1 Enoch 53

There my own eyes saw a deep valley with open mouths, and all who live on the earth and the sea and the islands will bring him gifts and presents and signs of honor, but that deep valley will never become full.

1There mine eyes saw a deep valley with open mouths, and all who dwell on the earth and sea and islands shall bring to him gifts and presents and tokens of homage, but that deep valley shall not become full.

NoteThese chapters (37 to 71) are a series of visions in which Enoch is carried through the heavens and the ends of the earth and shown what is coming; a valley of judgment is one of the sights on the tour. "The earth and sea and islands" is a way of saying the whole inhabited world, everywhere people live. "Gifts and presents and tokens of homage" is the ordinary language of tribute: goods handed over by subject peoples to a ruler as an admission of his power. A pit that swallows everything brought to it and still never fills is a stock picture in this literature for the place of the dead, which is never satisfied. Who "him" refers to is left unspecified in the Ethiopic.

2Their hands do deeds that break every law, and the sinners swallow up all the people they crush lawlessly. Yet the sinners will be destroyed in front of the Lord of Spirits, and they will be driven off the face of his earth, and they will be lost forever and ever.

2And their hands commit lawless deeds, And the sinners devour all whom they lawlessly oppress: Yet the sinners shall be destroyed before the face of the Lord of Spirits, And they shall be banished from off the face of His earth, And they shall perish for ever and ever.

Note"The Lord of Spirits" is this book's standard title for God, repeated dozens of times in these chapters. It presents him as master of the unseen world, the angels and the other spirits, and does roughly the work that "the Lord of hosts" does in the Hebrew scriptures. "Devour" is the usual idiom for stripping the poor of their property, as though eating them.

3For I saw all the angels of punishment staying there and getting ready every one of Satan's instruments.

3For I saw all the angels of punishment abiding (there) and preparing all the instruments of Satan.

Note"The angels of punishment" are a fixed class in 1 Enoch: angels whose assigned work is carrying out sentences on the guilty, as opposed to the angels who guide, intercede or announce. "Instruments" means implements, the physical tools of punishment, chains and the like, not musical instruments. Satan is not consistently a single figure in this book; elsewhere it speaks of "the satans" in the plural, a group of accusing and tormenting spirits.

4And I asked the angel of peace who was walking with me, “Who are they preparing these instruments for?”

4And I asked the angel of peace who went with me: ‘For whom are they preparing these instruments?’

Note"The angel of peace" is Enoch's guide through these visions. A companion who walks with the visionary, is asked questions and supplies the explanations is a standard feature of this kind of writing, and it is how the text gets its interpretations onto the page.

5And he said to me, “They are preparing these for the kings and the mighty ones of this earth, so that by them the kings and the mighty ones may be destroyed.

5And he said unto me: ‘They prepare these for the kings and the mighty of this earth, that they may thereby be destroyed.

Note"The kings and the mighty" is a set phrase running all through these chapters for the rulers and great landholders, the people with power over others; they are the standing target of the book's complaint. "That they may thereby be destroyed" means destroyed by means of these same instruments.

6And after this the Righteous and Chosen One will make the house of his gathered people appear. From then on they will no longer be held back, in the name of the Lord of Spirits.

6And after this the Righteous and Elect One shall cause the house of his congregation to appear: henceforth they shall be no more hindered in the name of the Lord of Spirits.

Note"Elect" means chosen. The Righteous and Elect One is a title used throughout these chapters for a single figure, also called the Chosen One and the Son of Man, chosen by the Lord of Spirits. "The house of his congregation" is his assembly of gathered people; "congregation" renders a word for a community summoned and brought together, and "house" can mean a building, even a temple, as well as a household. "They shall be no more hindered" means nothing will stand in their way or hold them back any longer.

7And these mountains will not stand as solid ground before his righteousness, but the hills will be like a spring of water, and the righteous will have rest from the way sinners crush them.”

7And these mountains shall not stand as the earth before his righteousness, But the hills shall be as a fountain of water, And the righteous shall have rest from the oppression of sinners.’

NoteThe image is of solid ground losing its solidity: hills that melt and run like a spring. Mountains dissolving or flowing when God appears to judge is a recurring picture in Hebrew poetry. "Shall not stand as the earth" means they will not hold firm the way solid ground holds firm.