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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 Isaiah 24:21 and 1 Enoch 18:14

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch 18 draws on Isaiah 24 by describing divine beings being imprisoned and punished. In Isaiah, this judgment follows cosmic upheaval, with the earth in turmoil and the stars darkened. Both view the stars as divine beings held accountable.

Passages

Isaiah 24:21

Hebrew Bible
19 The earth is broken in pieces, the earth is ripped to shreds, the earth shakes violently. 20 The earth will stagger around like a drunk; it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. Its sin will weigh it down, and it will fall and never get up again. 21 At that time the Lord will punish the heavenly forces in the heavens and the earthly kings on the earth. 22 They will be imprisoned in a pit, locked up in a prison, and after staying there for a long time, they will be punished. 23 The full moon will be covered up, the bright sun will be darkened; for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion in Jerusalem in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 18:14

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

References

"... Essentially, the imagery is that the stars and their movement are restricted to this inferno—roasting over the fiery mountains, as it were. The imagery is both (counter) astronomical and theological. Bautch notes: Stars and other heavenly bodies were understood in antiquity to be sentient beings…. Isaiah 24:21 is quite reminiscent of 1 Enoch 18:13–14: at a time of universal judgment the Lord will punish both the host of heaven (“host of the heights”) and kings of the earth, throwing them into a pit where they will be shut up as in a prison and punished…. In the context of 1 Enoch 18:13–16, it is not clear what natural phenomena the author has in mind by stars that fail to come out at their appointed times. We know only that these stars are imprisoned at the end of heaven and earth (1 Enoch 18:14); according to the Greek gloss of 1 Enoch 18:15, that place is located outside of the heavens, best understood as a void ..."
Michael S. Heiser, A Companion to the Book of Enoch: A Reader's Commentary (Crane, MO: Defender, 2019), 1:184.

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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Isaiah 24:21 and 1 Enoch 18:14

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