Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil (42 page)

2 Blessed are those who enter the good houses, for in the bad (
sc.
houses) there is no peace nor return (
sc.
from them).

3 Hear, my children, small and great! When man puts a good thought in his heart, brings gifts from his labours before the Lord’s face and his hands made them not, then the Lord will turn away his face from the labour of his hand, and he (
sc.
man) cannot find the labour of his hands.

4 And if his hands made it, but his heart murmur, and his heart cease not making murmur incessantly, he has not any advantage.

Of how it is fitting to bring one’s gift with faith, because there is no repentance after death.

1 Blessed is the man who in his patience brings his gifts with faith before the Lord’s face, because he will find forgiveness of sins.

2 But if he take back his words before the time, there is no repentance for him; and if the time pass and he do not of his own will what is promised, there is no repentance after death.

3 Because every work which man does before the time, is all deceit before men, and sin before God.

Of how not to despise the poor, but to share with them equally, lest thou be murmured against before God.

1 When man clothes the naked and fills the hungry, he will find reward from God.

2 But if his heart murmur, he commits a double evil: ruin of himself and of that which he gives; and for him there will be no finding of reward on account of that.

3 And if his own heart is filled with his food and his own flesh (
sc.
clothed) with his clothing, he commits contempt, and will forfeit all his endurance of poverty, and will not find reward of his good deeds.

4 Every proud and magniloquent man is hateful to the Lord, and every false speech, clothed in untruth; it will be cut with the blade of the sword of death, and thrown into the fire, and shall burn for all time.

Of how the Lord calls up Enoch, and people took counsel to go and kiss him at the place called Achuzan.

1 When Enoch had spoken these words to his sons, all people far and near heard how the Lord was calling Enoch. They took counsel together:

2 ‘Let us go and kiss Enoch,’ and two thousand men came together and came to the place Achuzan where Enoch was, and his sons.

3 And the elders of the people, the whole assembly, came and bowed down and began to kiss Enoch and said to him:

4 ‘Our father Enoch, be thou blessed of the Lord, the eternal ruler, and now bless thy sons and all the people, that we may be glorified to-day before thy face.

5 ‘For thou shalt be glorified before the Lord’s face for all time, since the Lord chose thee, rather than all men on earth, and designated thee writer of all his creation, visible and invisible, and redeemer of the sins of man, and helper of thy household.’

Of Enoch’s instruction of his sons.

1 And Enoch answered all his people saying: ‘Hear, my children, before that all creatures were created, the Lord created the visible and invisible things.

2 And as much time as there was and went past, understand that after all that he created man in the likeness of his own form, and put into him eyes to see, and ears to hear, and heart to reflect, and intellect wherewith to deliberate.

3 And the Lord saw all man’s works, and created all his creatures, and divided time, from time he fixed the years, and from the years he appointed the months, and from the months he appointed the days, and of days he appointed seven.

4 And in those he appointed the hours, measured them out exactly, that man might reflect on time and count years, months, and hours,
their
alternation, beginning, and end, and that he might count his own life, from the beginning until death, and reflect on his sin and write his work bad and good; because no work is hidden before the Lord, that every man might know his works and never transgress all his commandments, and keep my handwriting from generation to generation.

5 When all creation visible and invisible, as the Lord created it, shall end, then every man goes to the great judgement, and then all time shall perish, and the years, and thenceforward there will be neither months nor days nor hours, they will be stuck together and will not be counted.

6 There will be one aeon, and all the righteous who shall escape the Lord’s great judgement, shall be collected in the great aeon, for the righteous the great aeon will begin, and they will live eternally, and then too there will be amongst them neither labour, nor sickness, nor humiliation, nor anxiety, nor need, nor violence, nor night, nor darkness, but great light.

7 And they shall have a great indestructible wall, and a paradise bright and incorruptible, for all corruptible things shall pass away, and there will be eternal life.

Enoch instructs his sons and all the elders of the people, how they are to walk with terror and trembling before the Lord, and serve him alone and not bow down to idols, but to God, who created heaven and earth and every creature, and to his image.

1 And now, my children, keep your souls from all injustice, such as the Lord hates.

2 Walk before his face with terror and trembling and serve him alone.

3 Bow down to the true God, not to dumb idols, but bow down to his picture, and bring all just offerings before the Lord’s face. The Lord hates what is unjust.

4 For the Lord sees all things; when man takes thought in his heart, then he counsels the intellects, and every thought is always before the Lord, who made firm the earth and put all creatures on it.

5 If you look to heaven, the Lord is there; if you take thought of the sea’s deep and all the under-earth, the Lord is there.

6 For the Lord created all things. Bow not down to things made by man, leaving the Lord of all creation, because no work can remain hidden before the Lord’s face.

7 Walk, my children, in long-suffering, in meekness, honesty, in provocation, in grief, in faith and in truth, in
reliance on
promises, in illness, in abuse, in wounds, in temptation, in nakedness, in privation, loving one another, till you go out from this age of ills, that you become inheritors of endless time.

8 Blessed are the just who shall escape the great judgement, for they shall shine forth more than the sun sevenfold, for in this world the seventh part is taken off from all, light, darkness, food, enjoyment, sorrow, paradise, torture, fire, frost, and other things; he put all down in writing, that you might read and understand.’

The Lord let out darkness on to earth and covered the people and Enoch, and he was taken up on high, and light came again in the heaven.

1 When Enoch had talked to the people, the Lord sent out darkness on to the earth, and there was darkness, and it covered those men standing with Enoch, and they took Enoch up on to the highest heaven, where the Lord
is;
and he received him and placed him before his face, and the darkness went off from the earth, and light came again.

2 And the people saw and understood not how Enoch had been taken, and glorified God, and found a roll in which was traced ‘the invisible God’; and all went to their homes.

1 Enoch was born on the sixth day of the month Tsivan, and lived three hundred and sixty-five years.

2 He was taken up to heaven on the first day of the month Tsivan and remained in heaven sixty days.

3 He wrote all these signs of all creation, which the Lord created, and wrote three hundred and sixty-six books, and handed them over to his sons and remained on earth thirty days, and was again taken up to heaven on the sixth day of the month Tsivan, on the very day and hour when he was born.

4 As every man’s nature in this life is dark, so are also his conception, birth, and departure from this life.

5 At what hour he was conceived, at that hour he was born, and at that hour too he died.

6 Methosalam and his brethren, all the sons of Enoch, made haste, and erected an altar at the place called Achuzan, whence and where Enoch had been taken up to heaven.

7 And they took sacrificial oxen and summoned all people and sacrificed the sacrifice before the Lord’s face.

8 All people, the elders of the people and the whole assembly came to the feast and brought gifts to the sons of Enoch.

9 And they made a great feast, rejoicing and making merry three days, praising God, who had given them such a sign through Enoch, who had found favour with him, and that they should hand it on to their sons from generation to generation, from age to age.

10 Amen.

The Patriarchs from Adam to Noah; Life of Enoch; Death of Adam and Cain.

IV, 13 And in the seventh jubilee
[162]
in the third week Enos took Nôâm his sister to be his wife, and she bare him a son in the third year of the fifth week, and he called his name Kenan.

14 And at the close of the eighth jubilee Kenan took Mûalêlêth his sister to be his wife, and she bare him a son in the ninth jubilee, in the first week in the third year of this week, and he called his name Mahalalel.

15 And in the second week of the tenth jubilee Mahalalel took unto him to wife Dînâh, the daughter of Barâkî’êl the daughter of his father’s brother, and she bare him a son in the third week in the sixth year, and he called his name Jared, for in his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the Watchers, that they should instruct the children of men, and that they should do judgment and uprightness on the earth.

16 And in the eleventh jubilee Jared took to himself a wife, and her name was Bâraka, the daughter of Rûsûjâl, a daughter of his father’s brother, in the fourth week of this jubilee, and she bare him a son in the fifth week, in the fourth year of the jubilee, and he called his name Enoch.

17 And he was the first among men that are born on earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom and who wrote down the signs of heaven according to the order of their months in a book, that men might know the seasons of the years according to the order of their separate months.

18 And he was the first to write a testimony, and he testified to the sons of men among the generations of the earth, and recounted the weeks of the jubilees, and made known to them the days of the years, and set in order the months and recounted the Sabbaths of the years as we made (them) known to him.

19 And what was and what will be he saw in a vision of his sleep, as it will happen to the children of men throughout their generations until the day of judgment; he saw and understood everything, and wrote his testimony, and placed the testimony on earth for all the children of men and for their generations.

20 And in the twelfth jubilee, in the seventh week thereof, he took to himself a wife, and her name was Ednî, the daughter of Dânêl, the daughter of his father’s brother, and in the sixth year in this week she bare him a son and he called his name Methuselah.

21 And he was moreover with the angels of God these six jubilees of years, and they showed him everything which is on earth and in the heavens, the rule of the sun, and he wrote down everything.

22 And he testified to the Watchers, who had sinned with the daughters of men; for these had begun to unite themselves, so as to be defiled, with the daughters of men, and Enoch testified against (them) all.

23 And he was taken from amongst the children of men, and we conducted him into the Garden of Eden in majesty and honour, and behold there he writeth down the condemnation and judgment of the world, and all the wickedness of the children of men.

24 And on account of it (God) brought the waters of the flood upon all the land of Eden; for there he was set as a sign and that he should testify against all the children of men, that he should recount all the deeds of the generations until the day of condemnation.

25 And he burnt the incense of the sanctuary, (even) sweet spices, acceptable before the Lord on the Mount.