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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 5:6 and Avot de Rabbi Natan 32

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

Rabbinic tradition in the Avot of Rabbi Natan explains the flood as a result of people being spoiled by God’s goodness, a tradition also found earlier in 1 Enoch, which says the generation of the flood became unfaithful after God's gifts to them.

Passages

1 Enoch 5:6

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

Avot de Rabbi Natan 32

Rabbinic · Minor Tractate
Rabbi Elazar ben Parta would say about the verse (Genesis 6:3), “My spirit shall not judge human beings forever,” that the Holy Blessed one said: I will not judge them until I double their reward, as it says (Job 21:13), “They spend their days well (and their years pleasantly), and they calmly go down into Sheol.” Rabbi Yosei HaGalili would say: See, it says, “My spirit shall not judge”; the Holy Blessed One said: I do not equate those with evil intentions to those with good intentions. Until when? Until their final judgment has been sealed. But when it is sealed, then both are judged equally (for their sins).
700–900 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Avot de Rabbi Natan

References

"... In order to illustrate the overbearing arrogance of the Generation of the Flood towards God, the early Tanna, Rabbi Akiva, cites a verse which figures prominently in Aggadic sources relating to the Antediluvians, Job 21:15 (See Avot d'Rabbi Natan, Version A) ... Akiva's association of Job 21:15 with the very early tradition of Antediluvians' rejection of Divine Authority, (See 1 Enoch 8:2-3, also 5:6; 2 Enoch 34:1-2 - recensions A and B) which is a major theme in rabbinic Aggadah, may presuppose a more comprehensive exposition of a whole series of verses from chapter 21, which occurs widely in tannaitic sources. The detailed account of the well-being of the wicked contained in verses 9-13 was regarded by early rabbinic exegetes as a record of the considerable prosperity bestowed by God upon the Generation of the Flood, who responded with an arrogant denial of their Benefactor's authority ..."
Irving Jacobs, The Midrashic Process: Tradition and Interpretation in Rabbinic Judaism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 27.

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 5:6 and Avot de Rabbi Natan 32

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