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1 Enoch

About this book

Enoch's Journey to the Northwest

Chapter 17

1 And they brought me to a place where those present were like flaming fire, and when they wished, they appeared as men.⁠ 2 And they led me to a place of darkness,⁠ and to a mountain whose peak reached to heaven.⁠ 3 And I saw the places of the sun and moon and the treasuries of the stars and of the thunder in the utmost depths, where there was a fiery bow and arrows and their quiver, and a fiery sword and all the lightnings.⁠ 4 And they took me to the living waters,⁠ and to the fire of the west, which receives every setting of the sun.⁠ 5 And I came to a river of fire where the fire flows like water and pours into the great sea towards the west.⁠ 6 I saw the great rivers and came to the great river and to the great darkness, and went to the place where no flesh walks. 7 I saw the mountains of the darkness of winter and the place from where all the waters of the deep flow. 8 I saw the mouths of all the rivers of the earth and the mouth of the deep.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 17:4 and Revelation 19:20

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation’s image of the lake of fire is similar to 1 Enoch’s description of a fiery river flowing westward into the sea. In both, fire marks a boundary between life and death and resembles Greek traditions of the underworld river Pyriphlegethon.

Passages

1 Enoch 17:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
3 And I saw the places of the sun and moon and the treasuries of the stars and of the thunder in the utmost depths, where there was a fiery bow and arrows and their quiver, and a fiery sword and all the lightnings. 4 And they took me to the living waters, and to the fire of the west, which receives every setting of the sun. 5 And I came to a river of fire where the fire flows like water and pours into the great sea towards the west. 6 I saw the great rivers and came to the great river and to the great darkness, and went to the place where no flesh walks. 7 I saw the mountains of the darkness of winter and the place from where all the waters of the deep flow.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Revelation 19:20

New Testament
19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 20 Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf—signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. 21 The others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... The reference to the “fire of the west” in the previous verse leads here to reference to the river of fire. 1 Enoch 14:19 and Daniel 7:10 come to mind. In context, however, Enoch has just left the heavenly throne room and has not yet approached the mountain throne of God. These verses are best understood in light of the Greek idea of the four great rivers. The river of fire is Pyriphlegethon, often mentioned in Greek literature in connection with the underworld and journeys to it. A graphic description of this torrent in connection with the abyss (see vv 7–8), the realm of death, Belial, and eternal punishment occurs in 1QH 11:28–36. Compare also the lake of fire in Revelation 19:20; 20:14–15. The great sea of the west is not Oceanus but the Mediterranean. The great rivers are the four, and the great river, Oceanus. Thus Enoch has arrived at earth’s outer limits ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 283.

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 17:4 and Revelation 19:20

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