Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil (15 page)

10 And the water which is under the earth shall be the recipient [literally, “female” (Laurence, p. 61)]: and all shall be destroyed who dwell upon earth, and who dwell under the extremities of heaven.

11 By these means shall they understand the iniquity which they have committed on earth: and by these means shall they perish.

1 Afterwards the Ancient of days repented, and said, In vain have I destroyed all the inhabitants of the earth.

2 And he sware by his great name,
saying,
Hence-forwards I will not act thus towards all those who dwell upon earth.

3 But I will place a sign in the heavens
[120]
; and it shall be a faithful witness between me and them for ever, as long as the days of heaven and earth last upon the earth.

4 Afterwards, according to this my decree, when I shall be disposed to seize them beforehand, by the instrumentality of angels, in the day of affliction and trouble, my wrath and my punishment shall remain upon them, my punishment and my wrath, saith God the Lord of spirits.

5 O ye kings, O ye mighty, who inhabit the world, you shall behold my Elect One, sitting upon the throne of my glory. And he shall judge Azazeel, all his associates, and all his hosts, in the name of the Lord of spirits.

6 There likewise I beheld hosts of angels who were moving in punishment, confined in a net-work of iron and brass. Then I inquired of the angel of peace, who proceeded with me, To whom those under confinement were going.

7 He said, To each of their elect and their beloved [or, “Each to his own chosen ones and to his own beloved ones” (Knibb, p. 139)], that they may be cast into the fountains and deep recesses of the valley.

8 And that valley shall be filled with their elect and beloved; the days of whose life shall be consumed, but the days of their error shall be innumerable.

9 Then shall princes [or, “angels” (Charles, p. 149; Knibb, p. 140)] combine together, and conspire. The chiefs of the east, among the Parthians and Medes, shall remove kings, in whom a spirit of perturbation shall enter. They shall hurl them from their thrones, springing as lions from their dens, and like famished wolves into the midst of the flock.

10 They shall go up, and tread upon the land of their elect. The land of their elect shall be before them. The threshing-floor, the path, and the city of my righteous
people
shall impede
the progress of
their horses. They shall rise up to destroy each other; their right hand shall be strengthened; nor shall a man acknowledge his friend or his brother;

11 Nor the son his father and his mother; until the number of the dead bodies shall be
completed,
by their death and punishment. Neither shall this take place without cause.

12 In those days shall the mouth of hell be opened, into which they shall be immerged; hell shall destroy and swallow up sinners from the face of the elect.

1 After this I beheld another army of chariots, with men riding in them.

2 And they came upon the wind from the east, from the west, and from the south [literally, “from the midst of the day” (Laurence, p. 63)].

3 The sound of the noise of their chariots was heard.

4 And when that agitation took place, the saints out of heaven perceived it; the pillar of the earth shook from its foundation; and the sound was heard from the extremities of the earth unto the extremities of heaven at the same time.

5 Then they all fell down, and worshipped the Lord of spirits.

6 This is the end of the second parable.

1 I now began to utter the third parable, concerning the saints and the elect.

2 Blessed are ye, O saints and elect, for glorious is your lot.

3 The saints shall exist in the light of the sun, and the elect in the light of everlasting life, the days of whose life shall never terminate; nor shall the days of the saints be numbered, who seek for light, and obtain righteousness with the Lord of spirits.

4 Peace be to the saints with the Lord of the world.

5 Henceforward shall the saints be told to seek in heaven the secrets of righteousness, the portion of faith; for like the sun has it arisen upon the earth, while darkness has passed away. There shall be light interminable: nor shall they enter upon the enumeration of time; for darkness shall be previously destroyed, and light shall increase before the Lord of spirits; before the Lord of spirits shall the light of uprightness increase for ever.

1 In those days my eyes beheld the secrets of the lightnings and the splendours, and the judgment belonging to them.

2 They lighten for a blessing and for a curse, according to the will of the Lord of spirits.

3 And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, when it rattles above in heaven, and its sound is heard.

4 The habitations also of the earth were shown to me. The sound of the thunder is for peace and for blessing, as well as for a curse, according to the word of the Lord of spirits.

5 Afterwards every secret of the splendours and of the lightnings was seen by me. For blessing and for fertility they lighten.

1 In the five hundredth year, and in the seventh month, on the fourteenth
day
of the month, of the lifetime of Enoch, in that parable, I saw that the heaven of heavens shook; that it shook violently; and that the powers of the Most High, and the angels, thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, were agitated with great agitation. And when I looked, the Ancient of days was sitting on the throne of his glory, while the angels and saints were standing around him. A great trembling came upon me, and terror seized me. My loins were bowed down and loosened; my reins were dissolved; and I fell upon my face. The holy Michael, another holy angel, one of the holy ones, was sent, who raised me up.

2 And when he raised me, my spirit returned; for I was incapable of enduring this vision of violence, its agitation, and the concussion of heaven.

3 Then holy Michael said to me, Wherefore art thou disturbed at this vision?

4 Hitherto has existed the day of mercy; and he has been merciful and longsuffering towards all who dwell upon the earth.

5 But when the time shall come, then
shall
the power, the punishment, and the judgment
take place,
which the Lord of spirits has prepared for those who prostrate themselves to the judgment of righteousness, for those who abjure that judgment, and for those who take
his
name in vain.

6 That day has been prepared for the elect
as a day of
covenant; and for sinners as a day of inquisition.

7 In that day shall be distributed
for food
[or, “separated from one another” (Knibb, p. 143)] two monsters; a female monster, whose name is Leviathan, dwelling in the depths of the sea, above the springs of waters;

8 And a male
monster,
whose name is Behemoth; which possesses,
moving
on his breast, the invisible wilderness.

9 His name was Dendayen in the east of the garden, where the elect and the righteous will dwell; where he received
it
from my ancestor, who was man, from Adam the first of men,
[121]
whom the Lord of spirits made.

10 Then I asked of another angel to show me the power of those monsters, how they became separated on the same day, one
being
in the depths of the sea, and one in the dry desert.

11 And he said, Thou, son of man, art here desirous of understanding secret things.

12 And the angel of peace, who was with me, said, These two monsters are by the power of God prepared to become food, that the punishment of God may not be in vain.

13 Then shall children be slain with their mothers, and sons with their fathers.

14 And when the punishment of the Lord of spirits shall continue, upon them shall it continue, that the punishment of the Lord of spirits may not take place in vain. After that, judgment shall exist with mercy and longsuffering.

1 Then another angel, who proceeded with me, spoke to me;

2 And showed me the first and last secrets in heaven above, and in the depths of the earth:

3 In the extremities of heaven, and in the foundations of it, and in the receptacle of the winds.

4
He showed me
how their spirits were divided; how they were balanced; and how both the springs and the winds were numbered according to the force of their spirit.

5
He showed me
the power of the moon’s light, that its power is a just one; as well as the divisions of the stars, according to their respective names;

6
That
every division is divided; that the lightning flashes;

7 That its troops immediately obey; and that a cessation takes place during thunder in continuance of its sound. Nor are the thunder and the lightning separated; neither do both of them move with one spirit; yet are they not separated.

8 For when the lightning lightens, the thunder sounds, and the spirit at a proper period pauses, making an equal division between them; for the receptacle, upon which their periods depend, is
loose
as sand. Each of them at a proper season is restrained with a bridle; and turned by the power of the spirit, which thus propels
them
according to the spacious extent of the earth.

9 The spirit likewise of the sea is potent and strong; and as a strong power causes it to ebb, so is it driven forwards, and scattered against the mountains of the earth. The spirit of the frost has its angel; in the spirit of hail there is a good angel; the spirit of snow ceases in its strength, and a solitary spirit is in it, which ascends from it like vapour, and is called refrigeration.

10 The spirit also of mist dwells with them in their receptacle; but it has a receptacle to itself; for its progress is in splendour,

11 In light, and in darkness, in winter and in summer. Its receptacle is bright, and an angel is
in it.

12 The spirit of dew
has
its abode in the extremities of heaven, in connection with the receptacle of rain; and its progress is in winter and in summer. The cloud produced by it, and the cloud of the mist, become united; one gives to the other; and when the spirit of rain is in motion from its receptacle, angels come, and opening its receptacle, bring it forth.

13 When likewise it is sprinkled over all the earth, it forms an union with every kind of water on the ground; for the waters remain on the ground, because
they afford
nourishment to the earth from the Most High, who is in heaven.

14 Upon this account therefore there is a regulation in the quantity of rain, which the angels receive.

15 These things I saw; all of them, even paradise.

1 In those days I beheld long ropes given to those angels; who took to their wings, and fled, advancing towards the north.

2 And I inquired of the angel, saying, Wherefore have they taken those long ropes, and gone forth? He said, They are gone forth to measure.

3 The angel, who proceeded with me, said, These are the measures of the righteous; and cords shall the righteous bring, that they may trust in the name of the Lord of spirits for ever and ever.

4 The elect shall begin to dwell with the elect.

5 And these are the measures which shall be given to faith, and
which
shall strengthen the words of righteousness.

6 These measures shall reveal all the secrets in the depth of the earth.

7 And
it shall be,
that those who have been destroyed in the desert, and who have been devoured by the fish of the sea, and by wild beasts, shall return, and trust in the day of the Elect One; for none shall perish in the presence of the Lord of spirits, nor shall any be capable of perishing.

8 Then they received the commandment, all
who were
in the heavens above; to whom a combined power, voice, and splendour, like fire, were given.

9 And first, with
their
voice, they blessed him, they exalted him, they glorified him with wisdom, and ascribed to him wisdom with the word, and with the breath of life.

10 Then the Lord of spirits seated upon the throne of his glory the Elect One;

11 Who shall judge all the works of the holy, in heaven above, and in a balance shall he weigh their actions. And when he shall lift up his countenance to judge their secret ways in the word of the name of the Lord of spirits, and their progress in the path of the righteous judgment of God most high;

12 They shall all speak with united voice; and bless, glorify, exalt, and praise, in the name of the Lord of spirits.

13 He shall call to every power of the heavens, to all the holy above, and to the power of God. The Cherubim, the Seraphim, and the Ophanin, all the angels of power, and all the angels of the Lords, namely, of the Elect One, and of the other Power, who
was
upon earth over the water on that day,

14 Shall raise their united voice; shall bless, glorify, praise, and exalt with the spirit of faith, with the spirit of wisdom and patience, with the spirit of mercy, with the spirit of judgment and peace, and with the spirit of benevolence; all shall say with united voice: Blessed is He; and the name of the Lord of spirits shall be blessed for ever and for ever; all, who sleep not, shall bless it in heaven above.

15 All the holy in heaven shall bless it; all the elect who dwell in the garden of life; and every spirit of light, who is capable of blessing, glorifying, exalting, and praising thy holy name; and every mortal man [literally, “all of flesh” (Laurence, p. 73)], more than the powers
of heaven,
shall glorify and bless thy name for ever and ever.

16 For great is the mercy of the Lord of spirits; long-suffering is he; and all his works, all his power, great as are the things which he has done, has he revealed to the saints and to the elect, in the name of the Lord of spirits.