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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 1 Enoch 18:11 and 2 Peter 2:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

1 Enoch and 2 Peter share a view of Tartarus as a fiery prison for the Watchers. Drawn from Greek cosmology, it is described beneath heaven and earth, empty of life, showing contact between Jewish apocalyptic thought and Greek traditions.

Passages

1 Enoch 18:11

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
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.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

2 Peter 2:4

New Testament
3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into Tartarus16 and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment, 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world,
120–130 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Peter

References

"... In 1 Enoch 18:11 and 19:1–2, Uriel serves as the interpreting angel for sites comparable to Tartarus especially since the chasm is a sort of prison for the infamous watchers. In 2 Peter 2:4, in fact, the name of the watchers’ place of imprisonment is Tartarus. When we recall that the watchers’ prison in 1 Enoch 18:11, χάσμα μέγα/neqʿata ʿemuqa, is strikingly similar to Hesiod’s prison of the titans (also χάσμα μέγ’), the site described in 1 Enoch 18:11 and later explained in 1 Enoch 19:1–2 appears an excellent candidate for a type of Tartarus ..."
Kelley Coblentz Bautch, A Study of the Geography of 1 Enoch 17–19: "No One Has Seen What I Have Seen", JSJSup 81 (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 134.

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 18:11 and 2 Peter 2:4

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