Go to Related Reading
About this book

1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 101

1 Observe the heavens, you children of heaven, and every work of the Most High, and fear Him and commit no evil in His presence. 2 If He closes the windows of heaven and withholds the rain and the dew from descending on the earth because of you, what will you do then? 3 And if He directs His anger against you because of your deeds, can you plead with Him when you have spoken arrogantly against His righteousness?⁠ Thus, you will have no peace. 4 Do you not see the ship captains, how their ships are tossed by the waves, rocked by the winds, and put in danger? 5 Therefore, they fear because all their valuable possessions are aboard, and they worry that the sea will swallow them and they will perish in it. 6 Are not the entire sea and all its waters, and all its movements, the work of the Most High? Has He not set limits to its actions and confined it throughout by the sand?⁠ 7 And at His reproof, it is afraid and dries up, and all its fish die and everything in it;⁠ yet you sinners on the earth do not fear Him. 8 Has He not made the heavens and the earth, and all that is within them?⁠ Who has given understanding and wisdom to everything that moves on the earth and in the sea? 9 Do not the sailors of the ships fear the sea? Yet sinners do not fear the Most High.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 1:3 and 1 Enoch 101:9

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

Share:

Summary

Isaiah uses a saying about animals knowing their master to describe Israel’s failure to recognize God. 1 Enoch uses a similar contrast of the obedience of the sea and its sailors with the disobedience of sinners, echoing the style of Isaiah.

Passages

Isaiah 1:3

Hebrew Bible
1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah reigned over Judah. 2 Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! For the Lord speaks: “I raised children, I brought them up, but they have rebelled against me! 3 An ox recognizes its owner, a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; but Israel does not recognize me, my people do not understand.” 4 Beware sinful nation, the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. They are alienated from him.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 101:9

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
6 Are not the entire sea and all its waters, and all its movements, the work of the Most High? Has He not set limits to its actions and confined it throughout by the sand? 7 And at His reproof, it is afraid and dries up, and all its fish die and everything in it; yet you sinners on the earth do not fear Him. 8 Has He not made the heavens and the earth, and all that is within them? Who has given understanding and wisdom to everything that moves on the earth and in the sea? 9 Do not the sailors of the ships fear the sea? Yet sinners do not fear the Most High.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Another way of illustrating the idea that the world exhibits an order that is not always observed by human beings is to contrast human behavior with that of animals or natural phenomenon. The most famous example is Isaiah 1:2-3 ... there are also several cases in Jeremiah ... The theme continues in 1 Enoch, showing that 'natural order' thinking by no means died out in the Second Temple period ... Compare 1 Enoch 101 where sailors fear the sea, yet sinners do not fear God; and the sea itself carries out God's command, but sinners do not ..."
John Barton, Ethics in Ancient Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 109–110.

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

Your feedback

Isaiah 1:3 and 1 Enoch 101:9

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library