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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 18

1 I saw the treasuries of all the winds:⁠ I saw how He had equipped them for the whole creation and the firm foundations of the earth.⁠ 2 And I saw the cornerstone of the earth: I saw the four winds that support the earth and the dome of heaven.⁠ 3 And I saw how the winds stretch out the vaults of heaven and have their station between heaven and earth; these are the pillars of heaven. 4 I saw the winds of heaven which turn and guide the course of the sun and all the stars to their setting. 5 I saw the winds on the earth carrying the clouds; I saw the paths of the angels. I saw at the end of the earth the dome of heaven above. 6 And I proceeded and saw a place that burns day and night, where there are seven mountains of magnificent stones, three towards the east, and three towards the south. 7 And as for those towards the east, one was of colored stone, and one of pearl, and one of jacinth, and those towards the south of red stone. 8 But the middle one reached to heaven like the throne of God, of alabaster, and the summit of the throne was of sapphire.⁠ 9 And I saw a flaming fire. 10 And beyond these mountains is a region at the end of the great earth: there the heavens were completed. 11 And I saw a deep abyss,⁠ with columns of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns of fire fall, which were beyond measure alike in height and depth. 12 And beyond that abyss I saw a place which had no dome of heaven above, and no firmly founded earth beneath it; there was no water upon it, and no birds, but it was a waste and horrible place.⁠ 13 I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains,⁠ and to me, when I inquired about them,⁠ 14 The angel said: 'This place is the end of heaven and earth; this has become a prison for the stars and the army of heaven.⁠ 15 And the stars which roll over the fire are those which have transgressed the command of the Lord at the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their appointed times.⁠ 16 And He was angry with them, and bound them until the time when their guilt should be consummated, even for ten thousand years.'

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 135:7 and 1 Enoch 18:1

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch describes storehouses containing winds, stars, and thunder, drawing on ancient Near Eastern cosmological traditions also reflected in Psalm 135, which speaks of divine storehouses as a source of natural phenomena.

Passages

Psalm 135:7

Hebrew Bible
5 Yes, I know the Lord is great, and our Lord is superior to all gods. 6 He does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the ocean depths. 7 He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth, makes lightning bolts accompany the rain, and brings the wind out of his storehouses. 8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, including both men and animals. 9 He performed awesome deeds and acts of judgment in your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

1 Enoch 18:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 I saw the treasuries of all the winds: I saw how He had equipped them for the whole creation and the firm foundations of the earth. 2 And I saw the cornerstone of the earth: I saw the four winds that support the earth and the dome of heaven. 3 And I saw how the winds stretch out the vaults of heaven and have their station between heaven and earth; these are the pillars of heaven.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... How does this overlapping imagery relate to the wider corpus of works that we label 1 Enoch? There are certainly some connections: in 17:3 and 18:1, part of the Book of the Watchers, Enoch sees storehouses/treasuries (mazāgebt) containing, respectively, the stars and the thunders, and the winds. In the case of the latter, there are some biblical source texts (notably, Psalm 135:7) that might influence the use of imagery. The concept of a storehouse or treasury in which the stars are kept is a distinctive development, however, although one that might be traced elsewhere in Second Temple literature, including that of the LXX. In a limited sense, then, the use of storehouse imagery in 17:3 and 18:1 might have contributed to its occurrence in the Parables and in 2 Enoch ..."
Grant Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology: Evaluating Parallels in the Ethiopic Parables of Enoch and 2 (Slavonic) Enoch,” JSP 29.2 (2019): 79–99.

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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Psalm 135:7 and 1 Enoch 18:1

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