1 Enoch 47

And in those days the prayer of the righteous will have gone up, and the blood of the righteous will have gone up from the earth, before the Lord of Spirits.

1And in those days shall have ascended the prayer of the righteous, And the blood of the righteous from the earth before the Lord of Spirits.

Note"Lord of Spirits" is the standard title for God throughout this section of 1 Enoch (chapters 37 to 71), used well over a hundred times. It most likely means the one who commands the spirits, that is, the angelic hosts. It is this book's characteristic name for God, much as "the LORD of hosts" is in the Hebrew prophets. Blood "going up" to God is an old legal image rather than a physical description. In Genesis 4:10 the blood of the murdered Abel "crieth" to God from the ground, and unavenged blood was thought of as a claim lodged in heaven that stays open until it is settled. Here the prayers of the righteous and the blood of the murdered righteous rise together as two forms of the same appeal.

2In those days the holy ones who live above in the heavens will join together with one voice. They will beg and pray and praise, and they will give thanks and bless the name of the Lord of Spirits, on behalf of the blood of the righteous that has been shed. They will pray that the prayer of the righteous may not be wasted before the Lord of Spirits, that judgment may be done for them, and that they may not have to suffer forever.

2In those days the holy ones who dwell above in the heavens Shall unite with one voice And supplicate and pray and praise, And give thanks and bless the name of the Lord of Spirits On behalf of the blood of the righteous which has been shed, And that the prayer of the righteous may not be in vain before the Lord of Spirits, That judgement may be done unto them, And that they may not have to suffer for ever.

Note"The holy ones who live above in the heavens" are angels. In this literature "holy ones" almost always means heavenly beings rather than devout people; here they act as intercessors, presenting the case of the murdered righteous before God. "That judgment may be done for them" carries the same double edge in the Ethiopic as in English. Judgment here is not a neutral verdict but a settling of accounts, so the phrase means at once vindication for the victims and sentence on those who killed them; the text does not choose between the two.

3In those days I saw the Head of Days when he sat down on the throne of his glory, and the books of the living were opened in front of him. And all his host that is in heaven above, and his counselors, stood before him,

3In those days I saw the Head of Days when He seated himself upon the throne of His glory, And the books of the living were opened before Him: And all His host which is in heaven above and His counsellors stood before Him,

Note"Head of Days" is this book's title for God as the eternal one, the same figure Daniel 7:9 calls the "Ancient of days": white-haired, enthroned, presiding over a court. The Ethiopic phrase is a close cousin of Daniel's Aramaic. "The books of the living" draws on the ancient practice of keeping a civic register of citizens. To be written in the book is to be counted among the living; to be blotted out of it is to be struck off the roll (Exodus 32:32, Psalm 69:28). Opening the books signals the start of a formal judicial hearing. "His host" means his army, the massed ranks of heaven, and his "counselors" are the attending court. The scene is a royal throne room: the king seated, the records produced, the assembly standing.

4and the hearts of the holy were filled with joy, because the number of the righteous had been offered, and the prayer of the righteous had been heard, and the blood of the righteous had been required before the Lord of Spirits.

4And the hearts of the holy were filled with joy; Because the number of the righteous had been offered, And the prayer of the righteous had been heard, And the blood of the righteous been required before the Lord of Spirits.

Note"The number of the righteous had been offered" is an obscure line, and translators differ. Charles's "offered" suggests the full tally of the righteous being presented to God like an offering; others render the Ethiopic as "had drawn near" or "was complete," meaning the quota of those destined to die had at last been filled. The underlying idea, found also in Revelation 6:11, is that judgment waits until the number of the martyred righteous is complete. "The blood of the righteous had been required" uses a legal idiom. To "require" blood is to demand a reckoning for it from the killer, as in Genesis 9:5, "your blood of your lives will I require." The sense is not that God asked for the blood but that he has now called it to account.