1 Enoch

About this book

Chapter 51

1 In those days, the earth will return what has been entrusted to it, and Sheol will also return what it has received, and the underworld will return what it owes.⁠ 2 He will choose the righteous and holy from among them: for the day is near when they shall be saved.⁠ 3 In those days, the Elect One shall sit on My throne, and his mouth shall reveal all the secrets of wisdom and counsel: for the Lord of Spirits has granted these to him and has honored him. 4 In those days, the mountains will leap like rams, and the hills will skip like lambs full of milk, and the faces of all the angels in heaven will shine with joy. 5 For in those days, the Elect One shall rise,⁠ and the earth shall rejoice, and the righteous shall live upon it, and the chosen shall walk there.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 51:5 and Daniel 12:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Bible

Summary

Daniel 12 and 1 Enoch 51 similarly describe a powerful figure coming at a time of distress to free the righteous. In Daniel, the figure is Michael, a divine patron for Israel, and in 1 Enoch it is a messianic figure.

Passages

1 Enoch 51:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

4 In those days, the mountains will leap like rams, and the hills will skip like lambs full of milk, and the faces of all the angels in heaven will shine with joy. 5 For in those days, the Elect One shall rise, and the earth shall rejoice, and the righteous shall live upon it, and the chosen shall walk there.

300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Daniel 12:1

Hebrew Bible

1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake—some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. 3 But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.

200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

References

"... 1 Enoch 51:5 ... this section consists of two complementary tristichs. Each begins with a line that describes the posture of the Chosen One with a verb of motion ('arises' / 'sits down') and continues by recounting a judicial action of the Chosen One - to save the righteous and to denounce the sinners respectively. In form verse 5a corresponds almost exactly to Daniel 12:1 ... The passages differ in this respect: in Daniel the line introduces a judgment scene that includes a reference to the resurrection of the dead; here it follows the reference to resurrection but precedes the judicial activity of the Chosen One ..."

George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 185.

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

1 Enoch108 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 51:5 and Daniel 12:1

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 51:5

Daniel 12:1

References

Your feedback

Leave a comment

Glossary

Search the Library