is not unity of authorship there
is, none the less, uniformity; for, according to him, all the
books were written by Chassidim, 1 or
by their successors, the Pharisees. This contention has been
strongly assailed and much weakened by Leszynsky in a recent
work on the Sadducees. 2 While
frankly recognizing the composite character of the book,
Leszynsky holds that the original portions of it 3 emanate
from Sadducæan circles; and that the special object of the book
originally was the bringing about of a reform of the calendar.
He points to the ascription of the book to Enoch as supporting
his contention, for Enoch lived 365 years, 4 i.e. is
years correspond to the number of days in the solar year; the
basis of reckoning time was one of the fundamental points of
difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees, for whereas the
former reckoned time by the lunar year (360 days), the latter
did so by the solar year. Here a significant remark of Burkitt's
is worth recalling; in writing about the false titles given to
all the Apocalyptic books, he says: "There is another aspect of
pseudonymous authorship to which I venture to think sufficient
attention has not been given. It is this, that the names were
not chosen out of mere caprice; they indicated to a certain
extent what subjects would be treated and the point of view of
the writer." 5 Further,
the fact that "Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God
took him," 6 i.e. that
he ascended into the heavens, is also significant; for he would
thereby be just the one to know all about the heavenly
luminaries; he was just the most appropriate author of a book
which was to deal with astronomical questions. "The Sadducæan
character of the original work," says Leszynsky, "is seen most
clearly in the discussion regarding the calendar; chapters
lxxii.-lxxxii. are rightly called the Book of Astronomy: 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, and according to their months . . . with regard to all
the years of the world and unto eternity, till the new creation
is accomplished which endureth till all eternity' (lxxii. 1).
That sounds almost as though the author of the Book of jubilees
had written it. That it is not a merely scientific interest
which impels the writer to give expression to his astronomical
theories may be seen from the words at the conclusion of the
section: '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 traverseth
the heaven, entering into and departing from the portals for
thirty days . . .' (lxxxii. 4-7). Herein one can discern quite
clearly the tendency of the writer. He desires the adoption of
the solar year, while his contemporaries wrongly followed a
different reckoning, and therefore celebrated the feasts at the
wrong time. The 'sinners who sin in the reckoning of the year'
are the Pharisees; and the righteous ones who are blessed, the Zaddîkim, 2 who
walk upon the paths of righteousness (Zedek) as the name
is made to imply, are the Sadducees." 3 The
point may appear small to us, but we may compare with it the
Quartodeciman controversy in the Church during the second
century. It is, at any rate, a strong point in favour of the
Sadducæan authorship of "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries."
The pre-Maccabæan portions (assuming that some portions of it
are pre-Maccabæan) of the book of Enoch must certainly be
ascribed to the Chassidim; but it is not on that account
necessary to ascribe all the later portions to the
Pharisees. Three points especially militate against this: some
of the teaching concerning the Messiah; the, generally speaking,
universalistic spirit, which is quite un-Pharisaic, and the
attitude towards the Law, which is not that of the Pharisees. It
is not to be denied that some portions (e.g. cii. 6 ff.)
are from the hands of Pharisees; nor can it be doubted that the
whole collection in its present form has been worked over by a
Pharisee, or Pharisees; but that all the post-Maccabæan portions
in their original form emanated from Pharisaic circles does not
appear to have been proved. It seems more likely that, with the
exceptions already referred to, the various component parts of
the book were written by Apocalyptists who belonged neither to
Pharisaic nor yet to Sadducæan circles.
LANGUAGE
The Book of Enoch exists only in the Ethiopic Version; this was
translated from the Greek Version, of which only a few portions
are extant. 1 The
Latin Version, which was also made from the Greek, is not
extant, with the exception of i. 9, and cvi. 1-18; the fragment
containing these two passages was discovered by the Rev. Al. R.
James, of King's College, Cambridge, in the British Museum. The
book was originally written either in Hebrew or Aramaic; Charles
thinks that chapters vi.-xxxvi., lxxxiii.-xc. were Aramaic, the
rest Hebrew. It is, however, very difficult to say for certain
which of these two languages was really the original, because,
as Burkitt says, "most of the most convincing proofs that the
Greek text of Enoch is a translation from a Semitic language fit
equally well with a Hebrew or an Aramaic original"; his opinion
is that Aramaic was the original language, "but that a few
passages do seem to suggest a Hebrew origin, yet not
decisively." 1
GENERAL CONTENTS
The reader who comes to peruse the Book of Enoch for the first
time will find much that appears to him strange and
unattractive; he must not, however, be repelled by this; for in
due time he will come to other arts of the book which he will
soon see to be of real value from many points of view. But even
regarding the less attractive parts, he will find that when
these are carefully studied they contain more that is of
interest than appears upon the surface. Unfortunately, the
opening portion (i.-xxxvi.), which is naturally read first,
contains a good deal of the least important parts of the whole
book; some passages are even repellent. It is well to remember
the point, already referred to, that there are at least four
quite independent books included in the "Book of Enoch,"
exclusive of certain "Noah" fragments and other pieces (see
below); the student is, therefore, advised to treat these as
separate works, and to read them as such. There is no reason to
begin with the book which happens to come first, especially as
the first thirty-six chapters do not all belong together. 2 But,
in any case, it will be found most useful to have some general
idea of the contents of each of the different books before
beginning to read them. For this purpose a brief résumé of
each is given here. i. The Book of Enoch (chapters
xii.-xxxvi.). The book begins With a Dream-Vision of Enoch. In
this dream Enoch is asked to intercede for the watchers of
heaven, i.e. the angels, who had left their
heavenly home to commit iniquity with the daughters of men. He
writes out the petition (cp. the title "Enoch the Scribe") the
fallen angels make, and then retires to await the answer, which
comes to him in a series of visions. These visions are not quite
easy to follow; they are evidently incomplete and somewhat
confused; in all probability the text has suffered in
transmission. At any rate, the petition is refused; Enoch
declares to the fallen angels the doom which, as he has been
taught in the visions, is to be their lot; the final words of
the message which he is bidden to give them are: "You have no
peace" (xii.-xvi.). There follow then accounts of the different
journeys which Enoch makes, being conducted by angels of light,
through certain parts of the earth, and through Sheol. After the
account of the first journey (xvii.-xix.) a
short enumeration is made of the archangels, seven in number,
and their functions (xx.). In the second journey is
described the place of final punishment of the fallen angels:
"This place is the prison of the angels and here they will
imprisoned for ever." From thence Enoch is taken to Sheol; then
to the west, where he sees the luminaries of heaven. After that
the angels show him "seven magnificent mountains," upon one of
which is the throne of God; he sees also the Tree of Life, which
is to be given to the holy and. righteous after the great
judgement. From thence he comes back to the centre of the earth
and sees the "blessed place," Jerusalem, and the "accursed
valley" (xxi.-xxvii.). The book concludes with what appear to be
fragments of other journeys, to the east, to the north, and to
the south. Of special interest here is the mention of the Garden
of Righteousness, and the Tree of Wisdom (xxviii.-xxxvi.).
Much that is written in these chapters may appear pointless and
uninspiring; but we must bear in mind the purpose that lies
behind it all. The fallen angels were believed to have brought
sin on to the earth; all the wickedness of the world the
Apocalyptist traces back to them. This cause of sin must be
wholly destroyed before righteousness can come truly to its own.
Therefore the Apocalyptist has a practical aim in view when
describing in much detail the final place of punishment of the
fallen angels; for here, too, are to come all those who by sin
are the offspring of this race. No less does he delight in
telling of the abode of joy prepared for the righteous. That all
these descriptions were constructed out of the imagination of
the Apocalyptist, based largely, no doubt, upon popular
tradition, did not detract from their practical value for the
people of his day. He was a preacher of righteousness who looked
forward in absolute conviction to the final overthrow of sin;
and all his visions have as their motive-power the yearning for
and belief in the triumph of righteousness over sin. One of a
like mind wrote later on, in a kind of preface to his book,
these significant words, which sum up the essence of the
teaching of this book:
And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate,
and the children of the Watchers. because they have wronged
mankind. 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.
ii. The Parables (chapters xxxvii.-lxxi.). There are
three Parables. or Similitudes, and they all have as their
underlying thought the destruction of evil and the triumph of
righteousness, as in the preceding book. But here some new and
important elements are introduced which give special value to
this book.
The first parable (xxxviii.-xliv.) is a prophecy of
coming judgement upon the wicked, and especially the kings and
mighty ones on the earth. On the other hand, the Apocalyptist
sees in his vision the abode and resting-places of the righteous
who are continually praising the "Lord of Spirits "; this is the
usual title given -to God in this book. Here occurs the first
mention of the "Elect One" (cp. Luke xxiii. 35). In the presence
of the Lord of Spirits are also the four Archangels and
innumerable companies of other angels. Here he learns many
secrets of the heavens; a fragment on Wisdom (xlii.), which
recalls some passages in Ecclus. xxiv., comes in the middle of
the secrets, and is clearly out of place. The second parable (xlv.-lvii.)
continues the same theme and further develops it. Of special
importance is the sitting of the Elect One on the throne of
glory as Judge (xlv. 3), and the mention of His title, "Son of
Man" (xlvi. 2). The thought of the vindication of the righteous
is marred by their joy at vengeance upon the wicked. A
particularly striking passage is chapter xlviii. 1-7, which
speaks of the inexhaustible fountain of righteousness reserved
for the holy and elect in the presence of the Son of Man and of
the Lord of Spirits. The Apocalyptist prophesies further of the
repentance of the Gentiles (chapter l.), an universalistic note
of significance, and speaks of the Resurrection of the dead in a
notable passage:
And In those days shall the earth also
give back that which has been entrusted to it,
And Sheol also shall give back that which it has received,
And Hell shall give back that which it owes.
[paragraph continues]The
parable ends with an account of the judgement, followed by two
short passages on the last struggle of the heathen powers
against Israel (lvi. 5-8), and the return from the Dispersion (lvii.),
which do not appear to be in their original place. The third
parable (lviii.-lxxi.) has clearly suffered largely from the
intrusion of alien matter, and is probably incomplete. Its main
theme is the final judgement upon all flesh, and especially upon
the great ones of -the earth; the judge is the Son of Man. Some
of the passages which speak of the future reward of the
righteous are full of beauty; the following is well worth
quoting:
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.
And they shall be garments of life from the Lord of Spirits:
And your garments shall not grow old.
Nor your glory pass away before the Lord of Spirits.
A large Noah fragment comes in the middle of the Parable (see p.
xxvi below). The close of this Parable is contained in lxix.
26-29; the account of Enoch's final translation (lxx.), and two
of Enoch's visions (lxxi.) are out of place.
iii. The Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries (chapters
lxxii.-lxxxii.). In lxxiv. 12 it says: "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." 1 This
gives the key-note of this book, viz. that time is to be
reckoned by the sun, not by the moon (see further on this the
section on Authorship, above). Until we come to chapter lxxx.
this book is uninteresting in the extreme; it purports to tell
in detail of the laws by which the sun, moon, stars and the
winds are governed; they are described by Uriel, "the holy
angel," to the Apocalyptist. The four quarters of the world, the
seven mountains and the seven rivers are also dealt with. "The
author has no other interest save a scientific one coloured by
Jewish conceptions and beliefs." 2 It
is, however, different when we come to chapter lxxx. 2-8; the
whole tone alters in these verses, in which it is said that
owing to the sin of men the moon and the sun will mislead them.
An ethical thought is thus brought in which is wholly lacking in
the previous chapters of this book; this is also true of chapter
lxxxi.; it is probable that neither of these chapters stood here
originally.
Regarding the point of the 364 days to the year which the writer
of this book makes, Charles says that "he did this only through
sheer incapacity for appreciating an thing better; for he must
have been acquainted with the solar year of 365¼ days. His
acquaintance with the Greek cycles shows this. . . . The
author's reckoning of the year at 364 days may be partly due to
his opposition to heathen systems, and partly to the fact that
364 is divisible by seven, and amounts to fifty-two weeks
exactly." 1 In
any case, he is opposed to the lunar year, the Pharisaic way of
reckoning time; and this is an important point in favour of
Sadducæan authorship. It will be noted that this book was
written in post-Maccabæan times; it was after the Maccabæan
struggle that the Sadducees and Pharisees appeared as parties
definitely opposed to one another. 2
iv. The Dream-Visions (chapters lxxxiii.-xc.). This book
consists of two dream-visions; the first deals with the
judgement brought upon the world by the deluge on account of
sin; the origin of sin is again traced to the angels who fell.
It concludes with a hymn of praise to God in which a prayer is
offered that all flesh may not be destroyed (lxxxiii.-lxxxiv.).
The second dream-vision is much longer; it gives in brief
outline the history of the world to the founding of the
Messianic Kingdom. First, the patriarchs, symbolized by bulls,
etc. (lxxxv.); then the fallen angels, also described in
symbolic language, and their punishment (lxxxvi.-lxxxviii.). The
history then proceeds to deal more specifically with Israel from
the time of Noah to the Maccabæan revolt (lxxxix.-xc. 19).
Throughout the dream-vision symbolic language is used; the
faithful in Israel are spoken of as the sheep, while the
Gentiles are symbolized by wild beasts and birds of prey.
The dream-vision concludes with some familiar eschatological
notes: the judgement and condemnation of the wicked; the
establishment of the New Jerusalem; the conversion of the
Gentiles, who become subject to Israel; the gathering-in of the
dispersed Israelites; the resurrection of the righteous dead and
the setting-up of the Messianic Kingdom on the appearance of the
Messiah (xc. 20-38).
v. The Concluding Section of the Book (xcii.-cv.; xci.
x-10, 18, 19 also belong here) is a complete, though short,
work; but there are some obvious interpolations, and it is quite
possible that some parts of the text are dislocated. This makes
the understanding of the book difficult; but if we follow
Charles's guidance here the difficulties will disappear. He says
that this concluding piece has in some degree suffered at the
hands the final editor of the book, both in the way of direct
interpolation and of severe dislocations of the text. The
interpolations are: xci. 11, xciii. 11-14, xciv. 7d,
xcvi. 2. The dislocations of the text are a more important
feature of the book. They are confined (with the exception of
xciii. 13-14, and of cvi. 17a which should be read
immediately after cvi. 14) to xci.-xciii. All critics are agreed
as to the chief of these. xci. 12-17 should undoubtedly be read
directly after xciii. . . . Taken together xciii. 1-10, xci.
12-17 form an independent whole--the Apocalypse of Weeks--which
has been incorporated in xci.-civ. . . . The remaining
dislocations need only to be pointed out in order to be
acknowledged. On other grounds we find that xci.-civ. is a book
of different authorship from that of the rest of the sections.
Now, this being so, this section obviously begins with xcii.:
'Written by Enoch the Scribe.' etc. On xcii. follows xci. 1-10,
18, 19 as a natural sequel, where Enoch summons his children to
receive his parting words. Then comes the Apocalypse of weeks,
xciii. 1-10, xci. 12-17. The original order of the text,
therefore, was: xcii. xci. 1-10, 18, 19, xciii. 1-10, xci.
12-17. xciv. These dislocations were the work of the editor, who
put the different books of Enoch together, and added lxxx. and
lxxxi." 1
This book is concerned with the question of the final reward of
the righteous and the final punishment of the wicked. . But a
new teaching of great importance is put forth here. Hitherto it
had been taught that although much incongruity and apparent
injustice were to be found on this earth owing to the suffering
of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked,. nevertheless
all things would be righted in the world to come, where the
wicked would receive their deserts, and the righteous would come
to their own. In this book it is taught that retribution will
overtake the wicked, and the righteous will have peace and
prosperity, even on this earth, with the setting-up of the
Messianic Kingdom; and that at the last there will come, with
the final judgement, the destruction of the former heaven and
earth, and the creation of a new heaven. Then will follow the
resurrection of the spirits of the righteous dead who will live
for ever in peace and joy, while the wicked will perish
everlastingly. The important point, which is a development, is
the idea of the punishment of the wicked taking place on this
earth, the very scene of their unrighteous triumphs.
vi. The Noah Fragments (vi.-xi, lvii. 7-lv. 2, ix.
lxv.-lxix. 25, cvi., cvii.). These fragments are not of much
importance; the main topics touched upon are the fall of the
angels and sin among men in consequence; judgement on mankind, i.e. the
Deluge, and the preservation of Noah.
The first five chapters are generally field to be as late as any
part of the whole collection; they deal with the punishment
hereafter of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteous.
Chapter cviii., which reads like a final word to the whole
collection, touches upon the same theme.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BOOK FOR THE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN ORIGINS
This is a subject which cannot be thoroughly appreciated without
studying the book in detail, especially from its doctrinal
standpoint, and seeing in how many aspects it represents the
doctrine and the popular conceptions of the Jews during the two
last pre-Christian centuries. To do this here would involve a
far too extended investigation; it must suffice to indicate a
few of the many points which should be studied; from these it
will be seen how important the book is for the study of
Christian origins. Charles says that "the influence of 1 Enoch
on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other
apocryphal and pseudepigraphical books put together"; and he
gives a formidable list of passages in the New Testament which
"either in phraseology or idea directly depend on, or are
illustrative of, passages in 1 Enoch," as well as a further list
showing that various doctrines in 1 Enoch had "an undoubted
share in moulding the corresponding New Testament doctrines."
These passages should be studied--and they will be found to be a
most interesting study--in Charles's work already referred to
several times, pp. xcv.-ciii.; and with these should be read the
section on the Theology of the Book of Enoch, pp. ciii.-cx.
Another book of great value and interest--also already
quoted--is Burkitt's Jewish and Christian Apocalypses. In
dealing with the subject of 1 Enoch and the Gospels, this writer
points out that the former "contains a serious attempt to
account for the presence of Evil in human history, and this
attempt claims our attention, because it is in essentials the
view presupposed in the Gospels, especially in the Synoptic
Gospels.
[paragraph continues]It
is when you study Matthew, Mark, and Luke against the background
of the Books of Enoch that you see them in their true
perspective. In saying this I have no intention of detracting
from the importance of what the, Gospels report to us. On the
contrary, it puts familiar words into their proper setting.
Indeed, it seems to me that some of the best-known Sayings of
Jesus only appear in their true light if regarded as Midrash upon
words and concepts that were familiar to those who heard the
Prophet of Galilee, though now they have been forgotten by Jew
and Christian alike" (p. 21). He then gives an illustration of
this from Matt. xii. 43-45, Luke xi. 24--26. Of still greater
interest are his remarks upon the relationship between 1 Enoch
lxii. and Matt. xxv, 31-46; he believes that "the Similitudes of
Enoch are presupposed in the scene from Matthew." The whole of
the discussion which follows should be read.
The special points of interest that should be studied in seeking
to realize the importance of these books of Enoch for the study
of Christian origins are the problems of evil, including, of
course, the subjects of dæmonology, and future judgement; the
Messiah and the Messianic Kingdom--the title "Son of Man" is of
special importance--and the Resurrection. There are, of course,
other subjects which will suggest themselves in studying the
book.
Footnotes
viii:1 Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, pp. 15, 16
(1913).
xi:1 G. H. Box, The Ezra Apocalypse, pp.
35, 36 (1912).
xiii:1 The general Pharisaic point of view regarding this
may be gathered from Matt. iii. 7-10.
xv:1 Burkitt rightly insists that we should speak of the
collection as the books. not the book, of Enoch.
xv:2 Burkitt, op. cit., 28-30.
xvi:1 i.e. the " Pious ones." or " Saints."
xvi:2 Die Saddurder (1912).
xvi:3 i.e., according to him, i.-xxxvi., lxxii.-lxxxii.,
lxxxiii.-xc., xci. 12-17, xciii.
xvi:4 See Gen. v. 21-23.
xvi:5 Op. cit., p. 18.
xvi:6 Gen. v. 24.
xvii:1 i.e. "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries." as
Charles calls it.
xvii:2 i.e. "the righteous"; a play on the word Zaddûkîm,
the "sons of Zadok," i.e. the Sadducees.
xvii:3 Leszynsky, op cit., pp. 253 ff.
xviii:1 Chaps. i.-xxxii. 6. and xix. 3-xxi. 9 in a duplicate
form were discovered at Akhmîm in 1886-1887; vi.-x. 14. xv.
8-xvi. x, and viii. 4-ix. 4 in a duplicate form, have been
preserved in Syncellus; lxxxix. 42-49 occurs in a Greek Vatican
MS. (No. 1809); there are also a few quotations in early Greek
ecclesiastical writings; and i. 9, v. 4. xxvii. 2 are quoted in
the Epistle of St. Jude 14, 15.
xix:1 Op. cit., p. 27.
xix:2 It is a great pity that one system of
chapter-enumeration runs through the whole volume; if each
separate book began with chap. i. it would be much better. For
obvious reasons this cannot be done here; see Editors' General
Preface.
xxiii:1 See also lxxxii. 4-6. it.
xxiii:2 Charles, The Book of Enoch, p.
147 (1912).
xxiv:1 Op. cit. p. 150.
xxiv:2 for the points of difference between the Pharisees
and Sadducees see the present writer's The Books
of the Apocrypha, their Origin, Teaching, and Contents,
chap. vii. (1914).
xxvi:1 Op. cit., p. 218.
ABBREVIATIONS, BRACKETS, AND SYMBOLS SPECIALLY USED IN THE
TRANSLATION OF 1 ENOCH
E denotes the Ethiopic Version.
Gs denotes the fragments of the Greek Version
preserved In Syncellus: in the case of 8b-9b there
are two forms of the text, Gs1 Gs2.
Gg denotes the large fragment of the Greek Version
discovered at Akhmîm, and deposited in the Gizeh Museum, Cairo.
The following brackets are used in the translation of 1 Enoch:
⌈ ⌉. The
use of these brackets means that the words so enclosed are found
in Gg but not In E.
⌈⌈ ⌉⌉. The
use of these brackets means that the words so enclosed are found
in E but not in Gg or Gs.
〈 〉. The
use of these brackets means that the words so enclosed are
restored.
[ ] The
use of these brackets means that the words so enclosed are
interpolations.
( ). The use of these brackets means that the words so enclosed
are supplied by the editor.
The use of thick type denotes that the words so printed
are emended.
† † corruption in the text.
. . . = some words which have been lost.
BOOK OF ENOCH
I-XXXVI
I-V. Parable of Enoch on the Future Lot of the Wicked and the
Righteous
CHAPTER I.
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. 2. And he took up his parable 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:
The Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling,
4. And the eternal God will tread upon the earth, (even) on
Mount Sinai,
⌈And appear from His camp⌉
And appear in the strength of His might from the heaven of
heavens.
5. And all shall be smitten with fear
And the Watchers shall quake,
And great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends
of the earth.
6. And the high mountains shall be shaken,
And the high hills shall be made low,
And shall melt like wax before the flame p.
32
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).
8. But with the righteous He will make peace.
And will protect the elect,
And mercy shall be upon them.
And they shall all belong to God,
And they shall be prospered,
And they shall ⌈all⌉ be
blessed.
⌈And He will help them all⌉,
And light shall appear unto them,
⌈And He will make peace with them⌉.
9. And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy
ones
To execute judgement upon all,
And to destroy ⌈all⌉ the
ungodly:
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.
CHAPTER II.
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, ⌈⌈how the whole earth is
filled with water, and clouds and dew and rain lie upon it⌉⌉.
CHAPTER III.
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 IV.
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 V.
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⌉.
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 words
With your impure mouths against His greatness.
Oh, ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace.
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.
6a. In those days ye shall make your names an
eternal execration unto all the righteous,
b. And by you shall ⌈all⌉ who
curse, curse,
And all the sinners ⌈and godless⌉ shall
imprecate by you,
7c. And for you the godless there shall be a curse.
6d. And all the . . . shall rejoice,
e. And there shall be forgiveness of sins,
f. And every mercy and peace and forbearance: p.
34
g. There shall be salvation unto them, a goodly
light.
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,
b. And they shall inherit the earth.
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.
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.
And their lives shall be increased in peace,
And the years of their joy shall be multiplied,
In eternal gladness and peace,
All the days of their life.
VI-XI. The Fall of the Angels: the Demoralisation 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 VI.
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.' 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 Jared 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: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl,
Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs,
Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl,
Sariêl. 8. These are their chiefs of tens.
CHAPTER VII.
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, whose height was three thousand ells: 3.
Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no
longer sustain them, 4. 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, and drink the blood. 6. Then the earth laid accusation
against the lawless ones.
CHAPTER VIII.
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, and
the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones,
and all colouring tinctures. 2. And there arose much
godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led
astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught
enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of
enchantments, Barâqîjâl,
[paragraph continues](taught)
astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge
of the clouds, 〈Araqiêl the signs
of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun〉,
and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they
cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
CHAPTER IX.
1. And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down
from heaven 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 crying† 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, 〈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. 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: 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 X.
1. Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and
sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, 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.' 4. And again
the Lord said to Raphael: '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. 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. 6.
And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the
fire. 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.' 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. 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.
12. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have
seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for
seventy generations 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. 13. In those
days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: 〈and〉 to
the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for
ever. 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. 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.
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.
18 And then shall the whole earth be tilled in righteousness,
and shall all be planted with trees and be full of blessing. 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. 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. 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. 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 XI.
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.'
XII-XVI. Dream Vision of Enoch: his intercession for Azâzêl
and the fallen Angels:
and his announcement to them of their first and final doom.
CHAPTER XII.
1. Before these things Enoch was hidden, 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 called me--Enoch the
scribe--and said to me: 4. 'Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness,
go, †declare† to the Watchers of the heaven who have left the
high heaven, 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: "Ye have wrought great destruction
on the earth: 5. 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 XIII.
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: 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. 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 〈of
days〉†. 7. And I went off and sat
down at the waters of Dan, 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, 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 reprimand the heavenly
Watchers.
CHAPTER XIV.
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. 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⌉⌉. 5. And from henceforth you
shall not ascend into heaven unto all eternity, and ⌈in
bonds⌉ of the earth 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 clouds invited me and a mist
summoned me, and the course of the stars and the lightnings sped
and hastened me, and the winds in the vision
caused me to fly 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. And I went into the tongues of fire and drew nigh
to a large house which was built of crystals: 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. 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. 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: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels
thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of
cherubim. 19. And from underneath the throne came streams of
flaming fire so that I could not look thereon. 20. And the Great
Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the
sun and was whiter than any snow. 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: ten thousand times ten thousand
(stood) before Him, yet He needed no counselor. 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: 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 XV.
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, 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. 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. 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. And these spirits shall rise up against the
children of men and against the women, because they have
proceeded ⌈from them⌉.
CHAPTER XVI.
1. From the days of the slaughter and destruction and death ⌈of
the giants⌉, 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." 2. And now as to the
Watchers who have sent thee to intercede for them, who had been ⌈⌈aforetime⌉⌉ in
heaven, (say to them): "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-XXXVII. Enoch's Journeys through the Earth and Sheol.
XVII-XIX. The First Journey.
CHAPTER XVII.
1. And they took ⌈and⌉ brought
me to a place in which those who were there were like flaming
fire, and, when they wished, they appeared as men. 2. And they
brought me to the place of darkness, 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 bow
and arrows and their quiver, and ⌈⌈a
fiery sword⌉⌉ and all the lightnings.
4. And they took me to the living waters, and to the fire of the
west, which receives every setting of the sun. 5. And I came to
a river of fire 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 XVIII
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. 2. And I saw the corner-stone 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⌉⌉. 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: I saw ⌈⌈the
paths of the angels. I saw⌉⌉ at the
end of the earth the firmament of the heaven above. 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. 7. And as for those towards
the east, 〈one〉 was
of coloured stone, and one of pearl, and one of jacinth,
and those towards the south of red stone. 8. But the middle one
reached to heaven like the throne of God, of alabaster, and the
summit of the throne was of sapphire. 9. And I saw a flaming
fire. And beyond these mountains 10. 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
fire 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. 13. I saw there
seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I
inquired regarding them, 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. 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 when their guilt should be
consummated (even) ⌈for
ten thousand years⌉.'
CHAPTER XIX.
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⌉⌉,
(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.'
3. And I, Enoch, alone saw the vision, the ends of all things:
and no man shall see as I have seen.
XX. Name and Functions of the Seven Archangels.
CHAPTER XX.
1. And these are the names of the holy angels 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, 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, 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. Preliminary and final place of punishment of the fallen
angels (stars).
CHAPTER XXI.
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? 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. 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 XXII.
1. And thence I went to another place, and he showed me in the
west ⌈another⌉ great
and high mountain [and] of
hard rock.
|
E
2 And there was in it †four† hollow places, deep
and wide and very smooth. †How† smooth are the
hollow places and deep and dark to look at. |
Gg
2. 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.' |
3. Then Raphael 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. 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.'
|
E
5. I saw the spirits of the children of men who were
dead, and their voice went forth to heaven and made suit. 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?' |
Gg
5. I saw (the spirit of) a dead man making suit,
and his voice went forth to heaven and made suit. 6. 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?' |
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.'
|
E
8. Then I asked regarding it, and regarding all the hollow
places: 'Why as one separated from the other?'
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 as the bright spring
of water. 10. And such has |
Gg
8. Then I asked regarding all the hollow places:
'Why is one separated from the other?'
9. 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. 10. And this has
been made for sinners |
|
p. 49 |
|
|
E
been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the
earth and judgement has not been executed on them in their
lifetime. 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. 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. 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. 14. Then
I blessed the Lord of glory and said: 'Blessed be my Lord,
the Lord of righteousness, who ruleth for ever.' |
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when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement
has not been executed upon them in their lifetime. 11. Here
their spirits shall be set apart in this great pain, till
the great day of judgement, scourgings, and torments of the
accursed for ever, so that (there maybe) retribution
for their spirits. There He shall bind them for ever. 12.
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. 13. 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.
14. Then I blessed the Lord of Glory and said: 'Blessed art
Thou, Lord of righteousness, who rulest over the world.' |
XXIII. The Fire that deals with the Luminaries of Heaven.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1. From thence I went to another place to the west of the ends
of the earth. 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 XXIV.
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.
CHAPTER XXV.
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?' Then I answered him ⌈⌈saying⌉⌉:
'I wish to know about everything, but especially about this
tree.' And he answered saying: 'This high mountain ⌈⌈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 down 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. 5. Its fruit shall be for
food to the elect: it shall be transplanted to the holy place,
to the temple of the Lord, the Eternal King.
6 Then shall they rejoice with joy and be glad,
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⌉⌉ plague
Or torment or calamity touch them.'
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.
Jerusalem and the Mountains, Ravines and Streams.
CHAPTER XXVI.
1. And I went from thence to the middle of the earth, and I saw
a blessed place ⌈in which there were
trees⌉ with branches abiding and
blooming [of a
dismembered tree]. 2. And there I saw
a holy mountain, ⌈⌈and⌉⌉ underneath
the mountain to the east there was a stream and it flowed
towards the south. 3. And I saw towards the east another
mountain higher than this, and between them a deep and narrow
ravine: in it also ran a stream ⌈underneath⌉ the
mountain. 4. And to the west thereof there was another mountain,
lower than the former and of small elevation, and a ravine ⌈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 marveled ⌈⌈at
the rocks, and I marveled⌉⌉ at the
ravine, yea, I marveled very much.
XXVII. The Purpose of the Accursed Valley.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1. Then said I: 'For what object is this blessed land, which is
entirely filled with trees, and this accursed valley ⌈⌈between⌉⌉?'
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.
|
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Here shall they be gathered together, and here shall be
their place of judgement. 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. |
Gg
Here shall they be gathered together, and here shall be
the place of their habitation. 3. 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 Kin. |
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 XXVIII
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 XXIX.
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 XXX.
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 XXXI.
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. 2. And
beyond these mountains I saw another mountain ⌈to
the east of the ends of the earth⌉, ⌈⌈whereon
were aloe trees⌉⌉, 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 XXXII.
|
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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. |
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1. To the north-east I beheld seven mountains full of
choice nard and mastic and cinnamon and pepper. |
2. And thence I went over the summits of ⌈all⌉ these
mountains, far towards the east ⌈of
the earth⌉, and passed above the
Erythraean sea and went far from it, and passed over ⌈⌈the
angel⌉⌉ Zotîêl.
|
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3. And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, 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. |
Gg
3. 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. |
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 Raphael
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.'
CHAPTER XXXIII.
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. 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.
XXXIV. XXXV. Enoch's Journey to the North.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
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 XXXV.
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 XXXVI.
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†. 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. 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.
The Parables
XXXVII-LXXI
CHAPTER XXXVII.
1. The second vision 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. 2. And
this is the beginning 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, and see, ye that come after, the words of
the Holy One which I will speak before the Lord of Spirits. 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. 5. Now three parables were imparted to me, and I
lifted up my voice and recounted them to those that dwell on the
earth.
XXXVII-XLIV. The First Parable.
XXXVIII. The Coming Judgement of the Wicked.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
1. The First Parable.
When the congregation of the righteous shall appear,
And sinners shall be judged for their sins,
And shall be driven from the face of the earth:
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, p.
57
Where then will be the dwelling of the sinners,
And where the resting-place of those who have denied the
Lord of Spirits?
It had been good for them if they had not been born.
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.
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 XXXIX.
1. [And it †shall come to pass in
those days that elect and holy children †will descend from the
high heaven, and their seed †will become one with the children
of men. 2. And in those days Enoch received books of zeal and
wrath, and books of disquiet and expulsion.]
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. p.
58
4. And there I saw another vision, the dwelling-places of
the holy,
And the resting-places of the righteous.
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:
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,
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,
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. 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: 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 XL.
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,
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 One 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. 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. 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 repentance unto hope of those who
inherit eternal life, is named Phanuel.' And these are the four
angels of the Lord of Spirits and the four voices I heard in
those days.
CHAPTER XLI.
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 weighed
in the balance. 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, 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.
[paragraph continues]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.
XLII. The Dwelling-places of Wisdom and of Unrighteousness.
CHAPTER XLII.
1. Wisdom found no place where she might dwell;
Then a dwelling-place was assigned her in the heavens.
2 Wisdom 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:
Whom she sought not she found,
And dwelt with them, p.
62
As rain in a desert
And dew on a thirsty land.
XLIII. XLIV. Astronomical Secrets.
CHAPTER XLIII.
1. And I saw other lightnings and the stars of heaven, and I saw
how He called them all by their names 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?' 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 XLIV.
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.
The Lot of the Apostates: the New Heaven and the New Earth.
CHAPTER XLV.
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.
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.p.
63
3. On that day Mine Elect One 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.
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:
And I will cause Mine elect ones to dwell upon it:
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 XLVI.
1. And there I saw One who had a head of days,
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? And
he answered and said unto me:
This is the son of Man who hath righteousness,
With whom dwelleth righteousness,
And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden,
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 seen
Shall †raise up† the kings and the mighty from their seats,
[And the strong from their
thrones]
And shall loosen the reins of the strong,
And break the teeth of the sinners.
5. [And he shall put down the
kings from their thrones and kingdoms]
Because they do not extol and praise Him,
Nor humbly acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon
them.
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,
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 stars of heaven,
[And raise their hands against
the Most High],
†And tread upon the earth and dwell upon it†.
And all their deeds manifest unrighteousness,
And their power rests upon their riches, p.
65
And their faith 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 XLVII.
1. And in those days shall have ascended the prayer of
the righteous,
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
heavens
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,
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 living were opened before Him:
And all His host which is in heaven above and His counselors
stood before Him,
4 And the hearts of the holy were filled with joy;
Because the number of the righteous had been offered,
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 XLVIII.
1. And in that place I saw the fountain of righteousness
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 hour 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,
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,
And the hope of those who are troubled of heart.
5. All who dwell on earth shall fall down 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.
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: p.
67
For in his name they are saved,
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:
As lead 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:
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.
The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed.
XLIX. The Power and Wisdom of the Elect One.
CHAPTER XLIX.
l. For wisdom 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,
And have no continuance;
Because the Elect One standeth before the Lord of Spirits,
And his glory is for ever and ever,
And his might unto all generations. p.
68
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 those 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 before the Lord of Spirits according
to His good pleasure.
L. The Glorification and Victory of the Righteous: the
Repentance of the Gentiles.
CHAPTER L.
1. And in those days a change shall take place for the
holy and elect,
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.
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,
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,
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 LI.
1. And in those days shall the earth also give back that
which has been entrusted to it,
And Sheol also shall give back that which it has received,
And hell shall give back that which it owes.
5a. For in those days the Elect One shall arise,
2. And he shall choose the righteous and holy from among
them:
For the day has drawn nigh that they should be saved.
3. And the Elect One 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 leap like rams,
And the hills also shall skip like lambs satisfied with
milk,
And the faces of ⌈all⌉ the
angels in heaven shall be lighted up with joy.
5b. And the earth shall rejoice,
c. And the righteous shall dwell upon it,
d. And the elect shall walk thereon.
LII. The Seven 1 Metal
Mountains and the Elect One.
CHAPTER LII.
l. 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.
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.'
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,
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,
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,
Either by gold or by silver,
And none be able to escape.
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.'
Footnotes
69:1 [Only six are mentioned; see Charles' note in his large
edition--EDD.]
LIII. LVI. 6. The Valley of Judgement: the Angels of
Punishment: the Communities of the Elect One.
CHAPTER LIII.
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.
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 shall cause the
house of his congregation 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,
But the hills shall be as a fountain of water,
And the righteous shall have rest from the oppression of
sinners.'
CHAPTER LIV.
1 And I looked and turned to another part of the earth, and saw
there a deep valley 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. 4. And I asked
the angel of peace who went with me, saying: 'For whom are these
chains being prepared?'
[paragraph continues]5.
And he said unto me: 'These are being prepared for the hosts of
Azâzêl, 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.'
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. 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. 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 LV.
1. And after that the Head of Days repented 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.'
LV. 3-LVI. 4. Final Judgement of Azâzêl, 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, 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.'
CHAPTER LVI.
1. And I saw there the hosts of the angels of punishment going,
and they held scourges and chains of iron and bronze. 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.
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.
LVI. 5-8. Last struggle of heathen Powers against Israel.
5. And in those days the angels shall return
And hurl themselves to the east upon the Parthians and
Medes:
They shall stir up the kings, so that a spirit of unrest
shall come upon them,
And they shall rouse them from their thrones,
That they may break forth as lions from their lairs,
And as hungry wolves among their flocks.
6. And they shall go up and tread under foot the land of His
elect ones, p.
74
[And the land of His elect ones
shall be before them a threshing-floor and a highway:]
7 But the city of my righteous shall be a hindrance to their
horses.
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,
Till there be no number of the corpses through their
slaughter,
And their punishment be not in vain.
8 In those days Sheol shall open its jaws,
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.'
LVII. The Return from the Dispersion.
CHAPTER LVII.
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 moved
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 LVIII.
1. And I began to speak the third Parable concerning the
righteous and elect. p.
75
2. Blessed are ye, ye righteous and elect,
For glorious shall be your lot.
3. And the righteous shall be in the light of the sun.
And the elect in the light of eternal life:
The days of their life shall be unending,
And the days of the holy without number.
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.
5. And after this it shall be said to the holy in heaven
That they should seek out the secrets of righteousness, the
heritage of faith:
For it has become bright as the sun upon earth,
And the darkness is past.
6. And there shall be a light that never endeth,
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.
LIX. The Lights and the Thunder.
CHAPTER LIX.
[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. 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.]
LX. Book of Noah--a Fragment.
Quaking of Heaven: Behemoth and Leviathan: the Elements.
CHAPTER LX.
1. In the year five hundred, in the seventh month, 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 righteous stood
around Him.
3. And a great trembling seized me,
And fear took hold of me,
And my loins gave way,
And dissolved were my reins,
And I fell upon my face.
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. 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.
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 mercy
and His patience.'
7. And on that day were two monsters parted, a female monster
named Leviathan, to dwell in the abysses of the ocean over the
fountains of the waters. 8. But the male is named Behemoth, who
occupied with his breast a waste wilderness named †Dûidâin†, on
the east of the garden where the elect and righteous dwell,
where my grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam, 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. 12. And the
chambers of the winds, and how the winds are divided, and how
they are weighed, 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. 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. 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. 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. 17.
And the spirit of the hoar-frost is his own angel, and the
spirit of the hail is a good angel. 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. 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. 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 . . . 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 . . .
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 LXI.
1. And I saw in those days how long cords were given to those
angels, and they took to themselves wings and flew, and they
went towards the north.
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.'
3. And the angel who went with me said unto me:
'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.
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.
5. And these measures shall reveal all the secrets of the
depths of the earth,
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.
6. And all who dwell above in the heaven received a command and
power and one voice and one light like unto fire.
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. p.
80
8. And the Lord of Spirits placed the Elect one on the
throne of glory.
And he shall judge all the works of the holy above in the
heaven,
And in the balance shall their deeds be weighed
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.
10. And He will summon all the host of the heavens, and all the
holy ones above, and the host of God, the Cherubic, Seraphin and
Ophannin, and all the angels of power, and all the angels of
principalities, 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, and may the name of the Lord of Spirits
be blessed for ever and ever."
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:
And every spirit of light 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.
13. For great is the mercy of the Lord of Spirits, and He
is long-suffering, p.
81
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.
LXII. Judgement of the Kings and the Mighty: Blessedness of
the Righteous.
CHAPTER LXII.
1. And thus the Lord commanded the kings and the mighty and the
exalted, and those who dwell on the earth, and said: 'Open your
eyes and lift up your horns if ye are able to recognize the
Elect One.'
2. And the Lord of Spirits seated him 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.
4. Then shall pain come upon them as on a woman in
travail,
[And she has pain in bringing
forth]
When her child enters the mouth of the womb,
And she has pain in bringing forth.
5. And one portion 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.
6. And the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth
shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all, who
was hidden.
7. For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden,
And the Most High preserved him in the presence of His
might,
And revealed him to the elect.
8. And the congregation of the elect and holy shall be
sown,
And all the elect shall stand before him on that day.
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.
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 the darkness grow deeper on their faces.
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 drunk with their blood.
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. p.
83
14. And the Lord of Spirits will abide over them,
And with that Son of Man shall they eat
And lie down and rise up for ever and ever.
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,
16. And these shall be the garments of life from the Lord of
Spirits:
And your garments shall not grow old,
Nor your glory pass away before the Lord of Spirits.
LXIII. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty.
CHAPTER LXIII.
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:
'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,
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.' p. 84
5. And they shall say:
'Would that we had rest to glorify and give thanks
And confess our faith before His glory!
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:
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.
8. And in the day of our suffering and tribulation He
saves us not,
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.
9. And we pass away from before His face on account of
our works,
And all our sins are reckoned up in righteousness.'
10. Now they shall say unto themselves: 'Our souls are full of
unrighteous gain, but it does not prevent us from descending
from the midst thereof into the †burden† of Sheol.'
11. And after that their faces shall be filled with
darkness
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.
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 LXIV.
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 LXV.
1. And in those days Noah saw the earth that it had sunk down
and its destruction was nigh. 2. And he arose from thence and
went to the ends of the earth, and cried aloud to his
grandfather 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
practice sorcery, and the power of witchcraft, 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.
12. And He has destined thy name to be among the holy,
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 fountain of the righteous
and holy without number for ever.
LXVI. The Angels of the Waters bidden to hold them in Check.
CHAPTER LXVI.
1. And after that he showed me the angels of punishment 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
waters 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 LXVII.
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. 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. 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 west among the mountains
of gold and silver and iron and soft metal and tin. 5. And I saw
that valley in which there was a great convulsion and a
convulsion of the waters. 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. 7. And
through its valleys proceed streams of fire, where these angels
are punished who had led astray those who dwell upon the earth.
8. But those waters shall in those days 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; now their spirit is full of lust, that they may be
punished in their body, for they have denied the Lord of Spirits
and see their punishment daily, and yet believe not in His name.
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. 10. For the judgement shall come upon them,
because they believe in the lust of their body and deny the
Spirit of the Lord. 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. 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.
LXVIII. Michael and Raphael astonished at
the Severity of the Judgement.
CHAPTER LXVIII.
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. 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, the judgement of the angels: who can endure the severe
judgement which has been executed, and before which they melt
away?' 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?' 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. 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.'
LXIX. The Names and Functions of the (fallen Angels
and) Satans: the secret Oath.
CHAPTER LXIX.
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 Sîmâpêsîêl,
the seventeenth Jetrêl, the eighteenth Tûmâêl, the nineteenth
Tûrêl, the twentieth †Rumâêl†, the twenty-first †Azâzêl†. 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 Jeqôn: that is, the one who led astray ⌈all⌉ the
sons of God, and brought them down to the
earth, and led them astray through the daughters of men. 5. And
the second was named Asbeêl: 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 Gâdreêl:
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. 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
Pênêmûe: 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. 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†. 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 Tabââ‘ĕt. 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 Bîqâ. 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. 16 And these are the secrets of this oath . . .
And they are strong through his oath:
And the heaven was suspended before the world was created,
And for ever.
17. And through it the earth was founded upon the water, p.
91
And from the secret recesses of the mountains come beautiful
waters,
From the creation of the world and unto eternity.
18. And through that oath the sea was created,
And †as its foundation† He set for it the sand against the
time of (its) anger,
And it dare not pass beyond it from the creation of the
world unto eternity.
19. And through that oath are the depths made fast,
And abide and stir not from their place from eternity to
eternity.
20. And through that oath the sun and moon complete their
course,
And deviate not from their ordinance from eternity to
eternity.
21. And through that oath the stars complete their course,
And He calls them by their names,
And they answer Him from eternity to eternity.
⌈22. And in like manner the spirits
of the water, and of the winds, 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 hoarfrost, 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.⌉
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.
26. And there was great joy amongst them,
And they blessed and glorified and extolled
Because the name of that Son of Man had been revealed unto
them.
27. And he sat on the throne of his glory,
And the sum of judgement was given unto the Son of Man,
And he caused the sinners to pass away and be destroyed from
off the face of the earth,
And those who have led the world astray.
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.
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,
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.
LXX. The Final Translation of Enoch.
CHAPTER LXX.
1. And it came to pass after this that his name during his
lifetime was raised aloft to that Son of Man and to the Lord of
Spirits from amongst those who dwell on the earth. 2. And he was
raised aloft on the chariots 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.
LXXI. Two earlier visions of Enoch.
CHAPTER LXXI.
1. And it came to pass after this that my spirit was
translated
And it ascended into the heavens:
And I saw the holy sons of God.
They were stepping on flames of fire:
Their garments were white [and
their raiment],
And their faces shone like snow.
2. And I saw two streams of fire,
And the light of that fire shone like hyacinth,
And I fell on my face before the Lord of Spirits.
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 me all the secrets of righteousness.
4. And he showed me all the secrets of the ends of the
heaven,
And all the chambers of all the stars, and all the
luminaries,
Whence they proceed before the face of the holy ones.
5. And he translated my spirit into the heaven of
heavens,
And I saw there as it were a structure built of crystals,
And between those crystals tongues of living fire.
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.p.
94
7. And round about were Seraphin, Cherubic, and Ophannin:
And these are they who sleep not
And guard the throne of His glory.
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.
9. And they came forth from that house,
And Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel,
And many holy angels without number.
10. And with them the Head of Days,
His head white and pure as wool,
And His raiment indescribable.
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.
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 463)
concerning the Son of Man as to who he was.]
14. And he (i.e. the angel) came to me and greeted me
with His voice, and said unto me:
'This is the Son of Man who is born unto
righteousness;p.
95
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 peace in the name of the world to
come;
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.
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.
17. And so there shall be length of days with that Son of
Man,
And the righteous shall have peace and an upright way
In the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.'
THE BOOK OF THE COURSES
OF THE HEAVENLY LUMINARIES
(LXXII-LXXXII.)
LXXII. The Sun.
CHAPTER LXXII.
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, 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 creation 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 portals of the heaven, and its
setting in the western portals of the heaven. 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 left of
these portals. 4. And first there goes forth the great luminary,
named the Sun, and his circumference is like the circumference
of the heaven, and he is quite filled with illuminating and
heating fire. 5. The chariot 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 guided
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
month in the great portal, which is the fourth ⌈those
six portals in the cast⌉. 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. 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† 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. 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
up 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† 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 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
sixty 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 brighter than that of the
moon; but as regards size they are both equal.
CHAPTER LXXIII.
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 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 phase in the east comes forth on the thirtieth morning:
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 part of
it, (and) the fourteenth part of her light. 6. And when she
receives one-seventh part 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, 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.
CHAPTER LXXIV.
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,
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
days 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 peculiar course. 5. In two months the moon
sets with the sun: in those two middle portals the third and the
fourth. 6. She goes forth for seven days, and turns about and
returns again through the portal where the sun rises, and
accomplishes 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. 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. 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 moon 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. 13. In 3 years there are
1092 days, and in 5 years 1820 days, so that in 8 years there
are 2912 days. 14. For the moon alone the days amount in 3 years
to 1062 days, and in 5 years she falls 50 days behind: [i.e. to
the sum (of 1770) there is to be added (1000 and) 62 days.] 15.
And in 5 years there are 1770 days, so that for the moon the
days in 8 years amount to 2832 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. 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.
CHAPTER LXXV.
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 reckoned in the reckoning
of the year. 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. 3. For the signs 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. 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. 5. [And
for the winds and the spirit of the dew† when they are opened,
standing open in the heavens at the ends.] 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. 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 larger than all
the rest, and it is that that makes its course through the
entire world.
LXXVI. The Twelve Windows and their Portals.
CHAPTER LXXVI.
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.
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. 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. 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 west
come cloud and hoar-frost, and snow and rain, and dew and
locusts.
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. 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, &c.
CHAPTER LXXVII.
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. 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, higher than all the mountains
which are on the earth: and thence comes forth hoar-frost, and
days, seasons, and years pass away. 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. 6. And these two come
from the north to the sea and pour their waters into the
Erythraean Sea in the east. 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 LXXVII.
1. And the names of the sun are the following: the first Orjârês,
and the second Tômâs. 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 s transferred till the seventh portion of the sun is
exhausted. 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⌉: on the
fourteenth day she accomplishes her light. 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. 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. 9. And in certain months the
month has twenty-nine days and once twenty-eight. 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. 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. 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, 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. 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.
LXXIX-LXXX. 1. Recapitulation of several of the Laws.
CHAPTER LXXIX.
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 LXXX.
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, their tasks and times and departures.
LXXX. 2-8. Perversion of Nature and the heavenly Bodies
owning to the Sin of Men.
2. And in the days of the sinners the years shall be
shortened,
And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields,
And all things on the earth shall alter, p.
107
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,
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]
And shall shine more brightly than accords with the order of
light.
6. And many chiefs of the stars 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 earth shall err concerning
them,
[And they shall be altered from
all their ways],
Yea, they shall err and take them to be gods.
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 LXXXI.
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:
'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. 6. One year we will leave thee with thy son, till
thou givest thy (last) commands, that thou mayest 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 down with the apostate.
9. And those who practice righteousness shall die on
account of the deeds of men,
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 LXXXII.
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.
2. I have given Wisdom to thee and to thy children,
[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.
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.
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.
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. 12. And these heads
over thousands are intercalated between leader and leader, each
behind a station, but their leaders make the division. 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. 13. 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.
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. 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, and all the flowers
which come forth in the field, but the trees of the winter
season become withered. 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 Hîlûjâsĕph: and the
days of the dominion of this (leader) are at an end.
18. The next leader after him is Hêl’emmêlêk, whom one names the
shining sun, and all the days of his light are ninety-one days.
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’îjal, 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.
THE DREAM-VISIONS
(LXXXIII-XC.)
LXXXIII. LXXXIV. First Dream-Vision on the Deluge.
CHAPTER LXXXIII.
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. And regarding
them I prayed to the
[paragraph continues]Lord.
3. 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. 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† it in the beginning,
then I blessed the Lord of judgement and extolled Him because He
had made the sun to go forth from the windows 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 LXXXIV.
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 throne 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,
Wisdom departs not from the place of Thy throne,
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 men 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 LXXXV.
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. 3. Before I took thy mother Edna, I saw in a vision on
my bed, and behold a bull came forth from the earth, and that
bull was white; and after it came forth a heifer, and along with
this (latter) came forth two bulls, 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 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. 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.
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. 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 LXXXVI.
1. And again I saw with mine eyes as I slept, and I saw the
heaven above, and behold a star fell from heaven, and it arose
and eat and pastured amongst those oxen. 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 them ⌈amongst
them⌉. 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. 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 earth began to tremble and quake
before them and to flee from them.
LXXXVII. The Advent of the Seven Archangels.
CHAPTER LXXXVII.
1. And again I saw how they began to gore each other and to
devour each other, and the earth began to cry aloud. 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. 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. 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 LXXXVIII.
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. 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. 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.
LXXXIX. 1-9. The Deluge and the Deliverance
of Noah.
CHAPTER LXXXIX.
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 bulls dwelt with him in that vessel and they
were covered in. 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. 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, 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. 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.
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: lions, tigers, wolves,
dogs, hyenas, wild boars, foxes, squirrels, swine, falcons,
vultures, kites, eagles, and ravens; and among them was born a
white bull. 11. And they began to bite one another; but that
white bull which was born amongst them begat a wild ass and a
white bull with it, and the wild asses multiplied. 12. But that
bull which was born from him begat a black wild boar and a white
sheep; 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 them to the asses, and those asses again gave up
that sheep to the wolves, 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 wolves 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
sheep 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 sheep 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. 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 eyes 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. 29. And that sheep ascended to the
summit of that lofty rock, and the Lord of the sheep sent it to
them. 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 [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. 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 it they feared
and trembled at its presence, and desired to return to their
folds. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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"). 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.
LXXXIX. 41-50. From the Time of the Judges
till the Building of the Temple.
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. 43. And that ram began to butt on either side those
dogs, foxes, and wild boars till he had destroyed them †all†.
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. 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†. 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. 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. 48. And
that second ram arose and led the [little] sheep.
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. 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.
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 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. And again I saw those sheep that they again erred and went
many ways, and forsook that their house, and the Lord of the
sheep called some from amongst the sheep and sent them to the
sheep, but the sheep began to slay them. 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. 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. 55. And He gave them over into the hands of
the lions and tigers, 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. 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. 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 seventy 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. 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. 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 comprehend 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." 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. 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. 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 sheep turned back and came and
entered and began to build up all that had fallen down of that
house; but the wild boars 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. 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. 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. And he took the actual book and laid it down beside
Him and departed.
XC. 1-5. Third Period--from Alexander the
Great to the Graeco-Syrian Domination.
CHAPTER XC.
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; and others received
them into their hands, to pasture them for their period, each
shepherd in his own period. 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. 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 skin 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 Maccabæan Revolt.
6. But behold lambs were borne by those white sheep, and they
began to open their eyes and to see, and to cry to the sheep. 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. 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. 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. 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† 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. |
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. |
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.
| 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]. |
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. |
| 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. |
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, 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. |
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,
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, 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
[paragraph continues]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." 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 fire 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. 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. 27. And I saw those sheep
burning †and their bones burning†.
XC. 28-38. The New Jerusalem, the Conversion
of the surviving Gentiles, the Resurrection of the Righteous,
the Messiah.
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.
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 beer 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 every thing. 31. And thereafter those
three who were clothed in white 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†. 32. And those sheep were all white, 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
rejoiced with great joy because they were all good and had
returned to His house. 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. 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 bull 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. 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.'
THE CONCLUDING SECTION OF THE BOOK.
(XCII-CV.)
XCII. XCI. 1-10. 18-19 Enoch's Book of Admonition for his
Children.
CHAPTER XCII.
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
all my children who shall dwell on the earth. And for the future
generations who shall observe uprightness and peace.
2. Let not your spirit be troubled on account of the
times;
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 power so that he shall be (endowed)
with goodness and righteousness.
And he shall walk in eternal light.
5. And sin shall perish in darkness for ever,
And shall no more be seen from that day for evermore.
XCI. 1-11. 18-19. Enoch's Admonition to his Children.
CHAPTER XCI.
1. 'And now, my son Methuselah, call to me all thy
brothers
And gather together to me all the sons of thy mother; p.
130
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 there upon 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:
Love uprightness and walk therein.
4. And draw not nigh to uprightness with a double heart,
And associate not with those of a double heart,
But walk in righteousness, my sons.
And it shall guide you on good paths,
And righteousness shall be your companion.
5. For I know that violence must increase on the
earth,
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.
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 blasphemy
And violence in all kinds of deeds increase,
And apostasy and transgression and uncleanness increase, p.
131
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.
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,
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.
10. And the righteous shall arise from their sleep,
And wisdom shall arise and be given unto them.
[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.]
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 XCIII.
1. And after that Enoch both †gave† and began to recount from
the books. And Enoch said:
'Concerning the children of righteousness and concerning
the elect of the world,
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,
While judgement and righteousness still endured.
4. And after me there shall arise in the second week
great wickedness,
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.
5. And after that in the third week at its close
A man shall be elected as the plant of righteous judgement,
And his posterity shall become the plant of
righteousness for evermore.
6. And after that in the fourth week, at its close,
Visions of the holy and righteous shall be seen,
And a law for all generations and an enclosure shall be made
for them.
7. And after that in the fifth week, at its close,
The house of glory and dominion shall be built for ever. p.
133
8. And after that in the sixth week all who live in it
shall be blinded,
And the hearts of all of them shall godlessly forsake
wisdom.
And in it a man shall ascend;
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,
And many shall be its deeds,
And all its deeds shall be apostate.
10. And at its close shall be elected
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 One
without being troubled? And who can think His thoughts? and who
is there that can behold all the works of heaven? 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
ends and think them or do like them? 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?
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?]
XCI. 12.-17. The Last Three Weeks.
CHAPTER XCI.
12. And after that there shall be another, the eighth
week, that of righteousness,
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. p.
134
13 And at its close they shall acquire houses through
their righteousness,
And a house shall be built for the Great King in glory for
evermore,
14d. And all mankind shall look to the path of
uprightness.
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.
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.
16. And the first heaven shall depart and pass away,
And a new heaven shall appear,
And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold
light.
17. And after that there will be many weeks without
number for ever,
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 XCIV.
1. And now I say unto you, my sons, love righteousness
and walk therein;
For the paths of righteousness are worthy of acceptation,
But the paths of unrighteousness shall suddenly be destroyed
and vanish.
2. And to certain men of a generation shall the paths of
violence and of death be revealed,
And they shall hold themselves afar from them,
And shall not follow them. p.
135
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.
6. Woe to those who build unrighteousness and oppression
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;
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.]
8. Woe to you, ye rich, for ye have trusted in your
riches,
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,
And have become ready for the day of slaughter, p.
136
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 rejoice 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 XCV.
1. Oh that 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 permitted you to practice reproaches and
wickedness?
And so judgement shall overtake you, sinners. †
3. Fear not the sinners, ye righteous;
For again 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:
Healing shall therefore be far from you because of your
sins.
5. Woe to you who requite your neighbour with evil;
For ye shall be requited according to your works.
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 XCVI.
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,
Your children shall mount and rise as eagles,
And higher than the vultures will be your nest,
And ye shall ascend and enter the crevices of the earth,
And the clefts of the rock for ever as coneys before the
unrighteous,
And the sirens 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,
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,
And drink wine in large bowls,
And tread under foot the lowly with your might.
6. Woe to you who drink water from every fountain,
For suddenly shall ye be consumed and wither away,
Because ye have forsaken 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. p.
138
In those days many and good days shall come to the
righteous--in the day of your judgement.
XCVII. The Evils in Store for Sinners and the Possessors of
unrighteous Wealth.
CHAPTER XCVII.
1. Believe, ye righteous, that the sinners will become a
shame
And perish in the day of unrighteousness.
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.
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?
4. Yea, ye shall fare like unto them,
Against whom this word 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 out 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:
"We have become rich with riches and have possessions;
And have acquired everything we have desired.p.
139
9. And now let us do what we purposed:
For we have gathered silver,
9d And many are the husbandmen in our houses."
9e And our granaries are (brim) full as with
water,
10 Yea and like water your lies shall flow away;
For your riches shall not abide
But speedily ascend 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 XCVIII.
1. And now I swear unto you, to the wise and to the
foolish,
For ye shall have manifold experiences on the earth.
2. For ye men shall put on more adornments than a woman,
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 spirits shall be cast into the furnace of fire.
4. I have sworn unto you, ye sinners, as a mountain has
not become a slave,
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, p.
140
And under a great curse shall they fall who commit it.
5. And barrenness has not been given to the woman,
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,
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
henceforth 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; 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:
Whence have ye good things to eat and to drink and to be
filled?
[paragraph continues]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. 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. 16. Therefore they shall have no
peace but die a sudden death.
XCIX. Woes pronounced on the Godless, the Lawbreakers: evil
Plight of Sinners in the last Days: further Woes.
CHAPTER XCIX.
1. Woe to you who work godlessness,
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,
And transform themselves into what they were not [into
sinners]:
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 them as a testimony before the angels,
That they may place the sin of the sinners for a memorial
before the Most High.
4. In those days the nations shall be stirred up,
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, 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. 7. And they who worship
stones, and grave images of gold and silver and wood 〈and
stone〉 and clay, and those who
worship impure spirits and demons, 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,
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 worshiped 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,
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.
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,
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
heritage of their fathers
And whose souls follow after idols;
For they shall have no rest.
15. Woe to them who work unrighteousness and help
oppression, p.
143
And slay their neighbours until the day of the great
judgement.
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.
C. The Sinners destroy each other: Judgement of the fallen
Angels:
the Safety of the Righteous: further Woes for the Sinners.
CHAPTER C.
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.
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:
From dawn till sunset they shall slay one another.
3. And the horse shall walk up to the breast in the blood
of sinners,
And the chariot shall be submerged to its height.
4 In those days the angels shall descend 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 angels
To guard them as the apple of an eye,
Until He makes an end of all wickedness and all sin, p.
144
And though the righteous sleep a long sleep, they have
nought to fear.
6. And (then) the children of the earth shall see the
wise in security,
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 watch 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 as 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. 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. 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. 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.
CI. Exhortation to the Fear of God: all Nature fears Him, but
not the Sinners.
CHAPTER CI.
1. Observe the heaven, ye children of heaven, and every work of
the Most High, and fear ye Him and work no evil in His presence.
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? 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? 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? 7. And at
His reproof 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.
CII. Terrors of the Day of Judgement: the adverse Fortunes of
the Righteous on the Earth.
Chapter CII.
1. In those days when He hath brought a grievous fire
upon you,
Whither will ye flee, and where will ye find deliverance?
And when He launches forth His Word against you Will you not
be affrighted and fear? p.
146
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 †angels shall execute their commands†
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,
And be hopeful ye that have died in righteousness.
5. And grieve not if your soul into Sheol has descended
in grief,
And that in your life your body fared not according to your
goodness,
But wait for the day of the judgement of
sinners
And for the day of cursing and chastisement.
6. And yet when ye die the sinners speak over you:
"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,
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. 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."
CIII. Different Destinies of the Righteous and the Sinners:
fresh Objections of the Sinners.
CHAPTER CIII.
1. Now, therefore, I swear to you, the righteous, by the glory
of the Great and Honoured and 2 Mighty One in dominion, and by
His greatness I swear to you:
2. 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,
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,
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 how they have died in prosperity and in wealth,
And have not seen tribulation or murder in their life; p.
148
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
Sheol
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:
"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.
10. And we have been destroyed and have not found any to
help us even with a word:
We have been tortured ⌈and
destroyed⌉, and not hoped to see
life from day to day.
11. We hoped to be the head 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.
12. They have had dominion over us that hated us †and
smote us;
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. p. 149
14. And are complained to the rulers in our tribulation,
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 CIV.
1. I swear unto you, that in heaven the angels remember you for
good before the glory of the Great One: and your names are
written before the glory of the Great One. 2. Be hopeful; for
aforetime ye were put to shame through ill and affliction; but
now ye shall shine as the lights of heaven, ye shall shine and
ye shall be seen, and the portals of heaven shall be opened to
you. 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. 4. Be hopeful,
and cast not away your hopes for ye shall have great joy as the
angels of heaven. 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 judgement 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 companions of the
hosts of heaven. 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.
[paragraph continues]8.
And now I show unto you that light and darkness, day and night,
see all your sins. 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. 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 practice
great deceits, and write books concerning their words. 11. But
when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages,
and do not change or minish ought from my words but write them
all down truthfully--all that I first testified concerning them.
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. 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.'
CV. God and the Messiah to dwell with Man.
CHAPTER CV.
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; and ye shall have
peace: rejoice, ye children of uprightness. Amen.
FRAGMENT OF THE BOOK OF NOAH
(CVI-CVII.)
CHAPTER CVI.
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. 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†. And when he opened his eyes, he lighted
up the whole house like the sun, and the whole house was very
bright. 3. And thereupon he arose in the hands of the midwife,
opened his mouth, and †conversed with† the Lord of
righteousness. 4. And his father Lamech was afraid of him and
fled, and came to his father Methuselah. 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. 6. And it
seems to me that he is not sprung from me but from the angels,
and I fear that in his days a wonder may be wrought on the
earth. 7. And now, my father, I am here to petition thee and
implore thee that thou mayest go to Enoch, our father, and learn
from him the truth, for his dwelling-place is amongst the
angels.' 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 1 said unto him: 'Behold, here am I, my son, wherefore hast
thou come to me?' 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. 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, and he
opened his eyes and thereupon lighted up the whole house. 11.
And he arose in the hands of the midwife, and opened his mouth
and blessed the Lord of heaven. 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 mayest make
known to me the truth.' 13. And I, Enoch, answered and said unto
him: 'The Lord will do a new thing 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. 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. 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]. 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. 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; for He, the
Lord, has showed me and informed me, and I have read (them) in
the heavenly tablets.
CHAPTER CVII.
1. And I saw written on them that generation upon generation
shall transgress, till a generation of righteousness arises, and
transgression is destroyed and sin passes away from the earth,
and all manner of good comes upon it. 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 secret--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.
CVIII. AN APPENDIX TO THE BOOK OF ENOCH.
CHAPTER CVIII.
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. 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. 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, and they shall cry and
make lamentation in a place that is a chaotic 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, and I saw a flame of fire
blazing brightly, and things like shining mountains circling and
sweeping to and fro. 5. And I asked one of the holy angels 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
voice of weeping and crying 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, and of those who work
wickedness, and of those who pervert everything that the Lord
hath spoken through the mouth of the prophets--(even) the things
that shall be. 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: 8. Who love God and loved neither gold nor silver
nor any of the good things which are in the world, but gave over
their bodies to torture. 9. Who, since they came into being,
longed not after earthly food, 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.
11. And now I will summon the spirits of the good who belong to
the generation of light, and I will transform those who were
born in darkness, who in the flesh were not recompensed with
such honour as their faithfulness deserved. 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. 13. And they shall
be resplendent 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. 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.'
This is the end of
the Book of Enoch
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