1 Enoch 80

In those days the angel Uriel answered and said to me: "Look, Enoch, I have shown you everything, and I have revealed everything to you, so that you would see this sun and this moon, and the leaders of the stars of the sky, and all those who turn them, along with their tasks, their times, and their goings out.

1And in those days the angel Uriel answered and said to me: ‘Behold, I have shown thee everything, Enoch, and I have revealed everything to thee that thou shouldst see this sun and this moon, and the leaders of the stars of the heaven and all those who turn them, their tasks and times and departures.

NoteUriel is the angel who has been Enoch's guide through the preceding chapters, the long section on the movements of sun, moon and stars that scholars call the Astronomical Book (roughly chapters 72 to 82). In that section the heavenly bodies do not move on their own: each has angelic "leaders" and drivers, "those who turn them," whose job is to keep them on schedule. "Their goings out" renders a term used for the risings of heavenly bodies, the points on the horizon where they come out and where they go in again.

2And in the days of the sinners the years will be made shorter. The seed they plant will be late on their lands and in their fields. Everything on the earth will change and will not show up at its proper time. The rain will be held back, and the sky will keep it from falling.

2And in the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened, And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields, And all things on the earth shall alter, And shall not appear in their time: And the rain shall be kept back And the heaven shall withhold (it).

Note"The years shall be shortened" is genuinely open. It can mean the calendar year itself loses its proper length as the heavens fall out of order, which is the subject of the whole passage; it can also mean human lives are cut short, a common idiom. The translation leaves both standing. "Their seed shall be tardy" means the seed they sow is slow, coming up and ripening later than the sowing season should allow.

3In those times the crops of the earth will be late and will not grow at their proper time, and the fruit of the trees will be held back at its proper time.

3And in those times the fruits of the earth shall be backward, And shall not grow in their time, And the fruits of the trees shall be withheld in their time.

4The moon will change the order she keeps, and she will not appear at her proper time.

4And the moon shall alter her order, And not appear at her time.

Note"Order" here is close to a technical term in this book: the fixed schedule laid down for each heavenly body, its phases, its rising and setting points, the number of days it takes. Earlier chapters set out the moon's schedule in detail. The moon is "she" and the sun "he" because of the grammatical genders of the words in the languages this text passed through, not because of anything said about them here.

5In those days the sun will be seen, and he will travel in the evening at the far end of the great chariot in the west, and he will shine more brightly than the order of light allows.

5And in those days the sun shall be seen and he shall journey in the evening †on the extremity of the great chariot in †the west And shall shine more brightly than accords with the order of light.

NoteThe sun in this book rides a chariot that runs out through gates in the east and back in through gates in the west, so "the great chariot in the west" belongs to that picture. The line is damaged: Charles marked it with daggers to show that the Ethiopic he was translating is corrupt at this point and that his English is a guess. Some readers have connected the "great chariot" instead with the group of stars long known as the Wagon or the Plough, what is now usually called the Big Dipper.

6Many chiefs of the stars will break the order set for them. These will change the paths they travel and the tasks they do, and they will not appear at the seasons set for them.

6And many chiefs of the stars shall transgress the order (prescribed). And these shall alter their orbits and tasks, And not appear at the seasons prescribed to them.

Note"Chiefs of the stars" are the angelic officers of verse 1, the ones responsible for keeping particular stars on course. "The seasons prescribed to them" covers more than weather: the appointed times of the year, including the dates of festivals, were reckoned from the movements of these bodies, so a star that arrives late throws the calendar out with it.

7The whole order of the stars will be hidden from the sinners. The thinking of those on the earth about the stars will go wrong, and they will be turned aside from all their ways. Yes, they will go wrong and will treat them as gods.

7And the whole order of the stars shall be concealed from the sinners, And the thoughts of those on the earth shall err concerning them, And they shall be altered from all their ways, Yea, they shall err and take them to be gods.

NoteSun, moon and stars were worshiped as gods across the ancient Near East, so treating them as gods was a live and familiar practice rather than a strange idea. "They shall be altered from all their ways" is ambiguous in the original between two readings: the stars are turned aside from the courses they used to keep, or the people are turned aside from the ways they used to follow. The translation keeps the ambiguity.

8And evil will be multiplied upon them, and punishment will come upon them, so as to destroy them all."

8And evil shall be multiplied upon them, And punishment shall come upon them So as to destroy all.’

NoteThe closing quotation mark ends the speech Uriel began in verse 1. Many scholars regard verses 2 to 8 as material added later to the astronomical section, since the calendar chapters around it describe an order that holds, while these verses describe that order breaking down.