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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 10

1 Then the Most High, the Holy and Great One spoke, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, saying to him:⁠ 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 Azâzêl hand and foot,⁠ and cast him into the darkness: make a hole in the desert in Dûdâêl, 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.⁠ 6 On the day of great judgment he shall be thrown into the fire.⁠ 7 And restore the earth which the angels have corrupted, and announce the restoration of the earth, so that the plague may be healed, and all the children of men may not perish due to the secrets that the Watchers have revealed and taught their children.' 8 The entire earth has been corrupted by the deeds taught by Azâzêl: attribute all sin to him.'⁠ 9 And to Gabriel, the Lord said: 'Proceed against the bastards, the outcasts, and the children of fornication: and destroy the children of the Watchers from among men; make them fight one another, so they may destroy each other in battle: for they shall not have long lives. 10 And no request made by their fathers on their behalf will be granted; for they hope to live an eternal life, and each one of them thinks he will live five hundred years.' 11 And the Lord said to Michael: 'Go, bind Semjâzâ and his companions who have joined with women and defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness.⁠ 12 And when their sons have killed each other, and they have seen the destruction of their loved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, until the day of their judgment and their ultimate end,⁠ until the judgment that lasts forever is completed. 13 In those days they will be taken to the abyss of fire: to the torment and the prison where they will be confined forever.⁠ 14 And whoever is condemned and destroyed will from then on be bound together with them till the end of all ages. 15 And destroy all the spirits of the corrupt and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. 16 Remove all evil from the face of the earth and let every wicked deed end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth emerge; and it will be a blessing. The deeds of righteousness and truth will be planted in truth and joy forever.⁠ 17 And then all the righteous will escape, And shall live until they beget thousands of children, And all the days of their youth and their old age Shall be completed in peace.⁠ 18 And then the whole earth will be cultivated in righteousness, and will be entirely planted with trees and filled with blessings.⁠ 19 And all desirable trees will be planted on it, and they will plant vines on it: the vine they plant will produce abundant wine, and for every measure of seeds sown on it, a thousand will be harvested, and every measure of olives will produce ten presses of oil.⁠ 20 And cleanse the earth from all oppression, from all injustice, from all sin, and from all godlessness: and all the uncleanness that has been committed upon the earth, remove it from the earth. 21 'And all the children of men shall become righteous, and all nations shall worship and praise Me, and all shall worship Me.⁠ 22 And the earth shall be cleansed from all contamination, from all sin, from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send these upon it from generation to generation and forever.'

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 10:4 and Matthew 22:13

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

In 1 Enoch 10, a rebellious angel is bound and thrown into darkness. In Matthew 22, Jesus uses similar language for an unworthy wedding guest, bringing imagery of punishment from Jewish apocalyptic tradition into the parable.

Passages

1 Enoch 10:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 Then the Most High, the Holy and Great One spoke, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, saying to him: 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 Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: make a hole in the desert in Dûdâêl, 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.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Matthew 22:13

New Testament
9 So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. 13 Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... taking into account the singular character of 10:4 and the fact that there is evidence of glosses in 10:3–4 and similar passages, there may be also some reason to be suspicious about the authenticity of the phrase ποσὶν καὶ χερσίν, καὶ βάλε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ σκότος ('with feet and hands, and throw him into the darkness'). As for its origin, one possible source might be 1 Enoch 88:1, 3, where E and A (for 88:3) offer a closely similar phrase, except that instead of “the darkness,” the victims (not Asael but the stars, as in 21:3–6) are thrown into “an abyss” (88:1 E; compare 9:4+ Gs; 17:7, 8; 21:7) and into “the pits of the earth” (88:3 E; compare χαός 'chaos' in 10:13; 20:5). Alternatively, Matthew 22:13 offers an even closer, indeed formally identical, parallel. 1 Enoch 10:4 would then be proof of the influence of Matthew’s gospel on the textual tradition of 1 Enoch as it was transmitted and preserved in a Christian milieu ..."
Joseph Verhyden, "Evidence of 1 Enoch 10:4 in Matthew 22:13?" in Hilhorst, A., et al. Flores Florentino: Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Early Jewish Studies in Honour of Florentino Garcia Martinez (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 449–466.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 10:4 and Matthew 22:13

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