1 Enoch 28

From there I traveled toward the east, into the middle of the mountain range in the desert, and I saw an empty land. No one lived there, but it was full of trees and plants.

1And thence I went towards the east, into the midst of the mountain range of the desert, and I saw a wilderness and it was solitary, full of trees and plants.

Note"From there" continues a guided tour: in the surrounding chapters Enoch is led from site to site by an angel, and each new section opens by moving on from the last. The previous stop was the place Enoch calls the middle of the earth, so the compass directions here are given as if standing there and facing outward.

2Water poured out from above.

2And water gushed forth from above.

NoteCharles's Ethiopic reads "water gushed forth from above," and the phrase is genuinely open: it can mean from higher up the mountain, that is, a spring near the summit, or from the sky overhead. The rendering keeps the same ambiguity rather than choosing.

3It rushed like a large, fast stream that flowed toward the north-west, and it made clouds and dew rise up on every side.

3Rushing like a copious watercourse which flowed towards the north-west it caused clouds and dew to ascend on every side.

NoteDew is not a decorative detail. In this climate almost no rain falls for months at a time, and heavy night dew was a real and relied-upon source of water for plants. The picture is of spray and vapor from the torrent rising, gathering into cloud, and settling back as dew on the land around.