1 Enoch 32

Toward the north-east I saw seven mountains covered with the best nard and mastic and cinnamon and pepper.

1To the north-east I beheld seven mountains full of choice nard and mastic and cinnamon and pepper

NoteNard, or spikenard, is a fragrant oil pressed from a plant of the Himalayas; in the ancient Mediterranean it was imported at great cost and used as perfume. Mastic is an aromatic resin tapped from a shrub grown chiefly on the island of Chios, chewed as gum and burned as incense. Cinnamon and pepper likewise reached the Mediterranean world only by long trade routes from the east. Charles's "choice" means of the finest grade. The list is a list of the four most expensive scented goods a reader of this period could name. Seven mountains: the narrative that runs through these chapters repeatedly counts landmarks in sevens, and the same seven mountains appear earlier in the book.

2From there I went on over the tops of all these mountains, far toward the east of the earth. I passed above the Erythraean sea and traveled far away from it, and I passed over the angel Zotiel.

2And thence I went over the summits of all these mountains, far towards the east of the earth, and passed above the Erythraean sea and went far from it, and passed over the angel Zotîêl. Ethiopic !! Greek

NoteThe "Erythraean sea" is the Greek geographers' name, literally "the Red Sea," though they used it much more broadly than we do: it could cover the Red Sea proper, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean together. It marks the far southeastern edge of the known world. Zotiel is an angel named nowhere else. He is stationed at this point as a guard or boundary marker, and Enoch's flight passes over him the way it passes over a geographical feature. Charles's printed line "Ethiopic !! Greek" is not part of the text. It is his editorial note to the reader that the surviving Ethiopic manuscripts and the surviving Greek fragment disagree at this point, and he is flagging the break rather than silently choosing between them.

3And I came to the Garden of Righteousness. Far off I saw trees more numerous than those trees, and large. Two trees were there, very great, beautiful, glorious, and magnificent. And there was the tree of knowledge, whose holy fruit they eat, and they know great wisdom.

3And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, and from afar off trees more numerous than these trees and great—†two† trees there, very great, beautiful, and glorious, and magnificent, and the tree of knowledge, whose holy fruit they eat and know great wisdom.

Note"The Garden of Righteousness" is this book's name for the garden of Eden. The daggers Charles prints around "†two†" are a scholar's warning sign: the manuscripts are damaged or disagree here, and the number is uncertain. The sentence as it stands is hard to follow, since it seems to count two great trees and then names only one of them, the tree of knowledge. Genesis 2 has two named trees in the garden, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge, which may be what the damaged text is reaching for. "Whose holy fruit they eat" has no stated "they." The text does not say who eats, and the rendering leaves that open rather than supplying an answer the text does not give.

4That tree is as tall as a fir tree. Its leaves are like the leaves of the carob tree. Its fruit is like clusters of grapes on a vine, and very beautiful. The smell of the tree spreads a long way.

4That tree is in height like the fir, and its leaves are like (those of) the Carob tree: and its fruit is like the clusters of the vine, very beautiful: and the fragrance of the tree penetrates afar.

NoteThe carob is a Mediterranean evergreen with dark, leathery, rounded leaflets, quite unlike the needles of a fir. The comparison is describing shape and foliage precisely for a reader who would know both trees on sight: as tall as a fir, but leaved like a carob, and fruiting in hanging bunches like a grapevine.

5Then I said, "How beautiful this tree is, and how pleasing it looks!"

5Then I said: ‘How beautiful is the tree, and how attractive is its look!’

6Then Raphael, the holy angel who was with me, answered me and said, "This is the tree of wisdom. Your father, who was old, and your aged mother, who lived before you, ate from it. They learned wisdom, and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they were driven out of the garden."

6Then Raphael the holy angel, who was with me, answered me and said: ‘This is the tree of wisdom, of which thy father old (in years) and thy aged mother, who were before thee, have eaten, and they learnt wisdom and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they were driven out of the garden.’

NoteRaphael is one of the angels named earlier in this book as standing in God's presence; here he acts as Enoch's guide and explains what he is looking at. Guided tours of this kind, where a traveler asks and an angel answers, are a standard way of organizing a vision in writings of this period. "Thy father old (in years) and thy aged mother" means Adam and Eve. Enoch is presented in Genesis 5 as a descendant of Adam several generations down, so they are his ancestors rather than his immediate parents, and "aged" and "old in years" mark them as the ones who came first. Charles's parentheses around "(in years)" show words he supplied to make the phrase read as English; they are not in the manuscripts. "Their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked" repeats the wording of Genesis 3:7 almost exactly, and the expulsion from the garden follows in Genesis 3:23. The passage assumes the reader recognizes the story.