1 Enoch 104

CIV. Assurances given to the Righteous: Admonitions to Sinners and the Falsifiers of the Words of Uprightness.

1I swear unto you, that in heaven the angels remember you for good before the glory of the Great One: and your names are written before the glory of the Great One.*CIV. Again the writer replies, not to the wicked, but to the righteous, as in ciii. 1. The righteous have indeed no hope in this life, but must look for the blessed future awaiting them in heaven.*For angelic mediation cf. xv. 2 (note), xl. 5-7, xlvii. 2, lxxxix. 76.*xlvii. 3 (note). The Great One: xiv. 2, ciii. 4. 2Be hopeful; for aforetime ye were put to shame through ill and affliction; but now ye shall shine as the lights of heaven, ye shall shine and ye shall be seen, and the portals of heaven shall be opened to you.*used here of the impending future.*For the open gates cf. Rev. xxi. 25. There is no hope of a new earth. Cf. xci. 16 (note). 3And in your cry, cry for judgement, and it shall appear to you; for all your tribulation shall be visited on the rulers, and on all who helped those who plundered you.*Their demand for justice, unheard on earth, ciii. 14, 15, will one day be satisfied. Cf. for the cry of the righteous xcvii. 3, 5 (note), xcix. 3, 16. 4Be hopeful, and cast not away your hope; for ye shall have great joy as the angels of heaven.*Cf. Matt. xxii. 30; 1 En. civ. 6. 5What shall ye be obliged to do? Ye shall not have to hide on the day of the great judgement and ye shall not be found as sinners, and the eternal judgement shall be far from you for all the generations of the world.*Cf. xci. 15, also xlv. 2 (note). This verse seems to imply no judgement for the righteous. Contrast li. 2. 6And now fear not, ye righteous, when ye see the sinners growing strong and prospering in their ways: be not companions with them, but keep afar from their violence; for ye shall become companions of the hosts of heaven.*cf. civ. 2, 4. In 2 Bar. li. 5, 10, 12 the righteous attain and even transcend the glory of the angels.*Note Pharisaic exclusiveness. Cf. xci. 3, 4. The hope of the righteous can be realized in heaven alone. The Messianic kingdom falls into the background.*So β, reading hara. Cf. Luke ii. 13; Rev. xix. 14; gmqt read herana = τῶν ἀγαθῶν (corrupt for ἀγγέλων, Flemming). 7And, although ye sinners say: “All our sins shall not be searched out and be written down,” nevertheless they shall write down all your sins every day.*7. 8. He warns the wicked that, though they know it not, their sins are recorded daily. 8And now I show unto you that light and darkness, day and night, see all your sins.*For the witness of natural powers cf. c. 10 (note). 9Be not godless in your hearts, and lie not and alter not the words of uprightness, nor charge with lying the words of the Holy Great One, nor take account of your idols; for all your lying and all your godlessness issue not in righteousness but in great sin.*9-13. Disclosures and directions regarding his own book.*The wicked are bidden not to alter or misinterpret the O.T. Cf. xciv. 5, xcviii. 14, xcix. 2 10And now I know this mystery, that sinners will alter and pervert the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practise great deceits, and write books concerning their words.*A time will come when the words of revelation will be perverted, and books be written enforcing wicked and heathen doctrine. 11But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or minish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully—all that I first testified concerning them.*i.e. Greek and Aramaic.*But the writings of Enoch will counteract these heathen teachings. The writer speaks here from Enoch's standpoint. 12Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom.*At last a righteous and wise generation will receive and understand his works (cf. i. 2). Cf. Dan. xii. 4, 9, 10. 13And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefrom all the paths of uprightness be recompensed.’*i.e. find their reward in these books (xciii. 10, c. 6, civ. 12, 13, cv. 1), or perhaps in the Messianic kingdom thereupon set up.