1 Enoch 18

I saw the storehouses where all the winds are kept. I saw how he had supplied the whole creation with them, and the firm foundations of the earth as well.

1I 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.

NoteAncient Near Eastern writing often pictured weather as kept in storerooms and let out when needed. The same image appears in Hebrew scripture, where God brings the wind "out of his treasures" and keeps storehouses of snow and hail. Charles's word "treasuries" means storehouses, not hoards of money.

2And I saw the cornerstone of the earth. I saw the four winds that carry the earth and the dome of the sky.

2And I saw the corner-stone of the earth: I saw the four winds which bear the earth and the firmament of the heaven.

NoteA cornerstone is the first stone laid in a building's foundation; every other line of the structure is measured from it. Job 38 uses the same picture of the earth being built like a house. The "firmament" (rendered here as the dome of the sky) was imagined as a solid curved vault stretched over the world, holding back the waters above it.

3And I saw how the winds spread out the arches of the sky, and how they have their fixed place between the sky and the earth. These winds are the pillars of the sky.

3And 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.

NoteBuildings of the time rested on pillars, and the sky was described the same way, as a roof needing supports. What is unusual here is that the winds themselves do the work of the pillars, holding the vault up from their fixed stations in the space between sky and earth.

4I saw the winds of the sky that turn and bring the round course of the sun and all the stars to the place where they set.

4I saw the winds of heaven which turn and bring the circumference of the sun and all the stars to their setting.

NoteIn this book the sun, moon and stars do not move on their own; the winds drive them along their circuits and back to the horizon where they set. Later chapters of 1 Enoch describe this machinery in detail, with the sun passing through numbered gates at the eastern and western edges of the sky.

5I saw the winds on the earth carrying the clouds. I saw the paths of the angels. At the end of the earth I saw the dome of the sky above.

5I 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.

6Then I went on and saw a place that burns day and night, where there are seven mountains of splendid stones, three toward the east and three toward the south.

6And 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.

NoteThe count reaches seven only when the middle mountain of verse 8 is added to the three in the east and the three in the south. The burning place at the edge of the world is a recurring feature of these tour visions, where fire marks the boundary of the ordered creation.

7As for the ones toward the east, one was of colored stone, one of pearl, and one of jacinth; and the ones toward the south were of red stone.

7And 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.

NoteThese are the costly stones of ancient gem lists, the same sort of catalogue used for a king's treasury or the high priest's breastpiece. "Jacinth" translates a word that in Greek meant a blue or violet stone, though later writers used the name for a reddish orange one, so the color is uncertain.

8But the middle one reached up to the sky like the throne of God. It was of alabaster, and the top of the throne was of sapphire.

8But the middle one reached to heaven like the throne of God, of alabaster, and the summit of the throne was of sapphire.

NoteAlabaster is a soft, pale, often translucent stone, prized for carved vessels and lamps because light passes through it. "Sapphire" in ancient usage almost always meant lapis lazuli, a deep blue stone flecked with gold, not the modern gem. A throne of blue stone at the top of a mountain follows the image in Exodus 24, where the elders see under God's feet a pavement like sapphire, and Ezekiel 1, where the throne above the vault looks like sapphire.

9And I saw a blazing fire.

9And I saw a flaming fire.

10And beyond these mountains lies a region that is the end of the great earth. There the heavens were finished.

10And beyond these mountains Is a region the end of the great earth: there the heavens were completed.

NoteThe earth in this cosmology is a flat expanse with an actual edge, and the sky is a fixed structure joined to it at the rim. Enoch's tour takes him physically to that rim, where the building of the heavens stops.

11And I saw a deep pit, with columns of heavenly fire. Among them I saw columns of fire falling, and they could not be measured either upward or downward.

11And 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.

Note"Abyss" translates a word meaning an immense depth, the watery deep beneath the world rather than a hole of any measurable size. The point of the columns being immeasurable in both directions is that this pit has no reachable floor and no visible top.

12And beyond that pit I saw a place that had no dome of sky above it and no firmly founded earth beneath it. There was no water on it and no birds, but it was an empty and horrible place.

12And 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.

NoteA place with no sky above and no ground below is outside the built structure of creation altogether. The absence of water and birds is the standard shorthand for a region where nothing can live. "Waste" recalls the word used in Genesis 1 for the formless state before the world was ordered.

13I saw seven stars there, like great burning mountains. When I asked about them,

13I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I inquired regarding them,

NoteAncient readers did not think of stars as inert balls of matter. Stars were counted among the living beings of heaven, which is why a star can be said in the verses that follow to disobey an order and be imprisoned for it.

14the angel said: 'This place is the end of heaven and earth. It has become a prison for the stars and for the host of heaven.

14The angel said: ‘This place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars and the host of heaven.

Note"The host of heaven" is a standing phrase meaning the armies of the sky: the sun, moon and stars drawn up in ranks, and the heavenly beings associated with them. The word is military, the same one used for a human army on the march.

15And the stars that roll over the fire are the ones that broke the Lord's command at the beginning of their rising, because they did not come out at the times set for them.

15And 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.

Note1 Enoch treats the risings and settings of the heavenly bodies as a fixed law with exact dates, and a large section of the book is devoted to that calendar. A star that fails to appear on its assigned day is therefore breaking a command, in the same sense a soldier breaks orders by not reporting at the appointed hour.

16And he was angry with them, and bound them until the time when their guilt should be complete, that is, for ten thousand years.'

16And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time when their guilt should be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.’