The Book of Enoch – Epistle

Chapter 91

1And 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.

2And there upon 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.

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.

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 judgment on earth.

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 (the heathen) shall be cast into the judgment of fire, And shall perish in wrath and in grievous judgment for ever.

10And the righteous shall arise from their sleep, And wisdom shall arise and be given unto them.

11And after that the roots of unrighteousness shall be cut off, and the sinners shall be destroyed by the sword and the blasphemers destroyed in every place, 12and those who plan violence and those who commit blasphemy shall perish by the sword.

13And 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.

14And 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.

Chapter92

1The book written by Enoch-Enoch indeed wrote this complete doctrine of wisdom, (which is) praised of all men and a judge of all the earth for all my children who shall dwell on the earth. And for the future generations who shall observe uprightness and peace.

2Let not your spirit be troubled on account of the times; For the Holy and Great One has appointed days for all things.

3And the righteous one shall arise from sleep, Shall arise and walk in the paths of righteousness, And all his path and conversation shall be in eternal goodness and grace.

4He will be gracious to the righteous and give him eternal uprightness, And He will give him power so that he shall be (endowed) with goodness and righteousness. And he shall walk in eternal light.

5And sin shall perish in darkness for ever, And shall no more be seen from that day for evermore.

Chapter93

1,2And after that Enoch both gave and began to recount from the books. And Enoch said: Concerning the children of righteousness and concerning the elect of the world, And concerning the plant of uprightness, I will speak these things, Yea, I Enoch will declare (them) unto you, my sons: According to that which appeared to me in the heavenly vision, And which I have known through the word of the holy angels, And have learnt from the heavenly tablets.

3And Enoch began to recount from the books and said: I was born the seventh in the first week, While judgment and righteousness still endured.

11For who is there of all the children of men that is able to hear the voice of the Holy One without being troubled? And who can think His thoughts? and who is there that can behold all the works 12of heaven? And how should there be one who could behold the heaven, and who is there that could understand the things of heaven and see a soul or a spirit and could tell thereof, or ascend and see 13all their ends and think them or do like them? And who is there of all men that could know what is the breadth and the length of the earth, and to whom has been shown the measure of all of them? 14Or is there any one who could discern the length of the heaven and how great is its height, and upon what it is founded, and how great is the number of the stars, and where all the luminaries rest?

Chapter 94

1In those days when He hath brought a grievous fire upon you, whither will ye flee, and where will ye find deliverance? And when He launches forth His Word against you Will you not be affrighted and fear?

2And all the luminaries shall be affrighted with great fear, And all the earth shall be affrighted and tremble and be alarmed.

3And all the angels shall execute their commandst And shall seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Great Glory, And the children of earth shall tremble and quake; And ye sinners shall be cursed for ever, And ye shall have no peace.

4Fear ye not, ye souls of the righteous, And be hopeful ye that have died in righteousness.

5And grieve not if your soul into Sheol has descended in grief, And that in your life your body fared not according to your goodness, But wait for the day of the judgment of sinners And for the day of cursing and chastisement.

6And yet when ye die the sinners speak over you: ” As we die, so die the righteous, And what benefit do they reap for their deeds?

7Behold, even as we, so do they die in grief and darkness, And what have they more than we? From henceforth we are equal.

8And what will they receive and what will they see for ever? Behold, they too have died, And henceforth for ever shall they see no light.”

9I tell you, ye sinners, ye are content to eat and drink, and rob and sin, and strip men naked, and 10acquire wealth and see good days. Have ye seen the righteous how their end falls out, that no manner 11of violence is found in them till their death? ” Nevertheless they perished and became as though they had not been, and their spirits descended into Sheol in tribulation.”

Chapter 95

1Now, therefore, I swear to you, the righteous, by the glory of the Great and Honoured and 2Mighty One in dominion, and by His greatness I swear to you.

I know a mystery And have read the heavenly tablets, And have seen the holy books, And have found written therein and inscribed regarding them: 3That all goodness and joy and glory are prepared for them, And written down for the spirits of those who have died in righteousness, And that manifold good shall be given to you in recompense for your labours, And that your lot is abundantly beyond the lot of the living.

4And the spirits of you who have died in righteousness shall live and rejoice, And their spirits shall not perish, nor their memorial from before the face of the Great One Unto all the generations of the world: wherefore no longer fear their contumely.

5Woe to you, ye sinners, when ye have died, If ye die in the wealth of your sins, And those who are like you say regarding you: Blessed are the sinners: they have seen all their days.

6And how they have died in prosperity and in wealth, And have not seen tribulation or murder in their life; And they have died in honour, And judgment has not been executed on them during their life.”

7Know ye, that their souls will be made to descend into Sheol And they shall be wretched in their great tribulation.

8And into darkness and chains and a burning flame where there is grievous judgment shall your spirits enter; And the great judgment shall be for all the generations of the world. Woe to you, for ye shall have no peace.

9Say not in regard to the righteous and good who are in life: ” In our troubled days we have toiled laboriously and experienced every trouble, And met with much evil and been consumed, And have become few and our spirit small.

10And we have been destroyed and have not found any to help us even with a word: We have been tortured and destroyed, and not hoped to see life from day to day.

11We hoped to be the head and have become the tail: We have toiled laboriously and had no satisfaction in our toil; And we have become the food of the sinners and the unrighteous, And they have laid their yoke heavily upon us.

12They have had dominion over us that hated us and smote us; And to those that hated us we have bowed our necks But they pitied us not.

13We desired to get away from them that we might escape and be at rest, But found no place whereunto we should flee and be safe from them.

14And are complained to the rulers in our tribulation, And cried out against those who devoured us, But they did not attend to our cries And would not hearken to our voice.

15And they helped those who robbed us and devoured us and those who made us few; and they concealed their oppression, and they did not remove from us the yoke of those that devoured us and dispersed us and murdered us, and they concealed their murder, and remembered not that they had lifted up their hands against us.

Chapter 96

1I swear unto you, that in heaven the angels remember you for good before the glory of the Great 2One: and your names are written before the glory of the Great One. Be hopeful; for aforetime ye were put to shame through ill and affliction; but now ye shall shine as the lights of heaven, 3ye shall shine and ye shall be seen, and the portals of heaven shall be opened to you. And in your cry, cry for judgment, and it shall appear to you; for all your tribulation shall be visited on the 4rulers, and on all who helped those who plundered you. Be hopeful, and cast not away your hopes for ye shall have great joy as the angels of heaven.

5What shall ye be obliged to do? Ye shall not have to hide on the day of the great judgment and ye shall not be found as sinners, and the eternal 6judgment shall be far from you for all the generations of the world. And now fear not, ye righteous, when ye see the sinners growing strong and prospering in their ways: be not companions with them, 7but keep afar from their violence; for ye shall become companions of the hosts of heaven. And, although ye sinners say: ” All our sins shall not be searched out and be written down,” nevertheless 8they shall write down all your sins every day. And now I show unto you that light and darkness, 9day and night, see all your sins. Be not godless in your hearts, and lie not and alter not the words of uprightness, nor charge with lying the words of the Holy Great One, nor take account of your 10idols; for all your lying and all your godlessness issue not in righteousness but in great sin. And now I know this mystery, that sinners will alter and pervert the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practice great deceits, and write books concerning 11their words. But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or minish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully -all that I first testified 12concerning them. Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the 13wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom. And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt there from all the paths of uprightness be recompensed.

Chapter 97

1In those days the Lord bade (them) to summon and testify to the children of earth concerning their wisdom: Show (it) unto them; for ye are their guides, and a recompense over the whole earth.

2For I and My son will be united with them for ever in the paths of uprightness in their lives; and ye shall have peace: rejoice, ye children of uprightness. Amen.

Chapter 98

1And after some days my son Methuselah took a wife for his son Lamech, and she became 2pregnant by him and bore a son. And his body was white as snow and red as the blooming of a rose, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool, and his eyes beautiful. And when he opened his eyes, he lighted up the whole house like the sun, and the whole house 3was very bright. And thereupon he arose in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and conversed with the Lord of righteousness.

4And his father Lamech was afraid of him and 5fled, and came to his father Methuselah. And he said unto him: I have begotten a strange son, diverse from and unlike man, and resembling the sons of the God of heaven; and his nature is different and he is not like us, and his eyes are as the rays of the sun, and his 6countenance is glorious. And it seems to me that he is not sprung from me but from the angels, and I fear that in his days a wonder may be
7wrought on the earth. And now, my father, I am here to petition thee and implore thee that thou mayest go to Enoch, our father, and learn from him the truth, for his dwelling-place is 8amongst the angels. And when Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me to the ends of the earth; for he had heard that 9I was there, and he cried aloud, and I heard his voice and I came to him. And I said unto him: Behold, here am I, my son, wherefore hast thou come to me? And he answered and said: Because of a great cause of anxiety have I come to thee, and because of a disturbing vision 10have I approached. And now, my father, hear me: unto Lamech my son there hath been born a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like mans nature, and the colour of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose, and the hair of his head is whiter than white wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun, and he opened his eyes and 11thereupon lighted up the whole house. And he arose in the hands of the midwife, and opened 12his mouth and blessed the Lord of heaven. And his father Lamech became afraid and fled to me, and did not believe that he was sprung from him, but that he was in the likeness of the angels of heaven; and behold I have come to thee that thou mayest make known to me the truth.

13And I, Enoch, answered and said unto him: The Lord will do a new thing on the earth, and this I have already seen in a vision, and make known to thee that in the generation of my father Jared some of the angels of heaven transgressed the word of the Lord.

14And behold they commit sin and transgress the law, and have united themselves with women and commit sin with them, and have married some of them, and have begot children by them.

15And they shall produce on the earth giants not according to the spirit, but according to the flesh, and there shall be a great punishment on the earth, and the earth shall be cleansed from all impurity. Yea, there shall come a great destruction over the whole earth, and there shall be a deluge and 16a great destruction for one year. And this son who has been born unto you shall be left on the earth, and his three children shall be saved with him: when all mankind that are on the earth 17shall die he and his sons shall be saved. And now make known to thy son Lamech that he who has been born is in truth his son, and call his name Noah; for he shall be left to you, and he and his sons shall be saved from the destruction, which shall come upon the earth on account of all the sin and all the unrighteousness, which shall be consummated on the earth in his days. And after that there shall be still more unrighteousness than that which was first consummated on the earth; for I know the mysteries of the holy ones; for He, the Lord, has showed me and informed me, and I have read (them) in the heavenly tablets.

Chapter 99

1And I saw written on them that generation upon generation shall transgress, till a generation of righteousness arises, and transgression is destroyed and sin passes away from the earth, and all 2manner of good comes upon it. And now, my son, go and make known to thy son Lamech that this 3son, which has been born, is in truth his son, and that (this) is no lie. And when Methuselah had heard the words of his father Enoch-for he had shown to him everything in secret-he returned and showed (them) to him and called the name of that son Noah; for he will comfort the earth after all the destruction.

Chapter 100

1Another book which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who will come after him, 2and keep the law in the last days. Ye who have done good shall wait for those days till an end is made of those who work evil; and an end of the might of the transgressors. And wait ye indeed till sin has passed away, 3for their names shall be blotted out of the book of life and out of the holy books, and their seed shall be destroyed for ever, 4and their spirits shall be slain, and they shall cry and make lamentation in a place that is a chaotic wilderness, and in the fire shall they burn; for there is no earth there. And I saw there something like an invisible cloud; for by reason of its depth I could not look over, and I saw a flame of fire blazing brightly, and things like shining 5mountains circling and sweeping to and fro. And I asked one of the holy angels who was with me and said unto him: What is this shining thing? For it is not a heaven but only the flame of a blazing 6fire, and the voice of weeping and crying and lamentation and strong pain. And he said unto me: This place which thou seest-here are cast the spirits of sinners and blasphemers, and of those who work wickedness, and of those who pervert everything that the Lord hath spoken through the mouth 7of the prophets-(even) the things that shall be. For some of them are written and inscribed above in the heaven, in order that the angels may read them and know that which shall befall the sinners, and the spirits of the humble, and of those who have afflicted their bodies, and been recompensed 8by God; and of those who have been put to shame by wicked men: Who love God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things which are in the world, but gave over their bodies to torture.

9Who, since they came into being, longed not after earthly food, but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly, and the Lord tried them much, and their spirits were 10found pure so that they should bless His name. And all the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And he hath assigned them their recompense, because they have been found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world, and though they were trodden under foot of wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, 11yet they blessed Me. And now I will summon the spirits of the good who belong to the generation of light, and I will transform those who were born in darkness, who in the flesh were not recompensed 12with such honour as their faithfulness deserved. And I will bring forth in shining light those who 13have loved My holy name, and I will seat each on the throne of his honour. And they shall be resplendent for times without number; for righteousness is the judgment of God; for to the faithful 14He will give faithfulness in the habitation of upright paths. And they shall see those who were, 15born in darkness led into darkness, while the righteous shall be resplendent. And the sinners shall cry aloud and see them resplendent, and they indeed will go where days and seasons are prescribed for them.

 

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