2 Enoch 26
2 Enoch 26
Section: Heavenly Journey (Ten Heavens)
Translated by W.R. Morfill, ed. R.H. Charles (1896)
God again calls from the Depths and there came forth drkhas, Tazhis®, aud one who is very red
XXVI. 1. And I summoned a second time from the depths, and said: ‘Let the solid thing which is visible come forth from the invisible” And Arkhas * came forth ® firm ® and heavy and * very red ™. 2. And I said: ‘Be thou divided, O Arkhas, and let * that be seen which is® pro- duced from thee.’ And when he was divided, the world came forth, very dark and great, * bringing the creation of all things below ®. 3. And I saw that it?° was good. And I said to him: ‘* Go thou down?! and be thou established. * And be a foundation for things below’; and it wasso. And it came forth and was established!2, and was a foundation for things below. *And there was nothing else below the darkness 1’.
| How God established the Water, and surrounded it with Light, and established upon it Seven Islands. |
XXVIII. 1. * And I ordered that there should be a separa- tion between the light and the darkness, and I said: ‘ Let
} Above My throne, Sok. 2 Sok. om.
XXXVI. * Corrupt in A, from Tasecrs = heaviness (Old Slav.). * I told him to come forth from the unseen into that which is fixed and visible, B ; and said : ‘let the strong Arkhas come forth,’ and he came forth
strong from the invisible, A. 5 A om. 6 Very firm, B. 7 Black, B. 8 The thing, A; B oMITS ENTIRE VERSE. ° Bearer of the created things from all things below, A. AI) Bs. +1 Come forth from below, A Sok. 12 Bom.
God at the creation when he estab- creation, of the earth. Arkhas may
lished His throne upon the winds be from }*p7 or even from dpx7.
(Gre apdpifey tov éavrot Opdvoy én’ XXVII. The title is very corrupt.
dvépov). 1. Separation between the light XXVI. 1. Formation, but not andthe darkness: Gen.i.4. I do
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34 The Book of the Secrets of Enoch.
there be a thick substance,’ and it was sol. 2. * And I spread this out and there was water, and I spread it over the darkness *, below the light. 3. And thus I made firm the waters, that is, the depths, and I surrounded the waters with light, and I created seven circles aud I fashioned them like erystal, moist and dry, that is to say, like glass and ice, and as for the waters, and also the other elements, I showed each of them their paths, (viz.) to the seven stars, each of them in their heaven, how they should go; and I saw that it was good. 4. And I separated between the light and the darkness ; that is to say, between the waters here and there. And I said to the light: ‘ Let it be day®’; and to the dark- ness, ‘Let it be night.’ And the evening and the morning were the first day *.
XXVIII. 1. >And thus I * made firm the circles of the heavens, and caused the waters * below, which are under the heavens to be gathered into one place, and that the waves should be dried up, and it was so. 2. Out of the waves I made firm and great. stones, and out of the stones I heaped together a dry substance, and I called the dry substance earth. 3. And in the midst of the earth I appointed a pit, that is to say an abyss. 4. I gathered the sea into one place, and I restrained it with a yoke. And I said to
XXVII. ! And I ordered that they should take from the light and
the darkness and I said: ‘ Let it be thick and covered with light,’ Sok. ; B om. 2 So A Sok., but that A adds with light after out. B reads And having clothed (spread out?) certain things with light, I made broad and stretched out the path of the waters above the darkness, OMITS THE REST OF THE CHAPTER. 3 Be thou day, Sok. * A adds as title of XXVIII, Sunday. On it God showed to Enoch all His wisdom and power: during all the seven days how He created the powers of the heaven and earth and all moving things and at last man.
XXVIII. * A and Sok. agree in this chapter. B is fragmentary and trans- posed, and reads: (2) And I made the great stones firm, (1) and ordered
not pretend to understand what An exact rendering of Gen. i. Io,
follows. 8. Seven stars: see 3. This may be Sheol, or Tartarus xxx. 5. 4. Geni. 4, 5. (cf. xxix. 5), or it may be the abysses XXVIIL 1. Gen. i. 9. 2. of the watera: cf. Gen. vil. 11; viii.
I called the dry substance earth. 2; Eth. En. Ixxxix. 7, 8; Jubilees ii,
the sea: ‘Lo! I give thee an eternal portion and thou shalt not move from thy established position.’ So I made fast the firmament and fixed it above the water. 5. This I called the first day of the creation. Then it was evening, and again morning, and it was the second day},
XXIX. 1. And for all the heavenly hosts I fashioned 2 a nature like that of fire, and My eye gazed on the very firm and hard stone. And from the brightness of My eye the lightning received its wonderful nature. 2. And fire is in the water and water in the fire, and neither is the one quenched, nor the other dried up. On this account lightning is brighter than the sun, and soft water is stronger than hard stone *. 3. And from the stone I cut the mighty fire.
- And from the fire I made the ranks of the spiritual hosts, ten thcusand angels*, *and their weapons are fiery, and
the waters of the abysses to dry up, (4) and having collected into rivers the overflowings of the abysses and the seas into one place, I bound them with a yoke. I made an everlasting separation between the earth and the sea, and the waters cannot burst forth. And I made fast the firmament, and fixed it above the waters. 1 A adds aa title of the next three verses: The day is Monday, the fiery creations.
XXIX. ? Baddsthe sun of a great light and placed it in the heavens that it might give light upon earth. * So A and Sok., but that Sok. adds keener and hefore brighter. B omits a nature… hard stone. 4 And from stones I created the hosts of spirits, B. A supports text, but that for ten thousand it read of the ten. B adds and all the starry hosts, and the Cherubim, and the Seraphim, and the Ophannim, I cut out of fire.
of the second day in xxviii. 1-4; that of the third in xxx. 1. xxviii. 5, as we have already seen, must have
-
- Cf. Job xxvi.10; Ps.civ.g; Prov. viii. 29; Jer. v. 22. Firma- ment: Gen. 1. 7,8. 5. This verse
should beread immediately after xxix, and together with that chapter should be restored before xxviii. This is clear from the analogy of xxx. 1, 2,7,8. It is impossible in its present position. XXIX. This chap. is clearly dis- located from its original position before xxviii, There is no mark of time attached ta it. The work of the firat day is given in xxv-xxvii; that
been differently placed originally. Hence, if we recall the fact that in Jubilees ii, 2, and occasionally in patristic tradition, the creation of the angels is assigned to the first day— evidently on the ground of Job XXXViiil. 7—we can restore the text to perfect harmony with itself and Jewish tradition by placing xxix, followed immediately by xxviii. 5, after xxvii.
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36 The Book of the Secrets of Enoch.
their garment is a burning flame, and I ordered them to stand each in their ranks}.
[Here Satanail was hurled from the Heights with his