1 Enoch 71

LXXI. Two earlier Visions of Enoch.

1And it came to pass after this that my spirit was translated And it ascended into the heavens: And I saw the holy sons of God. They were stepping on flames of fire: Their garments were white [and their raiment], And their faces shone like snow.*Seems to belong to the Parables. There are two visions in this chapter: (1) verses 1-4. Enoch is translated in spirit to the heavens, has a vision of God, and is shown by Michael the secrets of the spiritual and physical worlds. (2) verses 5-17. Again Enoch is translated in spirit to the heaven of heavens and has a vision of God's house, without Michael's guidance. Both visions should come before lxx, which describes the translation of 'his name', i.e. his final translation.*1-4. The first vision.*Text has 'sons of the holy angels'. See lxix. 4 (note), 5, cvi. 5. The expression 'sons of Elohim' in Gen. vi. is the source of this phrase. 2And I saw two streams of fire, And the light of that fire shone like hyacinth, And I fell on my face before the Lord of Spirits.*Cf. xiv. 19; Dan. vii. 10, also vv. 1, 5, 6 here. 3And the angel Michael [one of the archangels] seized me by my right hand, And lifted me up and led me forth into all the secrets, And he showed me all the secrets of righteousness.*All MSS. but u prefix 'and he showed me all (>β) the secrets of mercy'. As 'mercy' is an alternative rendering for 'righteousness', this is a dittography. 4And he showed me all the secrets of the ends of the heaven, And all the chambers of all the stars, and all the luminaries, Whence they proceed before the face of the holy ones.*Physical secrets here as in xli. 3-8, xliii, xliv occur in contexts of an entirely ethical character. 5And he translated my spirit into the heaven of heavens, And I saw there as it were a structure built of crystals, And between those crystals tongues of living fire.*5-17. The second vision. 6And my spirit saw the girdle which girt that house of fire, And on its four sides were streams full of living fire, And they girt that house. 7And round about were Seraphin, Cherubin, and Ophannin: And these are they who sleep not And guard the throne of His glory. 8And I saw angels who could not be counted, A thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand, Encircling that house. And Michael, and Raphael, and Gabriel, and Phanuel, And the holy angels who are above the heavens, Go in and out of that house. 9And they came forth from that house, And Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, And many holy angels without number. 10And with them the Head of Days, His head white and pure as wool, And His raiment indescribable.*See xlvi. 1 (note); Dan. vii. 9. 11And I fell on my face, And my whole body became relaxed, And my spirit was transfigured; And I cried with a loud voice, . . . with the spirit of power, And blessed and glorified and extolled. 12And these blessings which went forth out of my mouth were well pleasing before that Head of Days. 13And that Head of Days came with Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, thousands and ten thousands of angels without number. [Lost passage wherein the Son of Man was described as accompanying the Head of Days, and Enoch asked one of the angels (as in xlvi. 3) concerning the Son of Man as to who he was.] 14And he (i.e. the angel) came to me and greeted me with His voice, and said unto me: ‘This is the Son of Man who is born unto righteousness, And righteousness abides over him, And the righteousness of the Head of Days forsakes him not.’*14-16. Owing to the loss of a reference to the Son of Man, some scribe has altered third to second persons in 14, 16, but not in 17, or 15.*See xlvi. 3 (note) for this attribute of the Son of Man. 15And he said unto me: ‘He proclaims unto thee peace in the name of the world to come; For from hence has proceeded peace since the creation of the world, And so shall it be unto thee for ever and for ever and ever.*Cf. Mic. iii. 5; Zech. ix. 10; Isa. lvii. 7.*the Messianic kingdom. Earliest use of the phrase. See Dalman, Worte Jesu, 120 seqq. 16And all shall walk in his ways since righteousness never forsaketh him: With him will be their dwelling-places, and with him their heritage, And they shall not be separated from him for ever and ever and ever. 17And so there shall be length of days with that Son of Man, And the righteous shall have peace and an upright way In the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.’*Note on 14-17. I do not hold, as Bousset, Rel. des Jud. 348, Dalman, Worte Jesu 200, that our text elevates Enoch to the dignity of the Messiah. Bousset quotes 2 En. xxii. 6, lxvii. 2; Targ. Jon. on Gen. v. 24; Ps. Clem. Hom. xviii. 13; Recog. ii. 47.