4. Anon., 1 Enoch, 1.2, 1.9, 5.5-5.7, 5.9, 21.5, 21.9, 27.2, 33.3, 80.1-80.8 (3rd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.2. living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. And he took up his parable and said -Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which i 1.9. And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly:And to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. 5.5. Therefore shall ye execrate your days, And the years of your life shall perish, And the years of your destruction shall be multiplied in eternal execration, And ye shall find no mercy. 5.9. And they shall not again transgress, Nor shall they sin all the days of their life, Nor shall they die of (the divine) anger or wrath, But they shall complete the number of the days of their life.And their lives shall be increased in peace, And the years of their joy shall be multiplied, In eternal gladness and peace, All the days of their life. 21.5. I said: 'For what sin are they bound, and on what account have they been cast in hither' Then said Uriel, one of the holy angels, who was with me, and was chief over them, and said: 'Enoch, why 21.9. fearful is the place and how terrible to look upon!' Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: 'Enoch, why hast thou such fear and affright' And 27.2. accursed valley between' Then Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered and said: 'This accursed valley is for those who are accursed for ever: Here shall all the accursed be gathered together who utter with their lips against the Lord unseemly words and of His glory speak hard things. Here shall they be gathered together, and here 33.3. I counted the portals out of which they proceed, and wrote down all their outlets, of each individual star by itself, according to their number and their names, their courses and their positions, and their 80.1. And in those days the angel Uriel answered and said to me: ' Behold, I have shown thee everything, Enoch, and I have revealed everything to thee that thou shouldst see this sun and this moon, and the leaders of the stars of the heaven and all those who turn them, their tasks and times and departures. 80.2. And in the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened, And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields, And all things on the earth shall alter, And shall not appear in their time: And the rain shall be kept back And the heaven shall withhold (it). 80.3. And in those times the fruits of the earth shall be backward, And shall not grow in their time, And the fruits of the trees shall be withheld in their time. 80.4. And the moon shall alter her order, And not appear at her time. 80.5. [And in those days the sun shall be seen and he shall journey in the evening on the extremity of the great chariot in the west] And shall shine more brightly than accords with the order of light. 80.6. And many chiefs of the stars shall transgress the order (prescribed). And these shall alter their orbits and tasks, And not appear at the seasons prescribed to them. 80.7. And the whole order of the stars shall be concealed from the sinners, And the thoughts of those on the earth shall err concerning them, [And they shall be altered from all their ways], Yea, they shall err and take them to be gods. 80.8. And evil shall be multiplied upon them, And punishment shall come upon them So as to destroy all.' |
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12. Anon., 4 Ezra, 3.4-3.11, 3.20-3.27, 4.1-4.10, 4.27-4.32, 4.36-4.37, 5.21-5.22, 5.27-5.31, 6.45-6.46, 6.53-6.59, 7.1-7.25, 7.46-7.48, 7.50-7.74, 7.117-7.134, 7.137, 8.2-8.14, 8.44-8.45, 13.57, 14.27-14.36
| 3.4. O sovereign Lord, didst thou not speak at the beginning when thou didst form the earth -- and that without help -- and didst command the dust 3.5. and it gave thee Adam, a lifeless body? Yet he was the workmanship of thy hands, and thou didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made alive in thy presence. 3.6. And thou didst lead him into the garden which thy right hand had planted before the earth appeared. 3.7. And thou didst lay upon him one commandment of thine; but he transgressed it, and immediately thou didst appoint death for him and for his descendants. From him there sprang nations and tribes, peoples and clans without number. 3.8. And every nation walked after its own will and did ungodly things before thee and scorned thee, and thou didst not hinder them. 3.9. But again, in its time thou didst bring the flood upon the inhabitants of the world and destroy them. 3.10. And the same fate befell them: as death came upon Adam, so the flood upon them. 3.11. But thou didst leave one of them, Noah with his household, and all the righteous who have descended from him. 3.20. Yet thou didst not take away from them their evil heart, so that thy law might bring forth fruit in them. 3.21. For the first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome, as were also all who were descended from him. 3.22. Thus the disease became permanent; the law was in the people's heart along with the evil root, but what was good departed, and the evil remained. 3.23. So the times passed and the years were completed, and thou didst raise up for thyself a servant, named David. 3.24. And thou didst command him to build a city for thy name, and in it to offer thee oblations from what is thine. 3.25. This was done for many years; but the inhabitants of the city transgressed 3.26. in everything doing as Adam and all his descendants had done, for they also had the evil heart. 3.27. So thou didst deliver the city into the hands of thy enemies. 4.1. Then the angel that had been sent to me, whose name was Uriel, answered 4.2. and said to me, "Your understanding has utterly failed regarding this world, and do you think you can comprehend the way of the Most High? 4.3. Then I said, "Yes, my lord." And he replied to me, "I have been sent to show you three ways, and to put before you three problems. 4.4. If you can solve one of them for me, I also will show you the way you desire to see, and will teach you why the heart is evil. 4.5. I said, "Speak on, my lord." And he said to me, "Go, weigh for me the weight of fire, or measure for me a measure of wind, or call back for me the day that is past. 4.6. I answered and said, "Who of those that have been born can do this, that you ask me concerning these things? 4.7. And he said to me, "If I had asked you, `How many dwellings are in the heart of the sea, or how many streams are at the source of the deep, or how many streams are above the firmament, or which are the exits of hell, or which are the entrances of paradise?' 4.8. Perhaps you would have said to me, `I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into hell, neither did I ever ascend into heaven.' 4.9. But now I have asked you only about fire and wind and the day, things through which you have passed and without which you cannot exist, and you have given me no answer about them! 4.10. And he said to me, "You cannot understand the things with which you have grown up; 4.27. For it will not be able to bring the things that have been promised to the righteous in their appointed times, because this age is full of sadness and infirmities. 4.30. For a grain of evil seed was sown in Adam's heart from the beginning, and how much ungodliness it has produced until now, and will produce until the time of threshing comes! 4.36. And Jeremiel the archangel answered them and said, `When the number of those like yourselves is completed; for he has weighed the age in the balance 4.37. and measured the times by measure, and numbered the times by number; and he will not move or arouse them until that measure is fulfilled.' 5.21. And after seven days the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again. 5.22. Then my soul recovered the spirit of understanding, and I began once more to speak words in the presence of the Most High. 5.27. and from all the multitude of peoples thou hast gotten for thyself one people; and to this people, whom thou hast loved, thou hast given the law which is approved by all. 5.28. And now, O Lord, why hast thou given over the one to the many, and dishonored the one root beyond the others, and scattered thine only one among the many? 5.29. And those who opposed thy promises have trodden down those who believed thy covets. 5.30. If thou dost really hate thy people, they should be punished at thy own hands. 5.31. When I had spoken these words, the angel who had come to me on a previous night was sent to me 6.53. On the sixth day thou didst command the earth to bring forth before thee cattle, beasts, and creeping things; 6.54. and over these thou didst place Adam, as ruler over all the works which thou hadst made; and from him we have all come, the people whom thou hast chosen. 6.55. All this I have spoken before thee, O Lord, because thou hast said that it was for us that thou didst create this world. 6.56. As for the other nations which have descended from Adam, thou hast said that they are nothing, and that they are like spittle, and thou hast compared their abundance to a drop from a bucket. 6.57. And now, O Lord, behold, these nations, which are reputed as nothing, domineer over us and devour us. 6.58. But we thy people, whom thou hast called thy first-born, only begotten, zealous for thee, and most dear, have been given into their hands. 6.59. If the world has indeed been created for us, why do we not possess our world as an inheritance? How long will this be so? 7.1. When I had finished speaking these words, the angel who had been sent to me on the former nights was sent to me again 7.2. and he said to me, "Rise, Ezra, and listen to the words that I have come to speak to you. 7.3. I said, "Speak, my lord." And he said to me, "There is a sea set in a wide expanse so that it is broad and vast 7.4. but it has an entrance set in a narrow place, so that it is like a river. 7.5. If any one, then, wishes to reach the sea, to look at it or to navigate it, how can he come to the broad part unless he passes through the narrow part? 7.6. Another example: There is a city built and set on a plain, and it is full of all good things; 7.7. but the entrance to it is narrow and set in a precipitous place, so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left; 7.8. and there is only one path lying between them, that is, between the fire and the water, so that only one man can walk upon that path. 7.9. If now that city is given to a man for an inheritance, how will the heir receive his inheritance unless he passes through the danger set before him? 7.10. I said, "He cannot, lord." And he said to me, "So also is Israel's portion. 7.11. For I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, what had been made was judged. 7.12. And so the entrances of this world were made narrow and sorrowful and toilsome; they are few and evil, full of dangers and involved in great hardships. 7.13. But the entrances of the greater world are broad and safe, and really yield the fruit of immortality. 7.14. Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and vain experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them. 7.15. But now why are you disturbed, seeing that you are to perish? And why are you moved, seeing that you are mortal? 7.16. And why have you not considered in your mind what is to come, rather than what is now present? 7.17. Then I answered and said, "O sovereign Lord, behold, thou hast ordained in thy law that the righteous shall inherit these things, but that the ungodly shall perish. 7.18. The righteous therefore can endure difficult circumstances while hoping for easier ones; but those who have done wickedly have suffered the difficult circumstances and will not see the easier ones. 7.19. And he said to me, "You are not a better judge than God, or wiser than the Most High! 7.20. Let many perish who are now living, rather than that the law of God which is set before them be disregarded! 7.21. For God strictly commanded those who came into the world, when they came, what they should do to live, and what they should observe to avoid punishment. 7.22. Nevertheless they were not obedient, and spoke against him; they devised for themselves vain thoughts 7.23. and proposed to themselves wicked frauds; they even declared that the Most High does not exist, and they ignored his ways! 7.24. They scorned his law, and denied his covets; they have been unfaithful to his statutes, and have not performed his works. 7.25. Therefore, Ezra, empty things are for the empty, and full things are for the full. 7.46. But what of those for whom I prayed? For who among the living is there that has not sinned, or who among men that has not transgressed thy covet? 7.47. And now I see that the world to come will bring delight to few, but torments to many. 7.48. For an evil heart has grown up in us, which has alienated us from God, and has brought us into corruption and the ways of death, and has shown us the paths of perdition and removed us far from life -- and that not just a few of us but almost all who have been created! 7.50. For this reason the Most High has made not one world but two. 7.51. For whereas you have said that the righteous are not many but few, while the ungodly abound, hear the explanation for this. 7.52. If you have just a few precious stones, will you add to them lead and clay? 7.53. I said, "Lord, how could that be? 7.54. And he said to me, "Not only that, but ask the earth and she will tell you; defer to her, and she will declare it to you. 7.55. Say to her, `You produce gold and silver and brass, and also iron and lead and clay; 7.56. but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver, and iron than brass, and lead than iron, and clay than lead.' 7.57. Judge therefore which things are precious and desirable, those that are abundant or those that are rare? 7.58. I said, "O sovereign Lord, what is plentiful is of less worth, for what is more rare is more precious. 7.59. He answered me and said, "Weigh within yourself what you have thought, for he who has what is hard to get rejoices more than he who has what is plentiful. 7.60. So also will be the judgment which I have promised; for I will rejoice over the few who shall be saved, because it is they who have made my glory to prevail now, and through them my name has now been honored. 7.61. And I will not grieve over the multitude of those who perish; for it is they who are now like a mist, and are similar to a flame and smoke -- they are set on fire and burn hotly, and are extinguished. 7.62. I replied and said, "O earth, what have you brought forth, if the mind is made out of the dust like the other created things! 7.63. For it would have been better if the dust itself had not been born, so that the mind might not have been made from it. 7.64. But now the mind grows with us, and therefore we are tormented, because we perish and know it. 7.65. Let the human race lament, but let the beasts of the field be glad; let all who have been born lament, but let the four-footed beasts and the flocks rejoice! 7.66. For it is much better with them than with us; for they do not look for a judgment, nor do they know of any torment or salvation promised to them after death. 7.67. For what does it profit us that we shall be preserved alive but cruelly tormented? 7.68. For all who have been born are involved in iniquities, and are full of sins and burdened with transgressions. 7.69. And if we were not to come into judgment after death, perhaps it would have been better for us. 7.70. He answered me and said, "When the Most High made the world and Adam and all who have come from him, he first prepared the judgment and the things that pertain to the judgment. 7.71. And now understand from your own words, for you have said that the mind grows with us. 7.72. For this reason, therefore, those who dwell on earth shall be tormented, because though they had understanding they committed iniquity, and though they received the commandments they did not keep them, and though they obtained the law they dealt unfaithfully with what they received. 7.73. What, then, will they have to say in the judgment, or how will they answer in the last times? 7.74. For how long the time is that the Most High has been patient with those who inhabit the world, and not for their sake, but because of the times which he has foreordained! 8.2. But I tell you a parable, Ezra. Just as, when you ask the earth, it will tell you that it provides very much clay from which earthenware is made, but only a little dust from which gold comes; so is the course of the present world. 8.3. Many have been created, but few shall be saved. 8.4. I answered and said, "Then drink your fill of understanding, O my soul, and drink wisdom, O my heart! 8.5. For not of your own will did you come into the world, and against your will you depart, for you have been given only a short time to live. 8.6. O Lord who are over us, grant to thy servant that we may pray before thee, and give us seed for our heart and cultivation of our understanding so that fruit may be produced, by which every mortal who bears the likeness of a human being may be able to live. 8.7. For thou alone dost exist, and we are a work of thy hands, as thou hast declared. 8.8. And because thou dost give life to the body which is now fashioned in the womb, and dost furnish it with members, what thou hast created is preserved in fire and water, and for nine months the womb which thou has formed endures thy creation which has been created in it. 8.9. But that which keeps and that which is kept shall both be kept by thy keeping. And when the womb gives up again what has been created in it 8.10. thou hast commanded that from the members themselves (that is, from the breasts) milk should be supplied which is the fruit of the breasts 8.11. so that what has been fashioned may be nourished for a time; and afterwards thou wilt guide him in thy mercy. 8.12. Thou hast brought him up in thy righteousness, and instructed him in thy law, and reproved him in thy wisdom. 8.13. Thou wilt take away his life, for he is thy creation; and thou wilt make him live, for he is thy work. 8.14. If then thou wilt suddenly and quickly destroy him who with so great labor was fashioned by thy command, to what purpose was he made? 8.44. But man, who has been formed by thy hands and is called thy own image because he is made like thee, and for whose sake thou hast formed all things -- hast thou also made him like the farmer's seed? 8.45. No, O Lord who art over us! But spare thy people and have mercy on thy inheritance, for thou hast mercy on thy own creation. 13.57. Then I arose and walked in the field, giving great glory and praise to the Most High because of his wonders, which he did from time to time 14.27. Then I went as he commanded me, and I gathered all the people together, and said 14.28. Hear these words, O Israel 14.29. At first our fathers dwelt as aliens in Egypt, and they were delivered from there 14.30. and received the law of life, which they did not keep, which you also have transgressed after them. 14.31. Then land was given to you for a possession in the land of Zion; but you and your fathers committed iniquity and did not keep the ways which the Most High commanded you. 14.32. And because he is a righteous judge, in due time he took from you what he had given. 14.33. And now you are here, and your brethren are farther in the interior. 14.34. If you, then, will rule over your minds and discipline your hearts, you shall be kept alive, and after death you shall obtain mercy. 14.35. For after death the judgment will come, when we shall live again; and then the names of the righteous will become manifest, and the deeds of the ungodly will be disclosed. 14.36. But let no one come to me now, and let no one seek me for forty days. |
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