1 Enoch 91

XCI. 1-10. 18-19. Enoch’s Admonition to his Children.

1‘And now, my son Methuselah, call to me all thy brothers And gather together to me all the sons of thy mother; For the word calls me, And the spirit is poured out upon me, That I may show you everything That shall befall you for ever.’*Enoch calls his sons together. Cf. lxxxi. 5, 6.*Their names are given in 2 En. i. 10, lvii. 2. 2And thereupon Methuselah went and summoned to him all his brothers and assembled his relatives. 3And he spake unto all the children of righteousness and said: ‘Hear, ye sons of Enoch, all the words of your father, And hearken aright to the voice of my mouth; For I exhort you and say unto you, beloved: 4Love uprightness and walk therein. And draw not nigh to uprightness with a double heart, And associate not with those of a double heart, But walk in righteousness, my sons. And it shall guide you on good paths, And righteousness shall be your companion.*Perhaps a reference to the Two Ways. Cf. v. 19. 5For I know that violence must increase on the earth, And a great chastisement be executed on the earth, And all unrighteousness come to an end: Yea, it shall be cut off from its roots, And its whole structure be destroyed.*Emended easily from text which = 'the state of violence shall increase.'*The Deluge. 6And unrighteousness shall again be consummated on the earth, And all the deeds of unrighteousness and of violence And transgression shall prevail in a twofold degree. 7And when sin and unrighteousness and blasphemy And violence in all kinds of deeds increase, And apostasy and transgression and uncleanness increase, A great chastisement shall come from heaven upon all these, And the holy Lord will come forth with wrath and chastisement To execute judgement on earth.*7, 8. This fresh development of wickedness will call forth the final judgement. 8In those days violence shall be cut off from its roots, And the roots of unrighteousness together with deceit, And they shall be destroyed from under heaven. 9And all the idols of the heathen shall be abandoned, And the temples burned with fire, And they shall remove them from the whole earth, And they (i.e. the heathen) shall be cast into the judgement of fire, And shall perish in wrath and in grievous judgement for ever.*The absolute rejection of the heathen seems to be taught here, the prevailing, though not the universal, belief of later Judaism. Contrast v. 14. 10And the righteous shall arise from their sleep, And wisdom shall arise and be given unto them.*The singular used collectively, as in xcii. 3. In xci-civ only the righteous attain to the Resurrection. See li. 1 (note). 11[And after that the roots of unrighteousness shall be cut off, and the sinners shall be destroyed by the sword . . . shall be cut off from the blasphemers in every place, and those who plan violence and those who commit blasphemy shall perish by the sword.]*This verse is an interpolation by the final editor, added to introduce vv. 12-17, which originally followed xciii.*1-10 Judgement has already been consummated in xci. 7-9, and the resurrection attained xci. 10. Verse 11 reverts to the period of the sword -which precedes the Resurrection (xc. 19. xci. 12; cf. c. 4, 5).*12-17. I read these verses after xciii. 14.

XCI. 12-17. The Last Three Weeks.

12And after that there shall be another, the eighth week, that of righteousness, And a sword shall be given to it that a righteous judgement may be executed on the oppressors, And sinners shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous.*12-17. These verses giving an account of the last three weeks of the world's history are here restored to their place after xciii. 1-10, the account of the first seven weeks.*The eighth week sees the setting up of the Messianic kingdom, and the first act of the final judgement–the period of the sword (xc. 19), when the wicked are given into the hand of the righteous. Cf. xcv. 7, xcvi. 1, xcviii. 12, xcix. 4, 6, also xxxviii. 5. 13And at its close they shall acquire houses through their righteousness, And a house shall be built for the Great King in glory for evermore,*After strife will follow rest and quiet possession of the earth. Cf. Isa. lx. 21, 22, lxv. 20-23.*The temple, and also Jerusalem. g reads 'the house of the Great King shall be built'. 14And all mankind shall look to the path of uprightness. And after that, in the ninth week, the righteous judgement shall be revealed to the whole world, And all the works of the godless shall vanish from all the earth, And the world shall be written down for destruction.*This verse may refer to the conversion of the Gentiles, as l. 2-5, xc. 30, 33, 35, cf. 14ᵈ. Or it may refer to the open punishment by God of the wicked. Cf. 14ᶜ.*m, β: 'He shall write down (i.e. decree) the destruction of the world' g: 'He shall write down the world for destruction' t: > u: q = a. corruption of g (?). This is to take place in the end of the tenth week. 15And after this, in the tenth week in the seventh part, There shall be the great eternal judgement, In which He will execute vengeance amongst the angels.*a-t. The structure of the stanza supports this text. t,β-in insert a gloss and read 'There shall be the eternal judgement. And it shall be executed on the watchers of the eternal heaven. The great (judgement) in which He will execute vengeance among the angels.' 16And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, And a new heaven shall appear, And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold light.*(cf. Isa. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22; Ps. cii. 26), but no new earth. Cf. civ. 2 (note). For a new creation, cf. xlv. 4, lxxii. 1 (note). 17And after that there will be many weeks without number for ever, And all shall be in goodness and righteousness, And sin shall no more be mentioned for ever.*End of Apocalypse of Weeks. 18And now I tell you, my sons, and show you The paths of righteousness and the paths of violence. Yea, I will show them to you again That ye may know what will come to pass. 19And now, hearken unto me, my sons, And walk in the paths of righteousness, And walk not in the paths of violence; For all who walk in the paths of unrighteousness shall perish for ever.’