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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 102

1 In those days, when he unleashes a fierce fire upon you, where will you flee and where will you find safety? And when he speaks out against you, will you not be shaken and afraid?⁠ 2 And all the lights shall be struck with great fear, and all the earth shall be frightened and tremble and be alarmed. 3 And all the angels shall carry out their commands and shall seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Great Glory, and the children of earth shall tremble and quake; and you sinners shall be cursed forever, and you shall have no peace. 4 Fear not, you souls of the righteous, and be hopeful, you that have died in righteousness. 5 And do not grieve if your soul has descended into Sheol in grief, and that in your life your body did not fare according to your goodness, but wait for the day of the judgment of sinners and for the day of cursing and punishment. 6 And when you die, the sinners will say about you: 'Just as we have died, so also the righteous have died; and what gain did they have from their works?'⁠ 7 Look, just as we do, they also die in grief and darkness, and what advantage do they have over us? From now on we are equal. 8 And what will they receive and what will they see forever? Look, they too have died, and from now on they shall never see light.' 9 I say to you, you sinners, you are content to eat and drink and rob and sin and strip people bare and accumulate wealth and see good days.⁠ 10 Have you observed the righteous how their end transpires, that no violence is found in them until their death? 11 'Nevertheless, they perished and became as though they had not been, and their spirits descended into Sheol in tribulation.'

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 102:6 and Ecclesiastes 3:19

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

1 Enoch 102 echoes Ecclesiastes by voicing the claim that all people share the same fate in death and return to the earth. In 1 Enoch this reasoning is spoken by the unrighteous, reflecting the logic found in Ecclesiastes.

Passages

1 Enoch 102:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
5 And do not grieve if your soul has descended into Sheol in grief, and that in your life your body did not fare according to your goodness, but wait for the day of the judgment of sinners and for the day of cursing and punishment. 6 And when you die, the sinners will say about you: 'Just as we have died, so also the righteous have died; and what gain did they have from their works?' 7 Look, just as we do, they also die in grief and darkness, and what advantage do they have over us? From now on we are equal. 8 And what will they receive and what will they see forever? Look, they too have died, and from now on they shall never see light.'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Ecclesiastes 3:19

Hebrew Bible
18 I also thought to myself, “It is for the sake of people, so God can clearly show them that they are like animals. 19 For the fate of humans and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting. 20 Both go to the same place; both come from the dust, and to dust both return. 21 Who really knows if the human spirit ascends upward, and the animal’s spirit descends into the earth?”
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ecclesiastes

References

"... The death of the righteous is perceived by the sinners as being essentially no different from their own. Neither righteousness nor wickedness are taken into consideration when it comes to death. This comparison echoes the sentiment expressed by Qoheleth as he questions the value of having wisdom at all (2:14–16); he asks rhetorically in 2:16: “How can the wise man die just like fools?” “And how the wise man will die together with the fool!”; compare also Qoh. 3:19–20; 9:2870; and 11:7–12:7) ..."
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91–108 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2007), 507.

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 102:6 and Ecclesiastes 3:19

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