(to page six)The second vision which he saw, the vision of wisdom -- which Enoch the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw . And this is the beginning of the words of wisdom which I lifted up my voice to speak and say to those which dwell on earth : Hear, ye men of old time, ye that come after, the words of the Holy One which I will speak before the Lord of Spirits . It were better to declare (them only) to the men of old time, but even from those that come after we will not withhold the beginning of wisdom . Till the present day such wisdom has been given by the Lord of Spirits as I have received according to my insight, according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits by whom the lot of eternal life has been given to me. Now three Parables were imparted to me, and I lifted up my voice and recounted them to those that dwell on the earth .
When the congregation of the righteous shall appear,
And sinners shall be judged for their sins,
And shall be driven from the face of the earth :
And when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the righteous,
Whose elect works hang upon the Lord of Spirits,
And light shall appear to the righteous and the elect who dwell on the earth,
Where then will be the dwelling of the sinners,
And where the resting-place of those who have denied the Lord of Spirits ?
It had been good for them if they had not been born .
When the secrets of the righteous shall be revealed and the sinners judged,
And the godless driven from the presence of the righteous and elect,
From that time those that possess the earth shall no longer be powerful and exalted :
And they shall not be able to behold the face of the holy,
For the Lord of Spirits has caused His light to appear
On the face of the holy, righteous, and elect .
Than shall the kings and the mighty perish
And be given into the hands of the righteous and holy .
And thenceforward none shall seek for themselves mercy from the Lord of Spirits
For their life is at an end .
[And it shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children will descend from the high heaven, and their seed will become one with the children of men . And in those days Enoch received books of zeal and wrath, and books of disquiet and expulsion.]
And mercy shall not be accorded to them, saith the Lord of Spirits.
And in those days a whirlwind carried me off from the earth,
And set me down at the end of the heavens.
And there I saw another vision, the dwelling-places of the holy,
And the resting-places of the righteous .
Here mine eyes saw their dwellings with His righteous angels,
And their resting-places with the holy .
And they petitioned and interceded and prayed for the children of men,
And righteousness flowed before them as water,
And mercy like dew upon the earth :
Thus it is amongst them for ever and ever .
And in that place mine eyes saw the Elect One of righteousness and of faith,
And I saw his dwelling-place under the wings of the Lord of Spirits .
And righteousness shall prevail in his days,
And the righteous and elect shall be without number before Him for ever and ever .
And all the righteous and elect before Him shall be strong as fiery lights,
And their mouth shall be full of blessing,
And their lips extol the name of the Lord of Spirits,
And righteousness before Him shall never fail,
[And uprightness shall never fail before Him.]
There I wished to dwell,
And my spirit longed for that dwelling-place :
And there heretofore hath been my portion,
For so has it been established concerning me before the Lord of Spirits .
In those days I praised and extolled the name of the Lord of Spirits with blessings and praises, because He hath destined me for blessing and glory according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits . For a long time my eyes regarded that place, and I blessed Him and praised Him, saying : Blessed is He, and may He be blessed from the beginning for evermore . And before Him there is no ceasing . He knows before the world was created what is for ever and what will be from generation unto generation . Those who sleep not bless Thee : they stand before Thy glory and bless, praise, and extol, saying : " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits : He filleth the earth with spirits ." And here my eyes saw all those who sleep not : they stand before Him and bless and say : Blessed be Thou, and blessed be the name of the Lord for ever and ever . And my face was changed ; for I could no longer behold .
And after that I saw thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, I saw a multitude beyond number and reckoning, who stood before the Lord of Spirits . And on the four sides of the Lord of Spirits I saw four presences, different from those that sleep not, and I learnt their names : for the angel that went with me made known to me their names, and showed me all the hidden things .
And I heard the voices of those four presences as they uttered praises before the Lord of glory . The first voice blessed the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever . And the second voice I heard blessing the Elect One and the elect ones who hang upon the Lord of Spirits . And the third voice I heard pray and intercede for those who dwell on the earth and supplicate in the name of the Lord of Spirits . And I heard the fourth voice fending off the Satans and forbidding them to come before the Lord of Spirits to accuse them who dwell on the earth . After that I asked the angel of peace who went with me, who showed me everything that is hidden : Who are these four presences which I have seen and whose words I have heard and written down ? And he said unto me : This first is Michael, the merciful and long-suffering : and the second, who is set over all the diseases and all the wounds of the children of men is Raphael : and the third, who is set over all the powers, is Gabriel : and the fourth, who is set over the repentance unto hope of those who inherit eternal life, is named Phanuel . And these are the four angels of the Lord of Spirits and the four voices I heard in those days .
And after that I saw all the secrets of the heavens, and how the kingdom is divided, and how the actions of men are weighed in the balance . And there I saw the mansions of the elect and the mansions of the holy, and mine eyes saw there all the sinners being driven from thence which deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, and being dragged off : and they could not abide because of the punishment which proceeds from the Lord of Spirits .
And there mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightning and of the thunder, and the secrets of the winds, how they are divided to blow over the earth, and the secrets of the clouds and dew, and there I saw from whence they proceed in that place and from whence they saturate the dusty earth . And there I saw closed chambers out of which the winds are divided, the chamber of the hail and winds, the chamber of the mist, and of the clouds, and the cloud thereof hovers over the earth from the beginning of the world . And I saw the chambers of the sun and moon, whence they proceed and whither they come again, and their glorious return, and how one is superior to the other, and their stately orbit, and how they do not leave their orbit, and they add nothing to their orbit and they take nothing from it, and they keep faith with each other, in accordance with the oath by which they are bound together . And first the sun goes forth and traverses his path according to the commandment of the Lord of Spirits, and Mighty is His name for ever and ever . And after that I saw the hidden and the visible path of the moon, and she accomplishes the course of her path in that place by day and by night -- the one holding a position opposite to the other before the Lord of Spirits .
And they give thanks and praise and rest not ;
For unto them is their thanksgiving rest .
For the sun changes oft for a blessing or a curse,
And the course of the path of the moon is light to the righteous
And darkness to the sinners in the name of the Lord,
Who made a separation between the light and the darkness,
And divided the spirits of man,
And strengthened the spirits of the righteous,
In the name of His righteousness .
For no angel hinders and no power is able to hinder ; for He appoints a judge for them all and He judges them all before Him .
Wisdom found no place where she might dwell ;
Then a dwelling-place was assigned her in the heavens .
Wisdom went forth to make her dwelling among the children of men,
And found no dwelling-place :
Wisdom returned to her place,
And took her seat among the angels .
And unrighteousness went forth from her chambers :
Whom she sought not she found,
And dwelt with them,
As rain in a desert
And dew on a thirsty land .
And I saw other lightnings and stars of heaven, and I saw how He called them all by their names and they hearkened unto Him . And I saw how they are weighed in a righteous balance according to their proportions of light : (I saw) the width of their spaces and the day of their appearing, and how their revolution produces lightning : and (I saw) their revolution according to the number of the angels, and (how) they keep faith with each other . And I asked the angel who went with me who showed me what was hidden : What are these ? And he said to me : The Lord of Spirits hath showed thee their parabolic meaning (lit. their parable) : these are the names of the holy who dwell on the earth and believe in the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever*.
Also another phenomenon I saw in regard to the lightnings : how some of the stars arise and become lightnings and cannot part with their new form .
And this is the second Parable concerning those who deny the name of the dwelling of the holy ones and the Lord of Spirits .
And into the heaven they shall not ascend,
And on the earth they shall not come :
Such shall be the lot of the sinners
Who have denied the name of the Lord of Spirits,
Who are thus preserved for the day of suffering and tribulation .
On that day Mine Elect One shall sit on the throne of glory
And shall try their works,
And their places of rest shall be innumerable .
And their souls shall grow strong within them when they see Mine elect ones,
And those who have called upon My glorious name :
Then will I cause Mine Elect One to dwell among them .
And I will transform the heaven and make it an eternal blessing and light :
And I will transform the earth and make it a blessing :
And I will cause Mine elect ones to dwell upon it :
But sinners and evil-doers shall not set foot thereon .
For I have provided and satisfied with peace My righteous ones
And have caused them to dwell before me :
But for the sinners there is judgement impending with Me,
So that I shall destroy them from the face of the earth .
And there I saw One who had a head of days,
And his head was white like wool,
And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man,
And his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels .
And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, (and) why he went with the Head of Days ? And he answered and said unto me :
(to page six)This is the Son of Man who hath righteousness,
With whom dwelleth righteousness,
And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden,
Because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him,
And whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness for ever
And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen
Shall raise up the kings and the mighty from their seats,
[And the strong from their thrones]
And shall loosen the reins of the strong,
And break the teeth of the sinners .
[And he shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms]
Because they do not extol and praise Him,
Nor humbly acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon them .
And he shall put down the countenance of the strong,
And shall fill them with shame .
And darkness shall be their dwelling,
And worms shall be their bed,
And they shall have no hope of rising from their beds,
Because they do not extol the name of the Lord of Spirits .
And these are they who judge the stars of heaven,
[And raise their hands against the Most High],
And tread upon the earth and dwell upon it .
And all their deeds manifest unrighteousness,
And their power rests upon their riches,
And their faith is in the gods which they have made with their hands,
And they deny the name of the Lord of Spirits,
And they persecute the houses of His congregations,
And the faithful who hang upon the name of the Lord of Spirits .
And in those days shall have ascended the prayer of the righteous,
And the blood of the righteous from the earth before the Lord of Spirits .
In those days the holy ones who dwell above in the heavens
Shall unite with one voice
And supplicate and pray [and praise,
And give thanks and bless the name of the Lord of Spirits]
On behalf of the blood of the righteous which has been shed,
And that the prayer of the righteous may not be in vain before the Lord of Spirits,
That judgement may be done unto them,
And that they may not have to suffer for ever .
In those days I saw the Head of Days when He seated himself upon the throne of His glory,
And the books of the living were opened before Him :
And all His host which is in heaven above and His counsellors stood before Him,
And the hearts of the holy were filled with joy ;
Because the number of the righteous had been offered,
And the prayer of the righteous had been heard,
And the blood of the righteous been required before the Lord of Spirits .