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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 14

1 The book of the words of righteousness,⁠ and of the reprimand of the eternal Watchers, in accordance with the command of the Holy Great One in that vision. 2 I saw in my sleep what I will now tell with a tongue of flesh and with the breath of my mouth, which the Great One has given to men so that they may converse and understand with the heart. 3 Just as He has created and given to man the power to understand the word of wisdom, so He created me also and gave me the power to reprimand the Watchers, the children of heaven.⁠ 4 I wrote out your petition, and in my vision it was made clear that your petition will not be granted for all the days of eternity, and that judgment has been finally passed on you. Your petition will not be granted. 5 From now on you will not ascend into heaven for all eternity, and on the earth the decree has gone out to bind you for all the days of the world.⁠ 6 Before that you will see the destruction of your beloved sons, and you will take no pleasure in them, for they will fall before you by the sword. 7 Your petition for them will not be granted, nor will your petition for yourselves, even though you weep and pray and speak all the words contained in the writing I have written. 8 And the vision was shown to me.⁠ In the vision, clouds called me and a mist summoned me; the path of the stars and the lightnings sped me on and hurried me, and the winds in the vision gave me wings and carried me upward, lifting me into heaven.⁠ 9 I went in until I came near a wall built of crystals and surrounded by tongues of fire,⁠ and it began to frighten me.⁠ 10 I went through the tongues of fire and came near a large house built of crystals. The walls of the house were like a mosaic floor of crystals, and its foundation was of crystal. 11 Its ceiling was like the path of the stars and the lightnings, and between them were fiery cherubim, and their sky was clear as water.⁠ 12 A flaming fire surrounded the walls, and its doorways blazed with fire. 13 I entered that house, and it was hot as fire and cold as ice. There were no delights of life in it; fear covered me, and trembling seized me. 14 As I shook and trembled, I fell on my face. 15 I saw in a vision, and there was a second house, greater than the first, and the whole doorway stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire.⁠ 16 In every way it so surpassed the other in splendor and magnificence and size that I cannot describe its splendor and its size to you. 17 Its floor was of fire, and above it were lightnings and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire.⁠ 18 I looked and saw a lofty throne inside it.⁠ Its appearance was like crystal,⁠ and its wheels were like the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim.⁠ 19 From underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire, so that I could not look at it.⁠ 20 The Great Glory sat on it, and His garment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow.⁠ 21 None of the angels could enter and look on His face because of its magnificence and glory, and no mortal could look on Him.⁠ 22 A flaming fire was all around Him, and a great fire stood before Him; no one near Him could come close.⁠ Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him, yet He needed no counselor.⁠ 23 The most holy ones who were near Him did not leave by night nor depart from Him. 24 Until then I had lain face down, trembling, and the Lord called me with His own mouth and said to me: 'Come near, Enoch, and hear my word.'⁠ 25 One of the holy ones came to me and woke me, and made me rise up and approach the door, and I bowed my face down.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 6:1 and 1 Enoch 14:18

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

Isaiah describes a vision of God wearing a robe and enthroned in the temple, with heavenly beings surrounding him and the sanctuary filled with smoke. 1 Enoch presents a similar scene where God's throne is revealed in a heavenly temple.

Passages

Isaiah 6:1

Hebrew Bible
1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and they used the remaining two to fly. 3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!” 4 The sound of their voices shook the door frames, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 I said, “Woe to me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 14:18

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
18 I looked and saw a lofty throne inside it. Its appearance was like crystal, and its wheels were like the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. 19 From underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire, so that I could not look at it. 20 The Great Glory sat on it, and His garment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow. 21 None of the angels could enter and look on His face because of its magnificence and glory, and no mortal could look on Him. 22 A flaming fire was all around Him, and a great fire stood before Him; no one near Him could come close. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him, yet He needed no counselor.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Unlike LXX Psalm 96, Hebrews does not explicitly cite LXX Psalm 95. Yet the author’s knowledge of a heavenly tabernacle (compare 8:2, 5) that Jesus entered when he ascended into heaven, and where he presented his offering before God (9:24–25) is remarkable in view of the preceding discussion of LXX Psalm 95. If, as seems likely, the realm that Jesus entered is the same realm the author expects to endure after the final shaking of the creation/κόσμος (compare 12:25–28), then the depiction of God’s temple as unshakable in LXX Psalm 95 may well be a thread in the larger web of biblical connections that supports his eschatological hopes. This is all the more interesting in light of the fact that Hebrews closely associates the heavenly tabernacle with the heavenly throne at God’s right hand (compare 8:1) ... This association between the tabernacle and the throne of God is already explicit in the biblical text where the Lord is depicted as a king who reigns from his seat between the cherubim, language that recalls the ark in the holy of holies (e.g., Psalm 99:1; compare 2 Kings 19:15; Isaiah 37:16) and from other passages that link the temple with the divine throne (e.g., Isaiah 6:1; Ezekiel 10:1–5; 43:6–7). The motif is common in texts that depict a tabernacle/temple in heaven where God sits enthroned in the holy of holies (e.g., 1 Enoch 14:18–20; Testament of Levi 3:4; 5:1) ..."
David M. Moffitt, Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 71–72.

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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Isaiah 6:1 and 1 Enoch 14:18

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