1 Enoch 63

LXIII. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty.

1In those days shall the mighty and the kings who possess the earth implore (Him) to grant them a little respite from His angels of punishment to whom they were delivered, that they might fall down and worship before the Lord of Spirits, and confess their sins before Him.*A last despairing appeal by the kings and mighty. They justify God's judgement. Cf. Wisdom v. 3-8. 2And they shall bless and glorify the Lord of Spirits, and say: ‘Blessed is the Lord of Spirits and the Lord of kings, And the Lord of the mighty and the Lord of the rich, And the Lord of glory and the Lord of wisdom,*They confess what before they denied, xlvi. 5. 3And splendid in every secret thing is Thy power from generation to generation, And Thy glory for ever and ever: Deep are all Thy secrets and innumerable, And Thy righteousness is beyond reckoning. 4We have now learnt that we should glorify And bless the Lord of kings and Him who is king over all kings.’ 5And they shall say: ‘Would that we had rest to glorify and give thanks And confess our faith before His glory! 6And now we long for a little rest but find it not: We follow hard upon and obtain (it) not: And light has vanished from before us, And darkness is our dwelling-place for ever and ever: 7For we have not believed before Him Nor glorified the name of the Lord of Spirits, [nor glorified our Lord] But our hope was in the sceptre of our kingdom, And in our glory. 8And in the day of our suffering and tribulation He saves us not, And we find no respite for confession That our Lord is true in all His works, and in His judgements and His justice, And His judgements have no respect of persons.*No place of repentance when the final judgement has come. 9And we pass away from before His face on account of our works, And all our sins are reckoned up in righteousness.’ 10Now they shall say unto themselves: ‘Our souls are full of unrighteous gain, but it does not prevent us from descending from the midst thereof into the †burden† of Sheol.’*See my Commentary for a full discussion of this word's history. (1) The oldest view occurs in e.g. Job xxx. 23; Num. xvi. 30. It is the place appointed for all living, is beneath the earth, and is the land of destruction, forgetfulness, and silence. The individual does exist, but without joy or contact with God or man. Good and bad fare alike, but the family, and national and social distinctions of the world above are reproduced. Cf. the Homeric Hades. (2) In the second century B.C. the doctrine of future retribution and the Resurrection altered the conception to that of a place of reward, and also that of an intermediate state (cf. li.1). (3) Owing to the Resurrection being limited to the righteous, Sheol came to mean hell, or Gehenna, as the preliminary or permanent abode of wicked souls (lxiii. 10, xcix. 11). See Charles, The Doctrine of a Future Life,–passim.*Riches avail not to save them. Cf. lii. 7, liii. 1, 2; Ps. xlix. 7-12. 11And after that their faces shall be filled with darkness And shame before that Son of Man, And they shall be driven from his presence, And the sword shall abide before his face in their midst.*Bousset suggests that this verse is an interpolation. It resembles lxii. 10. 12Thus spake the Lord of Spirits: ‘This is the ordinance and judgement with respect to the mighty and the kings and the exalted and those who possess the earth before the Lord of Spirits.’