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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 1 Enoch 39:4 and John 14:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

1 Enoch 39 describes the righteous living peacefully in heaven with the angels. In John, Jesus similarly describes heavenly homes prepared for the faithful in the Father’s house. The similarity suggests John is following Jewish apocalyptic traditions.

Passages

1 Enoch 39:4

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

John 14:2

New Testament
1 “Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. 3 And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. 4 And you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

References

"... In light of the divine voice and its reference to Genesis 22, however, the best explanation is perhaps to see Peter’s error as concerning both without considering his offer of tentmaking merely an “idiosyncratic detail.” In light of the connections between Matthew 16:28 and the transfiguration, the Model Reader concludes that Peter assumes the eschatological kingdom has arrived, and since “it could be that Peter’s proposal presupposes that the saints in heaven have dwellings [compare 1 Enoch 39:4–8, 41:2; 71:16; John 14:2; 2 Enoch 61:23; T. Abr. 20:14 rec. A],” Peter proposes making dwellings for them. The word σκηναί need not concern either the one wilderness tabernacle or the one heavenly tabernacle or temple, for σκηνή often simply means “tent” in the LXX (e.g., every occurrence in Genesis) ..."
Leroy A. Huizenga, The New Isaac: Tradition and Intertextuality in the Gospel of Matthew (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 232.

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 39:4 and John 14:2

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