1 Enoch 95
What Happens in This Chapter
The writer wishes his eyes were a rain cloud so he could weep over the sinners until his heart found rest, and he asks who allowed them to carry on with scorn and wickedness. He tells the righteous not to be afraid of the sinners, because the Lord will again hand the sinners over to them for judgment. The rest of the chapter is a run of woes against those who pronounce curses that cannot be undone, pay their neighbors back with evil, give false testimony, weigh out injustice, and persecute the righteous.
I wish my eyes were a cloud full of water, so that I could weep over you and pour my tears down like a rain cloud. Then I might get some rest from the trouble in my heart.
1Oh that mine eyes were a cloud of waters That I might weep over you, And pour down my tears as a cloud †of waters†: That so I might rest from my trouble of heart! 2. †Who has permitted you to practise reproaches and wickedness? And so judgement shall overtake you, sinners.†
The speaker is Enoch. Chapters 92 to 105 are his address to later generations, and they are built largely out of two alternating forms: blessings on "the righteous" and cries of woe against "sinners." Those two words work throughout as fixed party names for the two groups the book divides the world into, not as fine gradings of anyone's conduct. The picture in this verse is a rain cloud: he wishes his eyes held as much water as a storm cloud, so that his weeping could match the size of his grief. The wording deliberately recalls Jeremiah 9:1, "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears."
3You who are righteous, do not be afraid of the sinners. The Lord will hand them over to you again, so that you may carry out judgment on them however you wish.
3Fear not the sinners, ye righteous; For again will the Lord deliver them into your hands, That ye may execute judgement upon them according to your desires.
The chapter jumps from verse 1 to verse 3. Verse 2 survives in the Ethiopic manuscripts in so damaged a form that editors mark the whole of it as corrupt, so it is left out here rather than guessed at. "Hand them over to you" is battle language: to deliver an enemy into someone's hands is to give that person complete power over them, the way a defeated army is turned over to the victor.
4How terrible for you who thunder out curses that cannot be taken back. Healing will be far away from you because of your sins.
4Woe to you who fulminate anathemas which cannot be reversed: Healing shall therefore be far from you because of your sins.
"How terrible for you" translates the old prophetic cry "Woe to you." It is a set form rather than an insult: the wail raised in mourning over a corpse, turned around and spoken over people who are still alive, announcing that their ruin is already settled. Everything from here to the end of the chapter follows that pattern. A curse, in this world, was treated as an act with real force rather than a bad wish. It was pronounced aloud over a named person, and some forms were framed so that not even the speaker could call them back.
5How terrible for you who pay your neighbor back with evil, for you will be paid back to match what you have done.
5Woe to you who requite your neighbour with evil; For ye shall be requited according to your works.
"Neighbor" does not mean the person living next door. It stands for a fellow member of one's own community, anyone you deal with in the ordinary run of life.
6How terrible for you who give false testimony, and for you who weigh out injustice, for you will die suddenly.
6Woe to you, lying witnesses, And to those who weigh out injustice, For suddenly shall ye perish.
Two pictures, one from the court and one from the market. In a legal system with no police and no physical evidence, a case turned on the word of witnesses, so false testimony could take a man's property or his life. "Weigh out injustice" points to the balance scales used to measure out grain, silver and goods: a trader who kept weights heavier or lighter than the agreed standard cheated on every sale, and the same image of the scales was also used for a judge measuring out a verdict.
7How terrible for you, sinners, because you hunt down the righteous. You will be handed over and hunted down because of injustice, and its yoke will lie heavy on you.
7Woe to you, sinners, for ye persecute the righteous; For ye shall be delivered up and persecuted because of injustice, And heavy shall its yoke be upon you.
A yoke is the wooden beam fastened across the necks of a pair of oxen to harness them to a plow or a cart. It was the standard image for being put under another's control, and a heavy yoke meant harsh servitude.
← → to turn the page · P for plain English · click a verse to select it