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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 18:2 and 2 Enoch 4:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

2 Enoch shows awareness of the final, edited form of 1 Enoch and builds on its description of winds that uphold the earth and guide the stars. While 1 Enoch describes these winds as natural forces, 2 Enoch transforms them into angelic beings.

Passages

1 Enoch 18:2

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

2 Enoch 4:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Secrets of Enoch
1 They brought before my face the elders and rulers of the stellar orders, and showed me two hundred angels, who rule the stars and their services to the heavens, 2 and fly with their wings and come around all those who sail.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Enoch

References

"... That 2 Enoch presumes the Book of the Watchers in its redacted form—rather than simply oral or exegetical motifs about Enoch or the fallen angels—is suggested by the echoes of cosmological and eschatological traditions from the second half of the Book of the Watchers, which recounts Enoch’s tours to the ends of the earth (1 Enoch 17–36) ... A focus on cosmology leads us to notice other points of continuity as well. The first sights on Enoch’s tour in the Book of the Watchers, for example, are the “storehouses of all the winds” with which God “arranged all that is created.” These are the winds that blow upon the inhabited earth and are the forces that bear the earth, support the firmament, stretch out the skies, and move the sun, stars, and clouds across the heavens (1 Enoch 18:1–5). In the first heaven of 2 Enoch, the winds have become angels. These are “the elders, the rulers of the stellar orders ... the angels who govern the stars, the heavenly combinations” (2 Enoch 4:1) — those who dwell in the lowest heaven alongside the treasuries of snow, cold, clouds, and dew, and those angels who guard them ..."
Annette Yoshiko Reed, “2 Enoch and the Trajectories of Jewish Cosmology: From Mesopotamian Astronomy to Greco-Egyptian Philosophy in Roman Egypt,” Journal of Jewish Thought & Philosophy 22 (2014): 1–24.

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 18:2 and 2 Enoch 4:1

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