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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 41

1 And then I witnessed all the mysteries of the heavens, how the kingdom is divided, and how the actions of people are weighed on a scale.⁠ 2 There, I saw the dwellings of the chosen and the holy, and my eyes saw all the sinners being expelled, those who deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, dragged away, unable to endure the punishment from the Lord of Spirits. 3 My eyes also saw the mysteries of lightning and thunder, and the secrets of the winds,⁠ how they are distributed to blow across the earth, and the mysteries of the clouds and dew,⁠ observing where they originate and how they moisten the dusty earth.⁠ 4 I saw hidden chambers from which the winds are dispersed, the chamber for hail and winds, the chamber for mist, and of the clouds, with the cloud above floating over the earth since the beginning of time. 5 I observed the chambers of the sun and moon, where they emerge and return, their magnificent reappearance,⁠ how one surpasses the other in splendor, their majestic orbit, and how they remain faithful to their orbit, adding nothing and taking nothing from it, keeping their promise to each other, as per the oath that binds them. 6 First, the sun emerges and follows its course as commanded by the Lord of Spirits, whose name is mighty forever and ever. 7 Then I saw the hidden and visible paths of the moon, as it completes its journey day and night—one position opposing the other—before the Lord of Spirits, offering thanks and praise without rest, for their rest is in their thanksgiving. 8 For the sun often changes for a blessing or a curse, and the path of the moon brings light to the righteous and darkness to the sinners in the name of the Lord, who separated the light from the darkness,⁠ divided the spirits of people, and strengthened the spirits of the righteous in the name of His righteousness.⁠ 9 No angel can hinder nor any power obstruct; for He appoints a judge for them all and He judges them all before Him.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 41:8 and 1QS 3:13

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts

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Summary

The Dead Sea Scrolls Community Rule describes humanity in terms of two spirits, one of light and one of darkness. This builds on the dualistic language of 1 Enoch, which connects the sun and moon with blessing for the righteous and darkness for sinners.

Passages

1 Enoch 41:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
8 For the sun often changes for a blessing or a curse, and the path of the moon brings light to the righteous and darkness to the sinners in the name of the Lord, who separated the light from the darkness, divided the spirits of people, and strengthened the spirits of the righteous in the name of His righteousness. 9 No angel can hinder nor any power obstruct; for He appoints a judge for them all and He judges them all before Him.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

1QS 3:13

Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts · Community Rule
13 For the instructor, to give insight and to teach all the sons of light about the generations of all the sons of man, 14 as to all the kinds of their spirits, with their signs, as to their works in their generations, and as to the visitation of their afflictions together with 15 their ages of peace. From the God of knowledge comes all that is and all that will be. Before they existed he set in place their whole design, 16 and when they come to exist at their appointed times, they fulfill their task according to his glorious design, and nothing can be changed. In his hand 17 are the judgments of all things, and he sustains them in all their needs. He created humankind to rule 18 the world, and he set for it two spirits in which to walk until the appointed time of his visitation. They are the spirits of
160–100 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1QS

References

"... verse 8 links cosmology with anthropology. In addition to the sun and the moon, we hear about blessing and curse, the righteous and sinners, the division of the spirits of humanity, and then again about the spirits of the righteous ... and has divided the spirits of humanity, strengthening the spirits of the righteous while, presumably, leaving the spirits of the sinners to their own devices or those of an evil force that is influencing them. This last point is not explicit, but the passage as a whole is reminiscent of the beginning of the two spirits section in 1QS 3:13-26, not least with its polarity between light and darkness ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 145.

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 41:8 and 1QS 3:13

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