1 Enoch 93

After that, Enoch both gave and began to tell what was written in the books.

1And after that Enoch both †gave† and began to recount from the books.

Note"The books" here are heavenly writings Enoch is said to have read on his journeys through heaven, not works of his own composing; what follows is presented as him reading history out of them. Charles printed daggers around "gave" to mark a word that is damaged or unintelligible in the Ethiopic manuscripts, which is why the opening sentence reads as though something has dropped out of it.

2And Enoch said: "About the children of righteousness, and about the chosen ones of the world, and about the plant of uprightness, I will speak these things. Yes, I, Enoch, will declare them to you, my sons, in keeping with what appeared to me in the heavenly vision, and what I have come to know through the word of the holy angels, and what I have learned from the heavenly tablets."

2And Enoch said: ‘Concerning the children of righteousness and concerning the elect of the world, And concerning the plant of uprightness, I will speak these things, Yea, I Enoch will declare (them) unto you, my sons: According to that which appeared to me in the heavenly vision, And which I have known through the word of the holy angels, And have learnt from the heavenly tablets.’

Note"The plant of uprightness" is a recurring image in this part of 1 Enoch for a chosen line of people, planted by God and continuing through its descendants; the same word covers the seedling, the grown tree, and the whole stock that springs from it. "The heavenly tablets" are, in this book, permanent records kept in heaven on which the course of history and the deeds of every person are already written; Enoch reads the future off them rather than predicting it.

3And Enoch began to tell what was written in the books, and said: "I was born the seventh, in the first week, while judgment and righteousness still lasted.

3And Enoch began to recount from the books and said: ‘I was born the seventh in the first week, While judgement and righteousness still endured.

NoteIn the list of names in Genesis 5, Enoch is the seventh from Adam, counting Adam himself, so "the seventh" is his position in that line. The "weeks" counted through this chapter are not seven-day weeks but long stretches of world history. The passage, known as the Apocalypse of Weeks, divides all time from creation to the end into ten of them, and many readers take each week to cover seven generations.

4And after me, in the second week, great wickedness will rise up, and deceit will have sprung up. And in that week there will be the first end. And in it one man will be saved. And after that week is over, wrongdoing will grow up, and a law will be made for the sinners.

4And after me there shall arise in the second week great wickedness, And deceit shall have sprung up; And in it there shall be the first end. And in it a man shall be saved; And after it is ended unrighteousness shall grow up, And a law shall be made for the sinners.

NoteThe wording points back to stories in Genesis without naming them: "the first end" to the flood, and the one man saved to Noah. "A law shall be made for the sinners" is generally taken to mean the commands given to humanity after the flood in Genesis 9, though the Ethiopic says only that a law is made and does not say which.

5And after that, in the third week, at its close, a man will be chosen as the plant of righteous judgment, and those who come after him will become the plant of righteousness forever.

5And after that in the third week at its close A man shall be elected as the plant of righteous judgement, And his posterity shall become the plant of righteousness for evermore.

NoteThe man chosen as "the plant of righteous judgment," whose descendants then become the lasting plant, is understood to be Abraham; the text alludes rather than names, as it does throughout the weeks.

6And after that, in the fourth week, at its close, visions of the holy and righteous ones will be seen, and a law for all generations, and an enclosure will be made for them.

6And after that in the fourth week, at its close, Visions of the holy and righteous shall be seen, And a law for all generations and an enclosure shall be made for them.

NoteThe visions and the law for all generations point to Moses and the law given at Sinai. "An enclosure" translates a word for a fenced or walled space. It has been understood as the portable tent sanctuary built in the wilderness, and also as a protective fence set around the chosen people; the text itself does not settle which, and the Aramaic copy of this passage found at Qumran is broken at this point.

7And after that, in the fifth week, at its close, the house of glory and rule will be built forever.

7And after that in the fifth week, at its close, The house of glory and dominion shall be built for ever.

Note"House" is the ordinary term for the temple in Jerusalem throughout the Hebrew scriptures, so "the house of glory and dominion" is the temple built under Solomon, which was also the seat from which the king ruled.

8And after that, in the sixth week, all who live in it will be blinded, and the hearts of all of them will turn away from wisdom, without regard for God. And in it a man will go up. And at its close the house of rule will be burned with fire, and the whole family line of the chosen root will be scattered.

8And after that in the sixth week all who live in it shall be blinded, And the hearts of all of them shall godlessly forsake wisdom. And in it a man shall ascend; And at its close the house of dominion shall be burnt with fire, And the whole race of the chosen root shall be dispersed.

Note"A man shall ascend" points to Elijah, taken up into heaven in 2 Kings 2. The burning of "the house of dominion" points to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple by the Babylonians in 587 BC, and the scattering of the chosen root to the exile that followed. "Root" continues the plant image of verses 2 and 5: the stock out of which the chosen line grows.

9And after that, in the seventh week, a generation will arise that has turned away from the faith. Its deeds will be many, and all its deeds will be the deeds of those who have turned away.

9And after that in the seventh week shall an apostate generation arise, And many shall be its deeds, And all its deeds shall be apostate.

Note"Apostate" means having deserted a faith once held, not simply wicked or ignorant; the charge in this verse is abandonment by people who knew better.

10And at its close there will be chosen the chosen righteous ones of the everlasting plant of righteousness, to receive sevenfold teaching about all of his creation."

10And at its close shall be elected The elect righteous of the eternal plant of righteousness, To receive sevenfold instruction concerning all His creation.

Note"Sevenfold" picks up the sevens that structure the whole passage and can mean either seven times as much teaching or teaching in seven parts. The count of weeks breaks off here at the seventh. The remaining three, the eighth, ninth and tenth, appear earlier in the book as 91:12 to 91:17, out of their proper place in the Ethiopic manuscripts; the Aramaic copy found at Qumran has them following directly on from this verse.

11For who is there of all the children of men who is able to hear the voice of the Holy One without being shaken? And who can think his thoughts? And who is there who can look at all the works of heaven?

11For who is there of all the children of men that is able to hear the voice of the Holy One without being troubled? And who can think His thoughts? and who is there that can behold all the works of heaven?

Note"Children of men" is a Hebrew way of saying human beings in general, with no reference to age. "The Holy One" is a title for God. From here to the end of the chapter the speaker leaves the history of the weeks and turns to a run of questions that expect the answer "no one"; some editions treat these four verses as a separate poem.

12And how could there be anyone who could look at heaven? And who is there who could understand the things of heaven, and see a soul or a spirit and tell about it, or go up and see how all of them end, and think such things or do such things?

12And how should there be one who could behold the heaven, and who is there that could understand the things of heaven and see a soul or a spirit and could tell thereof, or ascend and see all their ends and think them or do like them?

Note"How all of them end" is genuinely unclear in the Ethiopic: the word can mean the far edges or outer limits of the heavens, reached by traveling, or the final outcome of things, reached by waiting. Both senses have been defended, and the rendering keeps the ambiguity.

13And who is there among all people who could know how wide and how long the earth is, and to whom has the measure of all of them been shown?

13And who is there of all men that could know what is the breadth and the length of the earth, and to whom has been shown the measure of all of them?

14Or is there anyone who could tell how long heaven is, and how great its height, and what it is set on, and how great the number of the stars is, and where all the lights come to rest?

14Or is there any one who could discern the length of the heaven and how great is its height, and upon what it is founded, and how great is the number of the stars, and where all the luminaries rest?

NoteIn 1 Enoch the lights are the sun, moon and stars, pictured as bodies that travel fixed routes and then return to storehouses or chambers where they rest when out of sight; chapters 72 to 82 of the book set out that system in detail. Asking where they rest is therefore asking for a specific piece of astronomical knowledge, not speaking loosely.