1 Enoch 97

Be sure of this, you who are righteous: the sinners will be put to shame, and they will perish on the day of unrighteousness.

1Believe, ye righteous, that the sinners will become a shame And perish in the day of unrighteousness.

Note"The day of unrighteousness" is an odd phrase even in the Ethiopic. It can mean the day on which unrighteousness is punished, or the day that belongs to the unrighteous and finishes them; the wording does not settle which. The parallel lines elsewhere in these chapters use the day of judgment instead.

2Know this, you sinners: the Most High has your destruction in mind, and the angels of heaven are glad over your destruction.

2Be it known unto you (ye sinners) that the Most High is mindful of your destruction, And the angels of heaven rejoice over your destruction.

NoteIn this part of Enoch the angels are the ones who carry human prayers and complaints up to God and who stand by as witnesses when the case is heard. Their gladness here belongs to that courtroom picture rather than being a separate idea.

3What will you do, you sinners, and where will you run on that day of judgment, when you hear the sound of the prayer of the righteous?

3What will ye do, ye sinners, And whither will ye flee on that day of judgement, When ye hear the voice of the prayer of the righteous?

NoteThe prayers meant here are not requests for help. They are complaints lodged against wrongdoers, the ancient equivalent of laying a charge, and the sinners "hear the voice" of them the way an accused person hears the charges read out in court.

4Yes, you will be treated just like those against whom this word will stand as testimony: "You have been the companions of sinners."

4Yea, ye shall fare like unto them, Against whom this word shall be a testimony: “Ye have been companions of sinners.”

Note"Testimony" is a legal word: the sworn statement of a witness at a trial. The sentence inside the quotation marks is the whole of the evidence entered against them. "Companions" means partners or associates, so the charge is that keeping company with wrongdoers puts a person in the same case as the wrongdoers.

5And in those days the prayer of the righteous will reach the Lord, and for you the days of your judgment will come.

5And in those days the prayer of the righteous shall reach unto the Lord, And for you the days of your judgement shall come.

Note"In those days" and "the days of your judgement" are stock phrases in Enoch for the final reckoning, which the book pictures as a stretch of days rather than a single moment.

6And all the words of your unrighteousness will be read out before the Great Holy One, and your faces will be covered with shame, and he will refuse every work that is built on unrighteousness.

6And all the words of your unrighteousness shall be read out before the Great Holy One, And your faces shall be covered with shame, And He will reject every work which is grounded on unrighteousness.

NoteEnoch repeatedly pictures every human deed as written down in books kept in heaven, so the judgment scene is a reading aloud from those records. That is why the accusation can take the form of "words" that are read out. "The Great Holy One" is one of the book's standard titles for God.

7Woe to you, you sinners, who live in the middle of the sea and on the dry land: what is remembered of you is evil and counts against you.

7Woe to you, ye sinners, who live on the mid ocean and on the dry land, Whose remembrance is evil against you.

Note"Woe to you" is a set formula, the opening cry of a prophetic denunciation; it announces disaster as already fixed rather than wishing it on someone, and chapters 94 to 100 are built as a chain of these cries. Naming sea and dry land together is a way of saying everywhere, with a glance at merchants who trade by ship and landowners who hold estates. "Whose remembrance is evil against you" means the record of you, the one read out in the previous verse, tells against you.

8Woe to you who get silver and gold in ways that are not right, and who say: "We have grown rich with riches and we own property, and we have gotten everything we wanted.

8Woe to you who acquire silver and gold in unrighteousness and say: ‘We have become rich with riches and have possessions; And have acquired everything we have desired.

Note"We have become rich with riches" repeats the same root twice, a Hebrew and Aramaic way of intensifying a statement: thoroughly, unmistakably rich. "Possessions" in this kind of boast means landed property, fields and estates, which was the usual form wealth took for the class being addressed.

9And now let us do what we planned, for we have gathered silver, and there are many farm workers in our houses, and our storehouses are full to the brim, as though with water."

9And now let us do what we purposed: For we have gathered silver, 9c. And many are the husbandmen in our houses.’ 9d. And our granaries are (brim) full as with water,

NoteA large staff of farm laborers housed on the estate was itself part of the boast: it meant holdings big enough to need them. Granaries were grain stores, and full ones meant far more harvest than the household could eat, which was security against a bad year. "Full as with water" compares them to a cistern filled to the brim.

10Yes, and like water your lies will flow away, for your riches will not last but will rise away from you quickly, because you got it all in ways that were not right, and you will be handed over to a great curse.

10Yea and like water your lies shall flow away; For your riches shall not abide But speedily ascend from you; For ye have acquired it all in unrighteousness, And ye shall be given over to a great curse.

NoteThe boast of the previous verse is turned back on the speakers: they said their stores were full as with water, and water is exactly what does not stay. "Speedily ascend from you" keeps the same picture going, with the wealth rising off them the way standing water evaporates and is gone. "Given over to a great curse" uses curse in its old formal sense, a sentence pronounced against someone that hands them over to ruin, the opposite of a blessing, not a spell or a run of bad luck.