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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 5:8 and Sirach 50:28

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Deuterocanon

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Summary

1 Enoch and Sirach use similar language to discuss the benefits of living a life full of wisdom, describing how it leads to a life of righteousness, peace, and humility.

Passages

1 Enoch 5:8

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

Sirach 50:28

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
26 Those who sit on the mountain of Samaria, the Philistines, and the foolish people who live in Shechem. 27 I have written in this book the instruction of understanding and knowledge, I Jesus, the son of Sirach Eleazar, of Jerusalem, who out of his heart poured forth wisdom. 28 Blessed is he who will exercise these things. He who lays them up in his heart will become wise. 29 For if he does them, he will be strong in all things, for the light of the Lord is his guide.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

References

"... There is also a similar openness in the respective wisdom traditions. Enoch’s testament is apologetic literature that openly offers life. The author of the Epistle invites his readers to choose an elect life (1 Enoch 94:4) and expects Enochic wisdom to be attractive to outsiders (100:6; 105:1–2). Ben Sira has packaged wisdom as attractively as possible (the lover) and likewise summons his readers to choose life (Sirach 15:17). The formulas and vocabulary relating the function of wisdom are remarkably similar, yet the two conceptions of life imparted by wisdom are radically different. The revealed wisdom of Enoch promises eschatological life, salvation at the final judgment (1 Enoch 5:9). This life transcends death (81:4; 82:3). Ben Sira never speaks of life in this sense. For him, wisdom promises an improved quality of life, a happy and secure life, in the present time (Sirach 4:12–13; 15:4–6; 24:22) ..."
Randal A. Argall, 1 Enoch and Sirach: A Comparative Literary and Conceptual Analysis of the Themes of Revelation, Creation and Judgment, EJL 8 (Atlanta: Scholar's, 1995), 97.

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 5:8 and Sirach 50:28

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