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About this book

1 Enoch

About this book

A Final Book by Enoch

Chapter 108

1 Another book which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who will come after him, and keep the law in the last days. 2 You who have done good will wait for those days until an end is made of those who do evil and the power of the wrongdoers comes to an end. 3 You, however, wait until sin passes away; for their names will be erased from the book of life and from the books of the holy ones,⁠ and their offspring will be destroyed forever, and their spirits will be slain, and they will cry and lament in a place that is a chaotic wilderness, and they will burn in the fire; for there is no earth there.⁠ 4 I saw there something like an invisible cloud; because of its depth I could not look over it, and I saw a flame of fire blazing brightly, and things like shining mountains circling and sweeping to and fro. 5 I asked one of the holy angels who was with me and said to him: 'What is this shining thing? For it is not a heaven but only the flame of a blazing fire, and the voice of weeping, crying, and strong pain.'⁠ 6 He said to me: 'This place which you see is where the spirits of sinners and blasphemers are cast, and of those who do wickedness, and of those who pervert everything that the Lord has spoken through the mouth of the prophets, the things that will be. 7 For some of these things are written and inscribed above in heaven, so that the angels may read them and know what will happen to the sinners, and to the spirits of the humble, and of those who have afflicted their bodies and been rewarded by God, and of those who have been put to shame by wicked men. 8 They loved God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things in the world,⁠ but gave over their bodies to torture.⁠ 9 Since they came into being, they did not long after earthly food, but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly,⁠ and the Lord tested them greatly, and their spirits were found pure, so that they should bless His name.⁠ 10 All the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And He has assigned them their reward, because they were found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world,⁠ and though they were trampled underfoot by wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, yet they blessed Me. 11 And now I will summon the spirits of the good who belong to the generation of light, and I will transform those who were born in darkness, who in the flesh were not rewarded with the honor their faithfulness deserved. 12 I will bring out in shining light those who have loved My holy name, and I will seat each one on the throne of his honor.⁠ 13 They will shine for times without number, for righteousness is the judgment of God; for to the faithful He will give faithfulness in the dwelling of upright paths. 14 They will see those who were born in darkness led into darkness,⁠ while the righteous will shine brightly. 15 The sinners will cry aloud and see them shining, and they will indeed go where days and seasons are prescribed for them.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 108:10 and Revelation 12:11

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation 12 follows a Jewish apocalyptic and eschatological tradition also found in 1 Enoch 108, where the righteous are praised for not loving their lives, even when faced with suffering and shame.

Passages

1 Enoch 108:10

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
9 Since they came into being, they did not long after earthly food, but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly, and the Lord tested them greatly, and their spirits were found pure, so that they should bless His name. 10 All the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And He has assigned them their reward, because they were found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world, and though they were trampled underfoot by wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, yet they blessed Me. 11 And now I will summon the spirits of the good who belong to the generation of light, and I will transform those who were born in darkness, who in the flesh were not rewarded with the honor their faithfulness deserved.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Revelation 12:11

New Testament
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, the one who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down. 11 But they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. 12 Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them! But woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you! He is filled with terrible anger, for he knows that he only has a little time!”
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... For Revelation 12:11 (οὐκ ἠγάπησαν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν), Charles regarded John 12:25 as the most immediate background: “Those who love their life (ὁ ϕιλῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν) their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life”. On the other hand, commenting on Revelation 12:11, Aune argues that “The topos of ‘the love of life’ standing in the way of a willingness to die for an important cause is typically Hellenistic.” While Aune’s comment applies to the text of the Eschatological Exhortation at 1 Enoch 108:10, it does not illuminate Revelation 12:11 as much as one might initially think. In the latter, “they did not love their life,” formulated in the negative, “life” refers to earthly, rather than heavenly existence; the link, therefore, to John 12:25 is much stronger ..."
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, The Myth of Rebellious Angels: Studies in Second Temple Judaism and New Testament Texts (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 304.

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 108:10 and Revelation 12:11

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