1 Enoch 50

In those days a change will come for the holy and the chosen ones. The light of days will rest on them, and glory and honor will turn toward the holy.

1And in those days a change shall take place for the holy and elect, And the light of days shall abide upon them, And glory and honour shall turn to the holy,

Note"In those days" is a set phrase running through this section of 1 Enoch. It points to the time of the final judgment described in the surrounding chapters rather than to any dated moment. "The holy and elect" is not two groups but one: elect means chosen, and it is the standing term in these chapters for the faithful whom God has picked out. "The light of days" is an obscure phrase in the Ethiopic; it is usually understood as daylight that never ends, the opposite of the darkness assigned elsewhere in the book to the sinners.

2This will happen on the day of trouble, the day when evil has been stored up against the sinners. The righteous will win in the name of the Lord of Spirits. And he will make the others watch this happen, so that they may turn back and give up the works of their hands.

2On the day of affliction on which evil shall have been treasured up against the sinners. And the righteous shall be victorious in the name of the Lord of Spirits: And He will cause the others to witness (this) That they may repent And forgo the works of their hands.

Note"Lord of Spirits" is the title for God that dominates chapters 37 to 71 of 1 Enoch, used in much the place where the Hebrew prophets say "Lord of hosts." "Evil shall have been treasured up against the sinners" uses treasured in its older sense of stored in a treasury: the picture is of wrongdoing accumulating in a storehouse, untouched, until the day it is paid out. "The works of their hands" is a standard biblical phrase for idols, images people have manufactured for themselves, and by extension for everything they have built their lives on.

3They will receive no honor through the name of the Lord of Spirits, yet through his name they will be saved, and the Lord of Spirits will have compassion on them, because his compassion is great.

3They shall have no honour through the name of the Lord of Spirits, Yet through His name shall they be saved, And the Lord of Spirits will have compassion on them, For His compassion is great.

NoteThe "honour" being withheld is the glory described in verse 1. The wording sets two outcomes side by side rather than one: those who turn back only after being made to watch the judgment are rescued, but they are not given the standing that belongs to the chosen.

4He is righteous in his judging as well. In the presence of his glory, wrongdoing will not be able to hold its place. At his judging, those who do not turn back will be destroyed in front of him.

4And He is righteous also in His judgement, And in the presence of His glory unrighteousness also shall not maintain itself: At His judgement the unrepentant shall perish before Him.

Note"Unrighteousness also shall not maintain itself" draws on the language of a law court: wrongdoing cannot keep its footing or hold its ground once it is brought before the judge. "His glory" in these chapters means God's visible presence, the blaze of light around his throne. "The unrepentant" is literally those who do not repent, meaning those who still do not turn back even after seeing what verse 2 made them watch.

5"And from this time on I will have no mercy on them," says the Lord of Spirits.

5And from henceforth I will have no mercy on them, saith the Lord of Spirits.

NoteThe speaker changes without warning here: the narrator's voice gives way to God's own. "Saith the Lord of Spirits" copies the formula the Hebrew prophets use, "thus says the LORD," which marks the words as a quoted verdict or oath rather than the writer's own comment. The verse sits awkwardly against the compassion promised in verse 3, and translators have often treated it as a separate saying attached to the end of the chapter.