1 Enoch 102

CII. Terrors of the Day of Judgement: the adverse Fortunes of the Righteous on the Earth.

1In those days when He hath brought a grievous fire upon you, Whither will ye flee, and where will ye find deliverance? And when He launches forth His word against you Will you not be affrighted and fear?*i.e. hell. Cf. xcix. 11.*1-3 Whither they will flee on the terrible day of the Lord, when heaven and earth will be aghast and the very angels seek to hide themselves?*i.e. of judgement. 2And all the luminaries shall be affrighted with great fear, And all the earth shall be affrighted and tremble and be alarmed. 3And all the †angels shall execute their commands† And shall seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Great Glory, And the children of earth shall tremble and quake; And ye sinners shall be cursed for ever, And ye shall have no peace.*Corrupt: for 'angels' read kings. Cf. Rev. vi. 15.*I cannot emend. 4Fear ye not, ye souls of the righteous, And be hopeful ye that have died in righteousness.*4-CIV. 9. Discussion and condemnation of Sadducean views of the future life.*4, 5. The righteous are to be of good cheer, though their life and death be in grief. 5And grieve not if your soul into Sheol has descended in grief, And that in your life your body fared not according to your goodness, But wait for the day of the judgement of sinners And for the day of cursing and chastisement.*Strong in the belief in a blessed future for the righteous, the writer can concede the apparent equality of righteous and wicked in life and death.*Text = 'ye became sinners'. The next line requires this emendation here. 6And yet when ye die the sinners speak over you: ‘As we die, so die the righteous, And what benefit do they reap for their deeds?*6-8. The Sadducean argument–the O.T. view of the retribution of the righteous in this life was interpreted as implying that men could be judged by their fortunes in this life, and that where there is no difference in this life there will be none in the next. Cf. Wisdom ii. 1-5, iii. 2-4; Eccles. ii. 14-16, iii. 19-21, etc. 7Behold, even as we, so do they die in grief and darkness, And what have they more than we? From henceforth we are equal.*The O.T. view of Sheol, lxiii. 10 (note). 8And what will they receive and what will they see for ever? Behold, they too have died, And henceforth for ever shall they see no light.’ 9I tell you, ye sinners, ye are content to eat and drink, and rob and sin, and strip men naked, and acquire wealth and see good days.*So LXX of Ps. xxxiv. 12.*9-10. Answer of the writer. The distinction of righteous and wicked is not an outward, but a religious and ethical one. The wicked man’s life is moulded by material and temporal aims only. 10Have ye seen the righteous how their end falls out, that no manner of violence is found in them till their death? 11‘Nevertheless they perished and became as though they had not been, and their spirits descended into Sheol in tribulation.’*The wicked rejoin that Death awaits both alike.