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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 48

1 In that place, I saw the fountain of righteousness which was inexhaustible; around it were many fountains of wisdom. All the thirsty drank from them, were filled with wisdom, and their dwellings were with the righteous, holy, and elect.⁠ 2 At that time, the Son of Man was named in the presence of the Lord of Spirits, and his name was acknowledged before the Head of Days. 3 Yes, before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of heaven were made, his name was known before the Lord of Spirits. 4 He will be a staff for the righteous to lean on and not fall, and he will be the light of the Gentiles, and the hope for those who are troubled of heart.⁠ 5 All who dwell on earth shall bow and worship before him, and will praise, bless, and sing to celebrate the Lord of Spirits.⁠ 6 For this reason, he has been chosen and hidden before Him, before the creation of the world⁠ and forever.⁠ 7 The wisdom of the Lord of Spirits has revealed him to the holy and righteous; for he has preserved all of the righteous because they have hated and despised this world of unrighteousness,⁠ and have hated all its works and ways in the name of the Lord of Spirits:⁠ for in his name they are saved, and it has been according to his good pleasure in regard to their life.⁠ 8 In these days, the kings of the earth who own the land will look downcast because of the works of their hands; for on the day of their trouble and affliction, they will not be able to save themselves.⁠ 9 And I will hand them over to the hands of my elect: as straw in the fire, they shall burn before the face of the holy; as lead in the water, they shall sink before the face of the righteous,⁠ and no trace of them shall be found anymore.⁠ 10 On the day of their affliction, there shall be peace on the earth. They shall fall before them and not rise again; and there shall be no one to help them up, for they have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed.⁠ Blessed be the name of the Lord of Spirits.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 48:1 and John 4:14

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

1 Enoch 48 describes a fountain of righteousness and wisdom from which the thirsty drink and are filled. In John, Jesus uses similar language to describe living water that becomes a spring within the one who receives it, leading to eternal life.

Passages

1 Enoch 48:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 In that place, I saw the fountain of righteousness which was inexhaustible; around it were many fountains of wisdom. All the thirsty drank from them, were filled with wisdom, and their dwellings were with the righteous, holy, and elect. 2 At that time, the Son of Man was named in the presence of the Lord of Spirits, and his name was acknowledged before the Head of Days. 3 Yes, before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of heaven were made, his name was known before the Lord of Spirits. 4 He will be a staff for the righteous to lean on and not fall, and he will be the light of the Gentiles, and the hope for those who are troubled of heart.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

John 4:14

New Testament
12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.” 17 The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

References

"... The phrase “he will guide them to the springs of the water of life” has its closest equivalents in Isaiah 49:10 (Greek: “through streams of water he will lead them”) and Jeremiah 2:13 (the disobedient “have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters”). The Enochic text from the Book of Parables does not expressly refer to the righteous being led to the waters; if the text draws on Isaiah 49:10, the “streams of water” are described as unending and offering wisdom to the righteous elect. Another parallel to Revelation 7:17 occurs in the Johannine tradition at John 4:14 and 7:38 (perhaps also influenced by Isaiah 49:10) with the difference, however, that the “spring of water” and “rivers of living water,” respectively, are sources located within the transformed human being. In this latter respect, the filling up with wisdom of the chosen ones in 1 Enoch 48:1 comes closer to the Gospel of John than to the text in Revelation ..."
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, The Myth of Rebellious Angels: Studies in Second Temple Judaism and New Testament Texts (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 298.

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 48:1 and John 4:14

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