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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.

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Compare 1 Enoch 14:18 and Ladder of Jacob 2:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

In 1 Enoch, Enoch sees God on a throne surrounded by fire and cherubim. The Ladder of Jacob uses similar throne imagery in Jacob's prayer, interpreting his dream of the ladder as a vision of God enthroned in heaven.

Passages

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. 23 The most holy ones who were near Him did not leave by night nor depart from Him.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Ladder of Jacob 2:4

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
3 And I set up the stone that was under my head for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it, and I called that place the house of God. 4 And I prayed to God and said: Lord God of Adam, of your [creature?], and Lord God of Abraham and Isaac my father, and of all whose ways are right before you, you who sit mighty upon the Cherubim and upon the throne of the majesty, of fire and full of eyes, as I saw in my dream; who holds the Cherubim with four faces, who bears the Seraphim full of eyes, who bears the whole world under his arm, and is borne by none. 5 You have established the heaven for the glory of your name.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ladder of Jacob

References

“... Noteworthy in this passage is the reference to a glorious, brilliant chariot-throne that is seen by virtuous worshipers in a visionary context, as well as the depiction of the cherubim which both draws on and slightly alters the imagery of Ezekiel’s vision. In a similar manner, an early Enochic tradition depicted in the Book of the Watchers ascribes a typical vision of the chariot-throne to Enoch, the legendary seventh antediluvian patriarch. Characterized as an exalted scribe and priest, “the righteous man whose eyes were opened by God,” Enoch’s first-person testament reads: “and I saw in my vision … and I was looking, And I saw a lofty throne; Its appearance was like crystal and its wheels like the shining sun, and its [guardians] were cherubim” (14:14, 14:18-20). Literature from the Common Era likewise contains characteristic accounts about visions of God’s luminous chariot-throne, which Enoch and other righteous patriarchs and esteemed seers beheld. For instance, descriptions in the Similitudes of Enoch present Enoch’s vision of God’s chariot-throne guarded by seraphim, cherubim, and ophannim (e. g., 39:12, 40:2-10, 71:5-7). In 2 Enoch 22, Enoch’s vision of a “supremely great and not made by hands” chariot-throne is recounted, surrounded by the armies of the angelic hosts, cherubim, and seraphim (22:2). Similarly, the Ladder of Jacob ascribes to the pious patriarch Jacob a vision of the chariot-throne, the four-faced cherubim that carry it, and the six-winged seraphim who sing hymns and utter the trisagion (2:7-15). ...”
Daphna V. Arbel, “‘A Chariot of Light Borne by Four Bright Eagles’: Eve’s Vision of the Chariot in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve,” in With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism in Honor of Rachel Elior, ed. Daphna V. Arbel and Andrei A. Orlov, Ekstasis: Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages 2 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011), 274.

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 14:18 and Ladder of Jacob 2:4

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