1 Enoch 37

1The second vision which he saw, the vision of wisdom—which Enoch the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw.*This genealogy helps to show that the Parables form an independent work.*The first seems to be i. 2.*This genealogy helps to show that the Parables form an independent work. 2And this is the beginning of the words of wisdom which I lifted up my voice to speak and say to those which dwell on earth: Hear, ye men of old time, and see, ye that come after, the words of the Holy One which I will speak before the Lord of Spirits.*The Ethiopic word used here and in v. 3 may also = 'sum'.*including Cainan, Mahalalel, and Jared, according to the LXX chronology, followed in the Parables. See liv. 7 (note), lxx. 4 (note).*Only in 2 Macc. iii. 24 in contemporary or earlier writings, yet cf. 'the God of the spirits of all flesh' Num. xvi. 22, xxvii. 16. In Enoch it occurs in xxxvii. 4 (twice), xxxviii. 2 (twice), 4, 6, xxxix. 2, 7 (twice), 8, 9 (twice), 12, xl. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, xli. 2 (twice), 6, 7, xliii. 4 (twice), xlv. 1, 2, xlvi. 3 (twice), 6, 7, 8, xlvii. 1, 2 (twice), 4, xlviii. 2, 3, 5, 7 (twice), 10 (twice); xlix. 2, 4, l. 2, 3 (twice), 5, li. 3, lii. 5, 9, liii. 6, liv. 5, 7, lv. 3, 4, lvii. 3, lviii. 4, 6 (twice), lix. 1, 2, lx. 6, 8, 24, 25 (twice), lxi. 3, 5, 8, 9 (thrice) 11, 13 (twice), lxii. 2, 10, 12, 14, 16 (twice), lxiii. 1, 2 (twice), 7, 12 (twice), lxv. 9, 11, lxvi. 2, lxvii. 8, 9, lxviii. 4 (twice), lxix. 24 (twice), 29, lxx. 1, lxxi. 2, 17. We find it in all 104 times, and 28 of these at least in the Interpolations. In the genuine portions it fits the context most closely: cf. xxxix. 12, xl. 1-10, xlvi. 3-8, etc.: but in the Interpolations it is never so appropriate: cf. xli. 6, 7, lix. 1, 2 (context = natural phenomena). 3It were better to declare (them only) to the men of old time, but even from those that come after we will not withhold the beginning of wisdom. 4Till the present day such wisdom has never been given by the Lord of Spirits as I have received according to my insight, according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits by whom the lot of eternal life has been given to me.*Cf. xl. 9, lviii. 3, lxii. 14. The life of a member of the Messianic kingdom is eternal in xxxvii-lxx; in i-xxxvi it is limited in duration, v. 9, x. 17, xxv. 6, in the Dream Visions, lxxxiii-lxxxix, its duration is uncertain. The kingdom itself is temporary in xci-civ, and the real recompense of the righteous is the eternal life which follows on the close of the Messianic kingdom and the final judgement. 5Now three Parables were imparted to me, and I lifted up my voice and recounted them to those that dwell on the earth.*Cf. Num. xxiii. 7, 18, Job xxvii. 1 = elaborate discourses, in the form of a vision, a prophecy, or a poem.*This phrase has a good ethical sense in the genuine portions of this section, as xxxvii. 2, xl. 6, 7, xlviii. 5. So Rev. xiv. 6. In the Interpolations it has a bad sense in liv. 9, lv. 1, lx. 5, lxv. 6, 12, lxvi. 1, lxvii. 8, and doubtful or merely geographical elsewhere, never good. In the Rev. it always has the bad sense except in xiv. 6.