1 Enoch

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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 47:1 and 1 Enoch 26:2

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

Summary

1 Enoch 26 reshapes the Edenic imagery of Ezekiel 47 by describing water flowing from a temple. Ezekiel describes water flowing east from the south side of the temple, and 1 Enoch describes it as flowing from the east toward the south.

Passages

Ezekiel 47:1

Hebrew Bible

1 Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple. I noticed that water was flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from under the right side of the temple, from south of the altar. 2 He led me out by way of the north gate and brought me around the outside of the outer gate that faces toward the east; I noticed that the water was trickling out from the south side. 3 When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured 1,750 feet, and then he led me through water, which was ankle deep.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

1 Enoch 26:2

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

References

"... As seen in the comparison of the two blocks of text above, 1 Enoch 26:2 and Ezekiel 47:1-12 share several verbal and thematic parallels between the two passages. The connections are rarely more than two or three words at a time, but the idea that a holy mountain or temple has water flowing from below it, and the fact that the source text stresses the movement of the water toward the east and from the south end of the temple is a significant series of connections. The Enochic author seems to have either knowingly or not switched the directions, and has the water coming from the east toward the south. In any case, the quantity of verbal and thematic parallels between these two texts is high ..."

Colby J. Townsend, “The Use of Scripture in 1 Enoch 1–36” (diss., University of Utah, 2016), 129–130.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

1 Enoch108 chapters

Compare Ezekiel 47:1 and 1 Enoch 26:2

Summary

Passages

Ezekiel 47:1

1 Enoch 26:2

References

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