1 Enoch 104

I swear to 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.

1I 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.

NoteThe speaker is Enoch, the figure of Genesis 5 who "walked with God" and was taken away; the whole book is presented as his testimony, set down for generations far after his own. "I swear unto you" is an oath formula: he is not asking to be believed, he is binding himself to what he reports, and the oath runs on through these closing chapters. "The Great One" is one of this book's standard titles for God. Names "written before the glory of the Great One" pictures a register kept in God's presence, a list of those who belong to him; the same image of heavenly record keeping returns in verse 7, there used against the sinners.

2Be full of hope. In the past you were put to shame through evil and suffering, but now you will shine like the lights of heaven. You will shine, and you will be seen, and the gates of heaven will be opened to you.

2Be 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.

Note"Put to shame" means publicly disgraced and treated as of no account, a loss of standing in front of others rather than a private feeling of embarrassment. "Portals" are gates. Earlier parts of this book describe heaven as having gates through which the sun, the moon and the winds come and go; here the gates are opened to let human beings in. "Shine as the lights of heaven" means the stars: in this literature the righteous after death are repeatedly said to become like the stars, or to take their place among them.

3And when you cry out, cry out for judgment, and it will appear to you. All the trouble you have suffered will be brought back on the rulers, and on all who helped those who robbed you.

3And 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.

Note"Judgement" here means a court's hearing and verdict, not a punishment. The readers are told to cry out as plaintiffs asking for their case to be tried, and "it shall appear to you" means the verdict will come and be visible. "Your tribulation shall be visited on the rulers" uses "visit" in its old sense of coming to someone to settle accounts, for good or ill: what you suffered will be charged to those who caused it.

4Be full of hope, and do not throw your hope away, for you will have great joy like the angels of heaven.

4Be hopeful, and cast not away your hope; for ye shall have great joy as the angels of heaven.

5What will you be forced to do? You will not have to hide on the day of the great judgment, and you will not be found to be sinners. The judgment that lasts forever will stay far away from you, through all the generations of the world.

5What 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.

NoteThe opening question is obscure in the Ethiopic and translators differ over how to take it; Charles suspected the text was damaged at this point. As he renders it, it is a rhetorical question answered by the sentences that follow: nothing will be required of you, because you will have nothing to hide from and will not be counted among the sinners. "Eternal judgement" in this verse is the sentence passed rather than the hearing itself, that is, the lasting punishment, so the sense shifts from verse 3.

6And now do not be afraid, you righteous ones, when you see sinners growing strong and doing well in their ways. Do not be their companions, but keep far away from their violence, for you will become companions of the armies of heaven.

6And 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.

Note"Prospering in their ways" means their affairs going well, succeeding in what they do, with no suggestion that they deserve it. "Hosts of heaven" is a military phrase: the angels drawn up as an army around God. The same expression elsewhere means the stars, and in this book the two senses shade into each other, since the stars are often spoken of as ranks of heavenly beings.

7And even though you sinners say, "None of our sins will be searched out and written down," they will still write down all your sins, every day.

7And, 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.

NoteThe picture behind this is angelic scribes keeping a daily record of human deeds, a standing feature of the book; at the judgment the books are opened and read out. The sinners' claim is not that God cannot see, but that no permanent written record is being made, so nothing can be produced against them later.

8And now I show you that light and darkness, day and night, see all your sins.

8And now I show unto you that light and darkness, day and night, see all your sins.

NoteLight and darkness, day and night are named as witnesses. In ancient legal practice a charge had to be supported by witnesses who had actually seen the act, so the point is that no hour, lit or dark, lacks one: there is no time at which a deed goes unseen.

9Do not be godless in your hearts, and do not lie, and do not change the words of uprightness. Do not accuse the words of the Holy Great One of being lies, and do not pay regard to your idols. All your lying and all your godlessness do not lead to righteousness but to great sin.

9Be 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.

Note"Godless" translates a word nearer to impious or disloyal, a posture of the heart, not the denial that God exists. "Take account of your idols" means to pay attention to them, to treat them as worth consulting or serving. "The words of uprightness" and "the words of the Holy Great One" are the same thing named twice, the revealed teaching, and the verse lists the two ways of attacking it: altering the wording, or declaring the wording false.

10And now I know this secret: that sinners will change and twist the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practice great deceits, and write books about their own words.

10And now I know this mystery, that sinners will alter and pervert the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practise great deceits, and write books concerning their words.

Note"Mystery" does not mean a puzzle or something unknowable. In this literature it is close to a technical term for a matter already fixed in heaven and kept hidden until it is shown to a seer; Enoch is claiming to have been shown it. "Write books concerning their words" means compose writings that put their own words forward as though they carried the authority of revelation, which is the complaint the following verse answers.

11But there will come a time when they write down all my words truthfully in their own languages, and do not change or take away anything from my words, but write them all down truthfully, everything I testified about them at the first.

11But 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.

Note"Minish ought" is old English for "take away anything": "minish" is diminish, and "ought" is a spelling of "aught", meaning anything at all. The sentence has no ending in the Ethiopic. It begins "but when they write down truthfully" and breaks off before saying what will happen in that case; Charles marked the gap with the dash at the end of the verse, and verse 12 may or may not be the missing conclusion. The whole concern is copying and translating: "in their languages" assumes the book will be carried out of the tongue it was written in.

12Then I know another secret: that books will be given to the righteous and the wise, and will become a source of joy and uprightness and much wisdom.

12Then, 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.

NoteThe books given to the righteous are most naturally the writings just discussed, this one among them. "The wise" functions almost as a title in these chapters, for those able to understand what has been disclosed, set against those who cannot or will not; it is not a comment on cleverness.

13And the books will be given to them, and they will believe in them and rejoice over them, and then all the righteous who have learned from them all the paths of uprightness will be repaid.'

13And 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.’

Note"Recompensed" means paid what is owed, wages rather than a present. The closing quotation mark ends the long address that has been running through the preceding chapters: Charles punctuates the whole of it as one continuous speech to the righteous, and this is its last line.