1 Enoch 10:4

Pseudepigrapha

2 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name to hide himself and reveal to him that the end is near: the entire earth will be destroyed, a deluge is about to cover the whole earth and will wipe out everything on it. 3 And now instruct him so that he may escape and his descendants may be preserved for all future generations.' 4 And the Lord also said to Raphael: 'Bind Azâzal hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: make a hole in the desert in Dûdâel, and throw him in. 5 Place upon him rough and jagged rocks, cover him with darkness, and let him remain there forever, and cover his face so he may not see light.

Tobit 8:3

Deuterocanon

1 When they had finished eating and drinking they wanted to retire; so they took the young man and brought him into the bedroom. 2 Then Tobias remembered the words of Raphael, and he took the fish's liver and heart out of the bag where he had them and put them on the embers of the incense. 3 The odor of the fish so repelled the demon that he fled to the remotest parts of Egypt. But Raphael followed him, and at once bound him there hand and foot. 4 When the parents had gone out and shut the door of the room, Tobias got out of bed and said to Sarah, "Sister, get up, and let us pray and implore our Lord that he grant us mercy and safety."

 Notes and References

"... Binding a demon renders him powerless. This seems to be a technical term for binding demons. See Montgomery (1913: 52). Compare 1 Enoch 10.4 where God tells Raphael to “bind Azazel by his hands and feet and throw him into the darkness; and split open the desert that is in Dudael and throw him there.” Since the incense was usually used to summon a god, perhaps the original folk tale had the incense and liver used to attack Asmodeus who was bound and taken away by Raphael, and then there has been subsequent confusion in the account ..."

Littman, Robert J. Tobit: The Book of Tobit in Codex Sinaiticus (p. 149) Brill, 2008

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.