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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 Job 38:31 and 1 Enoch 18:13

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Job 38, God asks Job if he can tie the bands of the Pleiades. 1 Enoch describes a similar binding of seven stars imprisoned for not rising on time, possibly the Pleiades, which Mesopotamian tradition may have seen as seven demons bound in the sky.

Passages

Job 38:31

Hebrew Bible
31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades or release the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead out the constellations in their seasons or guide the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens, or can you set up their rule over the earth?
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Job

1 Enoch 18:13

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

References

“... In Mesopotamia, for example, the rightly timed rising of the seven stars was a positive omen for the land; when the Pleiades did not rise at the expected time, an evil portent was given. In the ancient Near East, the Pleiades were associated with the binding of the Sibettu demons of which there are seven. The Sibettu-Pleiades were designated sons of the underworld god Enmešarra, who, when defeated by Marduk, were bound and placed in jail. Enmešarra and his sons remain under permanent guard, and at night the demon sons are the Pleiades in the eastern sky, seven stars bound. Job 38:31 may know of a similar tradition as it also refers to the chains or shackles of the Pleiades. The bound stars of 1 Enoch 18:13–16 and 21:3–6 greatly resemble Enmešarra’s sons confined in the form of the constellation and the fettered Pleiades in Job. [...] The correspondence between the Pleiades and the seven stars in 1 Enoch 18:13–16 chastised for not appearing at the expected time is strong. [...] The Near Eastern tradition concerning Enmešarra’s rebellious sons, bound in the form of the Pleiades in the eastern horizon, is a functional parallel to the seven disobedient stars imprisoned in 1 Enoch 18:13–16 and 21:3–6. ...”
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), 148–149.

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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Job 38:31 and 1 Enoch 18:13

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