1 Enoch 25

1And he said unto me: ‘Enoch, why dost thou ask me regarding the fragrance of the tree, and ┌why┐ dost thou wish to learn the truth?’ 2Then I answered him ╓saying╖: ‘I wish to know about everything, but especially about this tree.’ 3And he answered saying: ‘This high mountain ╓which thou hast seen╖, whose summit is like the throne of God, is His throne, where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when He shall come down to visit the earth with goodness.*i.e. the middle one of the seven. Cf. xviii. 6-9, xxiv. 1-3. It is not Sinai, but the throne of God when He descends to bless the earth. Cf. lxxvii. 1.*This mountain is in the north-west. In lxxvii, God will descend in the south. 4And as for this fragrant tree no mortal is permitted to touch it till the great judgement, when He shall take vengeance on all and bring (everything) to its consummation for ever. It shall then be given to the righteous and holy.*4, 5. This is the tree of life. After the final judgement men by eating of it will be endowed with a long life – not eternal life. Cf. v. 9, x. 17, xxv. 6. Cf. Apoc. Bar. lxxiii. 2, 3, 6, 7; lxxiv. This materialistic conception of the tree of life, based on Gen. ii. 9, iii. 22, appears later, e.g. 4 Ezra viii. 52; ?' Rev. ii. 7, xxii. 2, 14 5Its fruit shall be for food to the elect: it shall be transplanted to the holy place, to the temple of the Lord, the Eternal King.*i. e. the tree of life was moved from the earthly Eden to the Garden of Righteousness, and will thence be moved to Jerusalem.*i.e. Jerusalem when purified. For the divine New Jerusalem see xc. 29. 6Then shall they rejoice with joy and be glad, And into the holy place shall they enter; And its fragrance shall be in their bones, And they shall live a long life on earth, Such as thy fathers lived: And in their days shall no ╓sorrow╖ or plague Or torment or calamity touch them.’*In this verse 1 have followed Gg. E differs in lines 2 and 3, where gq, o1, b read for 'shall . . . bones' 'and they shall draw the fragrance thereof into their bones,' i.e. into themselves. If we accept this, we might read 'Then shall they rejoice with joy And be glad in the holy place', etc. 7Then blessed I the God of Glory, the Eternal King, who hath prepared such things for the righteous, and hath created them and promised to give to them.