1 Enoch 21

Then I went on to a place where everything was in confusion.

1And I proceeded to where things were chaotic.

NoteThe word rendered "in confusion" describes matter without order or shape: no fixed structure, nothing anchored. The description that follows deliberately reverses the terms of creation in Genesis 1, where a formless and empty deep is given a sky above and dry land below. Enoch is shown a region where that ordering was never carried out.

2And there I saw something horrible. I saw no sky above and no earth set firmly below, only a place of confusion and horror.

2And I saw there something horrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but a place chaotic and horrible.

3And there I saw seven stars of the sky, tied together in that place, looking like huge mountains and burning with fire.

3And there I saw seven stars of the heaven bound together in it, like great mountains and burning with fire.

NoteThroughout this book the stars are treated as living beings with duties, not as lumps of matter: they are assigned fixed courses and fixed times to rise and set, and can obey or disobey. The seven here are the same group Enoch is shown earlier in his tour, punished for failing to appear at their appointed times. "Tied" or "bound" is the standard language of the book for angelic beings held under confinement.

4Then I said, "What sin are they tied up for? Why have they been thrown in here?"

4Then I said: ‘For what sin are they bound, and on what account have they been cast in hither?’

5Then Uriel spoke, one of the holy angels, who was with me and was the leader over them. He said, "Enoch, why do you ask this? Why are you so eager for the truth?

5Then 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?

NoteUriel is one of the named archangels listed a chapter earlier, where he is described as set over the world and over the underworld; his name means something like "God is my light" or "fire of God." He is Enoch's guide through these regions. "The leader over them" is ambiguous in the text: "them" may mean the other holy angels, or the bound stars he is about to explain.

6"These are among the stars of the sky that broke the Lord's command. They are tied here until ten thousand years are completed, the length of time their sins call for."

6These 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.’

Note"Broke the Lord's command" refers to the order fixing when each star must appear; in this book the heavenly bodies are under standing instructions about their courses, and departing from them is disobedience. "Ten thousand years" translates a figure that was the largest single unit in ancient Greek counting, a myriad, and it commonly stood for an immense or uncountable quantity rather than an exact tally.

7From there I went on to another place, which was even more horrible than the first, and I saw a horrible thing. There was a great fire there that burned and blazed. The place was split open all the way down to the deep, and it was full of great columns of fire coming down. I could not see how far it went or how big it was, and I could not even guess.

7And 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.

Note"The deep" renders a word meaning the bottomless depth, the unmeasured gulf thought to lie beneath the world and beneath the waters. It is the same word used in Greek for the abyss where spirits are confined. The point of the last sentence is that the chasm defeats measurement altogether: Enoch cannot see its limits and cannot even estimate them.

8Then I said, "How frightening this place is, and how terrible to look at!"

8Then I said: ‘How fearful is the place and how terrible to look upon!’

9Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said to me, "Enoch, why are you so afraid and so shaken?" And I answered, "Because of this frightening place, and because of the sight of the pain."

9Then 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.’

Note"The sight of the pain" is as compressed in the original as it is here, and can be taken either as the terrible spectacle itself or as the suffering of those punished in it, which Enoch sees. The text does not settle which.

10And he said to me, "This place is the prison of the angels, and here they will be held prisoner forever."

10And he said unto me: ‘This place is the prison of the angels, and here they will be imprisoned for ever.’

Note"The angels" is definite: it points back to the Watchers of the earlier chapters of this book, the heavenly beings who came down, took human wives and taught forbidden knowledge, and were sentenced to confinement. Note that the two places in this chapter are distinguished by their terms: the first holds the seven stars for a stated period, this second is described as permanent.