1 Enoch 68

After that, my grandfather Enoch gave me the teaching of all the secrets that are in the book, in the Parables, which had been given to him, and he put them together for me in the words of the book of the Parables.

1And after that my grandfather Enoch gave me the teaching of all the secrets in the book in the Parables which had been given to him, and he put them together for me in the words of the book of the Parables.

NoteThe "I" speaking here is not Enoch but Noah, who calls Enoch "my grandfather" although Enoch was in fact his great-grandfather; the word covers any male ancestor. Chapters 60 and 65 to 69 are told in Noah's voice, and many scholars think they were lifted from a separate Noah book and inserted here. "The Parables" is the name of the long section of 1 Enoch that runs from chapter 37 to chapter 71, sometimes called the Similitudes. "Parable" here does not mean a short moral story; it translates a word for a weighty oracle or figured discourse, a set piece of revealed teaching.

2And on that day Michael answered Raphael and said: "The power of the spirit carries me away and makes me tremble, because the judgment of the secrets is so harsh, the judgment of the angels. Who can stand up under the harsh judgment that has been carried out, the judgment before which they melt away?"

2And on that day Michael answered Raphael and said: ‘The power of the spirit transports and makes me to tremble because of the severity of the judgement of the secrets, the judgement of the angels: who can endure the severe judgement which has been executed, and before which they melt away?’

NoteMichael and Raphael are two of the archangels named earlier in this book, where a short list of chief angels stands over the rest. "Answered" here does not mean a reply to a question; in Hebrew and Aramaic narrative the verb regularly means simply "spoke up," and Charles keeps the idiom. "The judgement of the angels" refers to the sentence passed on the Watchers, the angels who in chapters 6 to 16 came down, took human wives and taught forbidden knowledge. "They melt away" describes bodies losing all strength, the way fear is elsewhere said to turn a person to water.

3And Michael answered again and said to Raphael: "Who is there whose heart is not softened about it, and whose inmost self is not shaken by this word of judgment that has gone out against them, because of those who have led them out in this way?"

3And Michael answered again, and said to Raphael: ‘Who is he whose heart is not softened concerning it, and whose reins are not troubled by this word of judgement (that) has gone forth upon them because of those who have thus led them out?’

NoteCharles's "whose reins are not troubled" uses "reins" in its old English sense of the kidneys. In ancient Hebrew idiom the kidneys were the seat of the deepest feelings and of conscience, much as English uses "heart," so the rendering gives "inmost self." The last clause, "those who have thus led them out," is obscure in the Ethiopic and is left open here: it may mean the angelic ringleaders who led the other Watchers down, or those who led human beings astray.

4And it happened that, when he stood before the Lord of Spirits, Michael said this to Raphael: "I will not take their side under the eye of the Lord, for the Lord of Spirits has been angry with them, because they act as if they were the Lord.

4And it came to pass when he stood before the Lord of Spirits, Michael said thus to Raphael: ‘I will not take their part under the eye of the Lord; for the Lord of Spirits has been angry with them because they do as if they were the Lord.

Note"Lord of Spirits" is the standing title for God all through the Parables, used where other parts of the Bible would say "Lord of hosts." "I will not take their part" means: I will not act as their advocate. Angels were pictured as bringing petitions before God on behalf of others, and earlier in this book the fallen Watchers beg Enoch to file such a petition for them, which is refused. The closing phrase, that they act "as if they were the Lord," is Charles's rendering of a difficult line; the sense is that they claimed for themselves an authority that was not theirs.

5For that reason everything that is hidden will come upon them forever and ever. No angel and no man will have a share in it; they alone have received their judgment, forever and ever."

5Therefore all that is hidden shall come upon them for ever and ever; for neither angel nor man shall have his portion (in it), but alone they have received their judgement for ever and ever.’