Go to Related Reading
About this book

1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 5

1 Observe how the trees clothe themselves in green leaves and produce fruit: therefore, pay attention and understand all His creations, and realize how the Eternal One has made them so.⁠ 2 And all His works continue year after year forever, and all the tasks they perform for Him, and their tasks do not change, but happen just as God has decreed. 3 And see how the sea and the rivers also fulfill their tasks unchangingly according to His commands.⁠ 4 But you have not remained faithful, nor have you obeyed the Lord's commandments. Instead, you have turned away and spoken arrogantly and harshly with your impure mouths against His greatness. Oh, you stubborn-hearted, you will find no peace.⁠ 5 Therefore, you will curse your own days, and the years of your life will vanish, and the years of your doom will increase in eternal condemnation, and you will find no mercy. 6 In those days, your names will become a curse forever to all the righteous, and all who curse will use your name, and all the sinners and the godless will swear by your name.⁠ And all the righteous will rejoice, and there will be forgiveness of sins, and every kind of mercy and peace and tolerance: There will be salvation for them, a splendid light. And for you sinners, there will be no salvation, but a curse will remain on you all. 7 And for you, the godless, there will be a curse. But for the chosen, there will be light, joy, and peace, and they shall inherit the earth.⁠ 8 And then wisdom will be granted to the chosen, and they will all live and never sin again, neither through ungodliness nor through pride; but those who are wise will be humble.⁠ 9 And they will not transgress again, nor will they sin all the days of their life, nor will they die of divine anger or fury, but they will complete the number of their days. And their lives will be lengthened in peace, and the years of their joy will be multiplied, in eternal happiness and peace, all the days of their life.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 5:4 and Mark 7:20

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

Share:

Summary

In Mark, Jesus says impurity comes from within, connected to thought and speech. This echoes language in 1 Enoch, which connects impurity to the mouth and the heart, describing sinners speaking arrogantly and having stubborn hearts.

Passages

1 Enoch 5:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
3 And see how the sea and the rivers also fulfill their tasks unchangingly according to His commands. 4 But you have not remained faithful, nor have you obeyed the Lord's commandments. Instead, you have turned away and spoken arrogantly and harshly with your impure mouths against His greatness. Oh, you stubborn-hearted, you will find no peace. 5 Therefore, you will curse your own days, and the years of your life will vanish, and the years of your doom will increase in eternal condemnation, and you will find no mercy.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Mark 7:20

New Testament
19 He said, “What comes out of a person defiles him. 20 For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 21 adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. 22 All these evils come from within and defile a person.” 23 After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice.
60–75 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Mark

References

"... The juxtaposition of 'impure mouth' and 'hard of heart' in the next line is especially noteworthy, since the sinners' words are also said to be "hard." The connection may shed some light on the saying ascribed to Jesus in Mark 7:20-23. There, defilement is dissociated from food laws and is tied to the evils that come from the human heart. Mark could be drawing on a line of interpretation as old as the present text ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 158.

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

Your feedback

1 Enoch 5:4 and Mark 7:20

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library