1 Enoch 108

Another book, which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who would come after him and keep the law in the last days.

1Another book which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who will come after him, and keep the law in the last days.

NoteEnoch is the figure of Genesis 5, the man who "walked with God" and was taken away without dying; Methuselah is his son. The whole collection is written as if by him, generations before the flood. This last chapter stands apart from everything before it: it announces itself as "another book," and it is generally treated as a short appendix attached to the collection at a later stage. "The law" here means the commandments of God as the writer's community understood them, kept by a faithful few in the final days of the world.

2You who have done good will wait for those days, until an end is made of those who do evil, and an end of the power of those who break the law.

2Ye 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.

3And truly, wait until sin has passed away. Their names will be wiped out of the book of life and out of the holy books, and their offspring will be destroyed forever, and their spirits will be killed. They will cry out and mourn in a place that is a wild, formless waste, and they will burn in the fire; for there is no earth there.

3And 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.

NoteThe book of life is a heavenly register of names, imagined on the model of a city's roll of citizens; to have a name wiped out of it is to be struck off the list of the living and to lose any share in what comes after. The "holy books" are the other heavenly records, in which deeds are written down. The "wild, formless waste" echoes the state of the earth before creation in Genesis 1:2, "without form, and void": not a landscape but the absence of one. The closing line, "for there is no earth there," makes the same point, that this place has no solid ground under it.

4And I saw there something like a cloud that could not be seen; it was so deep that I could not look across it. And I saw a flame of fire burning brightly, and things like shining mountains circling and sweeping back and forth.

4And 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.

NoteCharles printed daggers around "look over" in his translation, the standard mark for words he could not establish with confidence because the Ethiopic manuscripts are damaged or disagree. The sense is that the cloud was too deep to see across or beyond. The paradox of a cloud that cannot be seen is in the text itself and is not a slip in the translating.

5And I asked one of the holy angels who was with me, and said to him: "What is this shining thing? For it is not a heaven, but only the flame of a burning fire, and the sound of weeping and crying and mourning and strong pain."

5And 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.’

NoteIn 1 Enoch the sky is layered into successive heavens, and Enoch has traveled through them earlier in the collection. His question is whether this burning region is another of those heavens. He concludes that it is not, only fire and the noise of pain.

6And he said to me: "This place that you see is where the spirits of sinners are thrown, and of those who speak against God, and of those who do wicked things, and of those who twist everything that the Lord has spoken through the mouth of the prophets: that is, the things that are going to happen.

6And 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.

Note"Blasphemers," in older translations, means people who speak abusively or contemptuously of God, not people who swear casually. To "pervert" what the Lord has spoken through the prophets means twisting the prophets' words out of their sense. Charles put "(even)" in parentheses to show it is a word he supplied to make the English run, not a word standing in the Ethiopic; the clause it introduces explains that what the prophets spoke about was events still to come.

7For some of these things are written and carved above in heaven, so that the angels may read them and know what will happen to the sinners, and to the spirits of the humble, and of those who have made their own bodies suffer and have been paid back by God, and of those who have been shamed by wicked men:

7For 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:

NoteMaking one's own body suffer refers to deliberate self denial practiced as devotion: fasting, going without comfort, sleeping hard. "Recompensed" means paid back, here in the sense of rewarded. The sentence that begins in this verse runs on without a clean break through verse 10, piling up clause on clause about who these people are, and it is hard to follow in the Ethiopic as well as in English.

8who love God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things that are in the world, but handed their bodies over to torture;

8Who 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.

NoteHanding their bodies over to torture describes people who were tormented or killed for their loyalty and did not buy their way out, rather than people seeking pain for its own sake.

9who, from the time they came into being, did not long for earthly food, but treated everything as a breath that passes, and lived that way; and the Lord tested them much, and their spirits were found pure, so that they would bless his name.

9Who, 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.

Note"A breath that passes" renders a word for vapor or breath, the image behind the repeated "vanity" of Ecclesiastes: not worthless exactly, but fleeting, thin, gone while you look at it. "Tested them much" uses the language of assaying metal, putting a thing through fire to find out what it actually is.

10And all the blessings meant for them I have written down in the books. And he has assigned them their reward, because they were found to be people who loved heaven more than their life in the world; and though they were trampled underfoot by wicked men, and were abused and insulted by them and were put to shame, still they blessed me.

10And 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.

NoteThe speaker changes in the middle of this verse without any warning. It begins in the voice of the one who wrote the books, and ends "yet they blessed Me," where the "me" can only be God. Whether the angel has started quoting God directly, or whether the speech simply slides into God's voice, the Ethiopic gives no signal. From here to the end of the chapter the speaker is God.

11And now I will summon the spirits of the good, who belong to the generation of light, and I will change those who were born in darkness, who in the body were not paid back with the honor their faithfulness deserved.

11And 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.

Note"Generation" here means a class or kind of people, those who belong to the light, not people born at one particular time. "Born in darkness" describes the same people from the other side: they lived out their lives in obscurity and dishonor. "In the body" means during their bodily life on earth, as opposed to what happens to them afterward. "Paid back with the honor their faithfulness deserved" means they never received, while alive, the standing their loyalty had earned.

12And I will bring out in shining light those who have loved my holy name, and I will seat each one on the throne of his honor.

12And 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.

NoteA throne in this literature stands for a station of rank and authority given to the one seated on it. "The throne of his honor" means the place of standing that matches each person, individually assigned rather than shared.

13And they will shine for times beyond counting; for righteousness is the judgment of God; for to the faithful he will give faithfulness in the home of upright paths.

13And 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.

NoteBoth halves of this line are compressed in the Ethiopic and have been read in more than one way. "Righteousness is the judgement of God" can mean that God's act of judging consists in doing right, or that the verdict God passes is itself what righteousness amounts to. "The home of upright paths" is equally tight: it describes the dwelling place of the righteous as a place where the roads run straight, with no suggestion of which image, house or road, is meant to dominate.

14And they will see those who were born in darkness led away into darkness, while the righteous shine.

14And they shall see those who were born in darkness led into darkness, while the righteous shall be resplendent.

Note"Born in darkness" is applied here to the wicked, although in verse 11 the same phrase described the righteous who had lived in obscurity. The two uses sit awkwardly side by side and the manuscripts offer no way to smooth them out.

15And the sinners will cry aloud and see them shining, and they themselves will go where days and seasons are set out for them."

15And the sinners shall cry aloud and see them resplendent, and they indeed will go where days and seasons are prescribed for them.’

Note"Where days and seasons are set out for them" can be taken two ways. It may mean the sinners go somewhere their time is counted and bounded, in contrast to the righteous who shine "for times beyond counting"; or it may mean a fixed term of punishment has been appointed for them. The Ethiopic does not settle which, and the book ends on the unresolved phrase.