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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 26

1 And I went from there to the middle of the earth, and I saw a blessed place⁠ where trees with branches were abiding and blooming [from a dismembered tree].⁠ 2 And there I saw a holy mountain, and beneath the mountain to the east there was a stream that flowed towards the south.⁠ 3 And I saw towards the east another mountain higher than this, and between them a deep and narrow ravine: in it also a stream ran beneath the mountain. 4 And to the west of this was another mountain, lower than the former and of small elevation, and a deep and dry ravine between them: and another deep and dry ravine was at the extremities of the three mountains. 5 And all the ravines were deep and narrow, (being formed) of hard rock, and no trees were planted upon them. 6 And I marveled at the rocks, and I marveled at the ravine, yes, I marveled very much.

Texts in conversation

Compare Ezekiel 38:12 and 1 Enoch 26:1 and Jubilees 8:12

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Ezekiel 38 calls Israel the “navel of the earth,” an image echoed in 1 Enoch and Jubilees to describe Israel as the center of the world. In Jubilees, this area is given to Shem in the divine division of land, while in 1 Enoch it is a cosmic mountain.

Passages

Ezekiel 38:12

Hebrew Bible
11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against those living quietly in security—all of them living without walls and barred gates— 12 to loot and plunder, to attack the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the navel of the earth.” 13 Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish with all its young warriors will say to you, “Have you come to loot? Have you assembled your armies to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to haul away a great amount of spoils?”’
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

1 Enoch 26:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And I went from there to the middle of the earth, and I saw a blessed place where trees with branches were abiding and blooming [from a dismembered tree]. 2 And there I saw a holy mountain, and beneath the mountain to the east there was a stream that flowed towards the south. 3 And I saw towards the east another mountain higher than this, and between them a deep and narrow ravine: in it also a stream ran beneath the mountain.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Jubilees 8:12

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
11 And he called his sons, and they came close to him, they and their children, and he divided the earth into the lots, which his three sons were to take possession of, and they reached out their hands, and took the writing from the fold of their father Noah's clothing. 12 And the document assigned to Shem as his share the middle of the earth which he should take as an inheritance for himself and for his sons for the generations of eternity, from the middle of the mountain range of Rafa, from the mouth of the water from the river Tina, and his portion goes toward the west through the middle of this river, and it extends until it reaches the water of the abysses, out of which this river flows out and pours its waters into the sea Me'at, and this river flows into the great sea. And all that is toward the north is Japheth's, and all that is toward the south belongs to Shem.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

"... In the redivision, Shem’s lot - he is the good son - was assigned the center of the earth: this matches Ezekiel’s notion of the land of Israel as the Earth's “navel” (Ezekiel 38:12), compare 1 Enoch 26:1 ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 78.
"... During the centuries from the Exile in Babylon in the sixth century BCE to the first century CE, Jews lauded the Holy City and declared Jerusalem to be the center of the earth. Such claims and perceptions loom prominently in Ezekiel 38:12, 1 Enoch 26:1, and Jubilees 8:19. They evolve from earlier poetic visions, notably Psalm 87 ..."
James H. Charlesworth, “Devotion to and Worship in Jerusalem’s Temple,” in Jesus and Temple: Textual and Archaeological Explorations, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014), 1–17.

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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Comments

  • Can these be referenced to the sign of Jonah three days in the belly of the whale and Jesus' three days in the heart of the earth?

    Linda Donaldson, October 27, 2025

Ezekiel 38:12 and 1 Enoch 26:1 and Jubilees 8:12

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