1 Enoch 47

XLVII. The Prayer of the Righteous for Vengeance and their Joy at its coming.

1And in those days shall have ascended the prayer of the righteous, And the blood of the righteous from the earth before the Lord of Spirits.*The judgement follows the dethronement of the mighty.*Here in the plural, but in the next line in the singular (collective).*Cf. Rev. vi. 10; En. xcvii. 5 (note). 2In those days the holy ones who dwell above in the heavens Shall unite with one voice And supplicate and pray [and praise, And give thanks and bless the name of the Lord of Spirits] On behalf of the blood of the righteous which has been shed, And that the prayer of the righteous may not be in vain before the Lord of Spirits, That judgement may be done unto them, And that they may not have to suffer for ever.*On the angels' intercession. See xv. 2 (note). 3In those days I saw the Head of Days when He seated himself upon the throne of His glory, And the books of the living were opened before Him: And all His host which is in heaven above and His counsellors stood before Him,*In O.T. these are the registers of actual Israelite citizens, with a right to the temporal blessings of the chosen people. Cf. Exod. xxxii. 32, etc.; Ps. lxix. 28; Isa. iv. 3; also Jubilees xxx. 20, 22. In Dan. xii. 1, they refer to an immortality of blessedness. Cf. N.T. Phil. iv. 3; Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, etc., and the idea in Luke x. 20; Heb. xii. 23. Cf. too Enoch ciii. 4, 'the memorial of the righteous.' There were also books recording good and evil deeds. Ps. lvi. 8; Mal. iii. 16; Jubilees xxx. 22; also Dan. vii. 10; Rev. xx. 12; Asc. Isa. ix. 22, and in Enoch evil deeds only (as Isa. lxv. 6), lxxxi. 4, lxxxix. 61-77, xc. 17, 20, xcviii. 7, 8, civ. 7; also 2 Bar. xxiv. 1. Further there were the heavenly tablets of God's plans. Cf. Exod. xxv. 9, 40; Dan. x. 21. Also in Enoch lxxxi. 1, 2, xciii. 1-3, ciii. 2, 3, cvi. 19, cvii. 1, cviii. 7 ('books of the holy ones' as ciii. 2). See my Commentary in loc. 4And the hearts of the holy were filled with joy; Because the number of the righteous had been offered, And the prayer of the righteous had been heard, And the blood of the righteous been required before the Lord of Spirits.