1 Enoch 26

From there I went on to the middle of the earth, and I saw a place that was blessed. In it were trees whose branches stayed on and kept blooming, branches of a tree that had been cut apart.

1And 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.

Note"The middle of the earth" is a set phrase rather than a measurement. Ancient peoples commonly spoke of a navel or center point of the world, usually located at their own chief sanctuary, and Jewish writers of this period used the phrase of Jerusalem; the landscape described in the verses that follow matches the hills and valleys around that city. The opening "from there" continues a guided tour: Enoch is being led from place to place by an angel, and each chapter picks up where the last left off. The description of the trees is obscure in the Ethiopic and translators differ over it. Charles's "a dismembered tree" renders a word for something cut apart or severed, and the sense appears to be that living, flowering branches were growing out of a trunk that had been cut.

2And there I saw a holy mountain. Underneath the mountain, on the east side, there was a stream, and it flowed toward the south.

2And there I saw a holy mountain, and underneath the mountain to the east there was a stream and it flowed towards the south.

NoteA "holy mountain" means a hill carrying a sanctuary, a place set apart for worship. Readers of this book would have taken the unnamed mountain at the earth's center to be the temple hill at Jerusalem. "Underneath the mountain" means at its foot rather than inside it: the water rises from a spring at the base of the eastern slope, and the ground falls away southward, so the stream runs south. The spring on Jerusalem's eastern slope, the Gihon, behaves exactly this way.

3Toward the east I saw another mountain, higher than this one, and between the two of them a deep, narrow ravine. A stream ran in that ravine too, underneath the mountain.

3And 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.

NoteThe higher mountain east of the temple hill, with a deep valley between the two, corresponds to the ridge known as the Mount of Olives, and the ravine between them to the Kidron valley.

4To the west of it there was another mountain, lower than the one before and not high at all, and between them a ravine that was deep and dry. And another deep, dry ravine lay at the far ends of the three mountains.

4And 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.

NoteThese valleys are wadis: steep-sided watercourses that carry a stream in the rainy season and lie dry the rest of the year, which is why some in this tour have water running in them and others are described as dry. The dry ravine west and south of the temple hill corresponds to the valley of Hinnom, and "the extremities of the three mountains" is the southern end, where the valleys converge. In the next chapter the angel with Enoch calls this dry valley an accursed place.

5All the ravines were deep and narrow, cut from hard rock, and no trees were planted on them.

5And all the ravines were deep and narrow, (being formed) of hard rock, and trees were not planted upon them.

6I was amazed at the rocks, and I was amazed at the ravine, yes, I was amazed very much.

6And I marvelled at the rocks, and I marvelled at the ravine, yea, I marveled very much.

NoteThe repetition, "I was amazed... I was amazed... yes, very much," is a normal way of marking strong feeling in Semitic storytelling rather than a sign of confusion in the text. It also sets up the next chapter, where Enoch asks his angelic guide what the place means and is given an answer.