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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 39

1 In those days the elect and holy children will come down from the high heaven, and their offspring will become one with the children of men. 2 In those days Enoch received books of zeal and anger, and books of disquiet and banishment. 'And mercy will not be granted to them,' says the Lord of Spirits. 3 In those days a whirlwind carried me off from the earth and set me down at the end of the heavens.⁠ 4 There I saw another vision: the dwelling places of the holy, and the resting places of the righteous.⁠ 5 Here my eyes saw their dwellings with His righteous angels, and their resting places with the holy. They petitioned and interceded and prayed for the children of men, and righteousness flowed before them like water,⁠ and mercy like dew on the earth; so it is among them forever and ever. 6 In that place my eyes saw the Elect One of righteousness and of faith, and righteousness will prevail in his days, and the righteous and the elect will be without number before Him forever and ever. 7 I saw his dwelling place under the wings of the Lord of Spirits. All the righteous and the elect before Him will be strong as fiery lights, and their mouths will be full of blessing, and their lips will praise the name of the Lord of Spirits, and righteousness before Him will never fail, and uprightness will never fail before Him. 8 There I longed to dwell, and my spirit yearned for that dwelling place;⁠ and there my portion has been from before, for so it has been established for me before the Lord of Spirits. 9 In those days I praised and exalted the name of the Lord of Spirits with blessings and praises, because He has destined me for blessing and glory according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits.⁠ 10 For a long time my eyes gazed on that place, and I blessed Him and praised Him, saying: 'Blessed is He, and may He be blessed from the beginning and forever. 11 Before Him there is no ceasing. He knows, before the world was created, what is forever and what will be from generation to generation. 12 Those who never sleep bless You; they stand before Your glory and bless and praise and exalt You, saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Spirits;⁠ He fills the earth with spirits."'⁠ 13 Here my eyes saw all those who never sleep; they stand before Him and bless and say: 'You are blessed, and blessed be the name of the Lord forever and ever.' 14 Then my face was changed, for I could no longer look on it.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 6:3 and 1 Enoch 39:12

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In 1 Enoch, heavenly beings proclaim holiness using language that parallels Isaiah’s vision of seraphs in the temple, suggesting that the prophetic scene of Isaiah was adapted into later Jewish apocalyptic traditions and liturgical settings.

Passages

Isaiah 6:3

Hebrew Bible
1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and they used the remaining two to fly. 3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!” 4 The sound of their voices shook the door frames, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 I said, “Woe to me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 39:12

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
10 For a long time my eyes gazed on that place, and I blessed Him and praised Him, saying: 'Blessed is He, and may He be blessed from the beginning and forever. 11 Before Him there is no ceasing. He knows, before the world was created, what is forever and what will be from generation to generation. 12 Those who never sleep bless You; they stand before Your glory and bless and praise and exalt You, saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Spirits; He fills the earth with spirits."' 13 Here my eyes saw all those who never sleep; they stand before Him and bless and say: 'You are blessed, and blessed be the name of the Lord forever and ever.' 14 Then my face was changed, for I could no longer look on it.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Although verse 12 is a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:3, it is likely that these lines and their context reflect contemporary Jewish liturgy. The verb 'bless' which frames the lines (verses 12, 13) and the baruk formula in verse 13 parallel the juxtaposition of Isaiah 6:3 and Ezekiel 3:12 in two insertions in the early Jewish liturgy ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 128.

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 6:3 and 1 Enoch 39:12

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