1 Enoch

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Chapter 56

1 And I saw there the armies of the angels of punishment advancing, holding whips and chains of iron and bronze. 2 I asked the angel of peace accompanying me, 'Who are those holding the whips heading to?' 3 He replied, 'To their chosen and beloved ones, to cast them into the chasm of the abyss of the valley.' 4 Then that valley shall be filled with their chosen and beloved, and the days of their lives shall end, and the days of their deception will no longer be counted. 5 In those days, the angels shall return and rush to the east upon the Parthians and Medes: They shall stir up the kings, inciting a spirit of unrest among them,⁠ and rouse them from their thrones, so that they may leap out like lions from their dens, and like hungry wolves into their flocks. 6 They shall ascend and trample the land of His chosen ones, which shall become a threshing-floor and a highway under their feet.⁠ 7 But the city of my righteous shall obstruct their horses. They shall begin to fight among themselves, their own hands turning against each other, and a man will not recognize his brother, nor a son his father or his mother, until countless bodies fall by their own hands, and their destruction shall not be in vain. 8 In those days, Sheol shall open its jaws, and they will be swallowed up. Their end will come; Sheol shall consume the sinners in the sight of the chosen.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 5:14 and 1 Enoch 56:8

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

Summary

1 Enoch describes Sheol as a devouring mouth that swallows many people, an image similar to Isaiah where Death, drawing from the imagery of the Canaanite deity of death Mot, opens wide to consume all people.

Passages

Isaiah 5:14

Hebrew Bible

13 Therefore my people will be deported because of their lack of understanding. Their leaders will have nothing to eat, their masses will have nothing to drink. 14 So Death will open up its throat, and open wide its mouth; Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it, including those who revel and celebrate within her. 15 Men will be humiliated, they will be brought low; the proud will be brought low. 16 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted when he punishes, the holy God’s authority will be recognized when he judges.

740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 56:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

6 They shall ascend and trample the land of His chosen ones, which shall become a threshing-floor and a highway under their feet. 7 But the city of my righteous shall obstruct their horses. They shall begin to fight among themselves, their own hands turning against each other, and a man will not recognize his brother, nor a son his father or his mother, until countless bodies fall by their own hands, and their destruction shall not be in vain. 8 In those days, Sheol shall open its jaws, and they will be swallowed up. Their end will come; Sheol shall consume the sinners in the sight of the chosen.

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

References

"... The author now returns to his animal imagery. Verse 8 comprises a pair of distichs that parallel each other in a kind of a-b-b-a form, with the first and last lines depicting the mouth of Sheol as the great devourer. For Sheol as a devouring monster, see Proverbs 1:12; Isaiah 5:14; Habakkuk 2:5, and Isaiah 25:8, which reverses the imagery (God 'will swallow up death forever'), as well as perhaps Psalms of Solomon 4:13 ..."

George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 213.

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 Isaiah 5:14 and 1 Enoch 56:8

Summary

Passages

Isaiah 5:14

1 Enoch 56:8

References

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