1 Enoch 96

Have hope, you who do what is right. The sinners will suddenly die in front of you, and you will rule over them as you wish.

1Be hopeful, ye righteous; for suddenly shall the sinners perish before you, And ye shall have lordship over them according to your desires.

Note"The righteous" and "the sinners" work as names for two fixed parties all through this part of Enoch, rather than as descriptions of how any one person happened to act. The promise that the righteous will rule over the sinners reverses the situation the rest of the chapter describes, in which the sinners are the ones with wealth and power.

2In the day when the sinners are in trouble, your children will climb and rise up like eagles. Your nest will be higher than the vultures' nests. You will go up and enter the cracks in the ground and the splits in the rock, and stay there forever, like coneys, out of the reach of those who do wrong. And the sirens will sigh over you, and weep.

2And in the day of the tribulation of the sinners, Your children shall mount and rise as eagles, And higher than the vultures will be your nest, And ye shall ascend and enter the crevices of the earth, And the clefts of the rock for ever as coneys before the unrighteous, And the sirens shall sigh because of you—and weep.

NoteConeys are rock hyraxes, small furry animals about the size of a rabbit that shelter in crevices in cliffs and rock piles; older English Bibles use "coney" for them, and Psalm 104:18 and Proverbs 30:26 name them as creatures whose safety lies in living where nothing can reach them. Eagles and vultures nest on ledges high on cliff faces, so "higher than the vultures" means out of anyone's reach. "Sirens" is Charles's word for a term that in Greek and Ethiopic versions of the Hebrew scriptures stands for wailing desert creatures, jackals or ostriches, whose cries sound like mourning; the Greek word also carries the sense of the singing sirens of myth, and which is meant here is not certain. The text of this verse is difficult in the Ethiopic and the images do not fit together smoothly.

3So do not be afraid, you who have suffered. Healing will be your share, a bright light will shine on you, and you will hear the voice of rest from heaven.

3Wherefore fear not, ye that have suffered; For healing shall be your portion, And a bright light shall enlighten you, And the voice of rest ye shall hear from heaven.

Note"Your portion" means the share assigned to you, as land or food is portioned out. "The voice of rest" renders the phrase literally: a voice from heaven announcing rest, that is, the end of the suffering just mentioned.

4How terrible for you, sinners: your riches make you look like people who do what is right, but your own hearts prove you are sinners. That fact will stand as evidence against you, a lasting record of your evil deeds.

4Woe unto you, ye sinners, for your riches make you appear like the righteous, But your hearts convict you of being sinners, And this fact shall be a testimony against you for a memorial of (your) evil deeds.

Note"Woe unto you" is a set formula from the Hebrew prophets. It opens an announcement that disaster is coming on the group named, rather than pronouncing a curse or simply expressing pity. Wealth was widely read as a sign of divine favor, which is why riches could make a person "appear like the righteous." A "memorial" here is a permanent record; Enoch elsewhere describes deeds being written down in heavenly books and tablets that are read out at the judgment.

5How terrible for you who eat up the finest of the wheat, and drink wine out of large bowls, and use your strength to trample the lowly underfoot.

5Woe to you who devour the finest of the wheat, And drink wine in large bowls, And tread under foot the lowly with your might.

Note"The finest of the wheat" is the choicest flour, the best part of the harvest, an expression used in the Hebrew scriptures for the pick of a crop. Drinking wine from large bowls echoes Amos 6:6; the bowl in question was a big vessel meant for pouring out liquid, not a drinking cup, so drinking from one pictures consumption on an extravagant scale.

6How terrible for you who drink water from every spring. You will suddenly be used up and wither away, because you have left the spring that gives life.

6Woe to you who drink water from every fountain, For suddenly shall ye be consumed and wither away, Because ye have forsaken the fountain of life.

NoteSprings were the main water source in this country, and control of one mattered enormously; drinking "from every fountain" pictures people who take water wherever they please, helping themselves to every source there is. "The fountain of life" is a stock phrase from the Hebrew scriptures, in Psalm 36:9 and Proverbs 14:27, for the spring from which life itself flows.

7How terrible for you who do what is wrong, and who deceive, and who speak against God. It will stand as a record against you for evil.

7Woe to you who work unrighteousness And deceit and blasphemy: It shall be a memorial against you for evil.

Note"Blasphemy" meant speaking abusively or contemptuously of God, in speech rather than in action. As in verse 4, the "memorial" is the written record kept against them.

8How terrible for you who are powerful, who use your power to crush those who do what is right. The day when you are destroyed is coming. In those days many good days will come to the righteous, on the day when you are judged.

8Woe to you, ye mighty, Who with might oppress the righteous; For the day of your destruction is coming. In those days many and good days shall come to the righteous—in the day of your judgement.

Note"The mighty" are the powerful: the landowners, officials and wealthy men who held practical authority over other people's lives. The closing line sets both outcomes in the same stretch of time, so that the good days of the righteous and the judgment of the powerful arrive together.