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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 Isaiah 65:15 and 1 Enoch 5:6

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch uses language from Isaiah about a people whose names become a curse and who are replaced by others receiving a new name. 1 Enoch reverses the tone, turning Isaiah’s blessing for the faithful into a warning for the unfaithful.

Passages

Isaiah 65:15

Hebrew Bible
13 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated. 14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts. But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. 15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. The Sovereign Lord will kill you, but he will give his servants another name. 16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them. 17 For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 5:6

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

References

"... The observation that the Aaronite Benediction lies under these few lines is corroborated by the fact that the following lines (5:6) apparently make use of Isaiah 65:15, partly turned into the negative ..."
Lars Hartman, Asking for a Meaning: A Study of 1 Enoch 1-5 (Lund: LiberLäromedel/Gleerup, 1979), 33.

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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Isaiah 65:15 and 1 Enoch 5:6

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