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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 60

1 In the year five hundred, in the seventh month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the life of Enoch. In that Parable, I saw how a mighty quaking made the heaven of heavens tremble, and the army of the Most High, and the angels, thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands times ten thousand,⁠ were greatly disturbed. 2 The Head of Days sat on the throne of His glory, and the angels and the righteous stood around Him. 3 A great trembling seized me, fear took hold of me, my body weakened, my strength failed, and I fell face down. 4 Michael sent another angel from among the holy ones who lifted me up, and when he had raised me up my spirit returned; I had been overwhelmed by the sight of this army and the tumult and shaking of the heavens. 5 And Michael said to me: 'Why are you disturbed by such a vision? Until today, this has been a time of mercy; He has been merciful and patient with those who dwell on the earth.' 6 And when the day of power, punishment, and judgment comes, which the Lord of Spirits has prepared for those who do not worship the righteous law, and for those who deny the righteous judgment, and for those who take His name in vain—that day is prepared, for the chosen a covenant, but for sinners an inquisition. 7 On that day, two great monsters were separated, a female monster named Leviathan,⁠ to dwell in the depths of the ocean over the springs of waters. 8 The male is named Behemoth, who with his chest occupies a desolate wilderness named Dûidâin,⁠ east of the garden where the chosen and righteous dwell, where my grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Lord of Spirits created.⁠ 9 I pleaded with the other angel to show me the power of these monsters, how they were separated on one day and thrown, one into the depths of the sea, and the other into the dry land of the wilderness. 10 He said to me: 'Son of man, you seek to know what is concealed.' 11 The other angel who went with me and showed me what was hidden told me what is first and last in the heights of heaven, and beneath the earth in the depths, and at the ends of heaven, and on the foundations of heaven. 12 The chambers of the winds, how the winds are divided, how they are weighed, how the portals of the winds are calculated, each according to the strength of the wind, and the power of the lights of the moon, and according to the power that is fitting; and the divisions of the stars according to their names, and how all the divisions are divided. 13 And the thunders according to where they fall, and all the divisions that are made among the lightnings to illuminate, and their army to obey at once. 14 For the thunder has resting places assigned to it while it waits for its peal; thunder and lightning are inseparable, and though distinct, they both move together through the spirit and do not separate. 15 For when the lightning flashes, the thunder sounds, the spirit enforces a pause during the peal, and divides equally between them; for the storehouse of their peals is like the sand, and each peal is restrained by a bridle, turned back by the power of the spirit, and pushed forward according to the various quarters of the earth. 16 The spirit of the sea is masculine and strong, and by the might of his strength it is drawn back with a rein, and similarly it is driven forward and disperses amid all the mountains of the earth. 17 And the spirit of the frost has its own angel, and the spirit of the hail is a good angel.⁠ 18 And the spirit of the snow has left his chambers because of his strength—there is a special spirit in it, and what rises from it is like smoke, and its name is frost. 19 And the spirit of the mist is not joined with them in their chambers but has a special chamber; for its path is splendid both in light and in darkness, and in winter and in summer, and in its chamber is an angel. 20 And the spirit of the dew resides at the ends of heaven, and is connected with the chambers of the rain, and its path is in winter and summer: and its clouds and the clouds of the mist are connected, and one feeds the other. 21 And when the spirit of the rain moves out from its chamber, the angels come and open the chamber and lead it out, and when it spreads over the entire earth it mixes with the water on the earth. 22 For the waters are for those who dwell on the earth; they nourish the earth from the Most High who is in heaven: therefore there is a measure for the rain, and the angels are in charge of it. 23 And I saw these things toward the Garden of the Righteous. 24 And the angel of peace who was with me said to me: 'These two monsters, created according to the greatness of God, shall feed ... 25 When the punishment of the Lord of Spirits rests upon them, it is so that the punishment of the Lord of Spirits may not come in vain, and it shall slay the children with their mothers and the children with their fathers. Afterwards, the judgment shall occur according to His mercy and His patience.'

Texts in conversation

Compare Joshua 10:11 and 1 Enoch 60:17

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch describes hail as one of the elemental forces governed by angelic powers and used as a divine instrument of judgment. This echoes Joshua, where hailstones are the weapons of divine combat and devastate Israel’s enemies in battle.

Passages

Joshua 10:11

Hebrew Bible
9 Joshua attacked them by surprise after marching all night from Gilgal. 10 The Lord routed them before Israel. Israel thoroughly defeated them at Gibeon. They chased them up the road to the pass of Beth Horon and struck them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled from Israel on the slope leading down from Beth Horon, the Lord threw down on them large hailstones from the sky, all the way to Azekah. They died—in fact, more died from the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword. 12 The day the Lord delivered the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua prayed to the Lord before Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon; O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon!”
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joshua

1 Enoch 60:17

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
15 For when the lightning flashes, the thunder sounds, the spirit enforces a pause during the peal, and divides equally between them; for the storehouse of their peals is like the sand, and each peal is restrained by a bridle, turned back by the power of the spirit, and pushed forward according to the various quarters of the earth. 16 The spirit of the sea is masculine and strong, and by the might of his strength it is drawn back with a rein, and similarly it is driven forward and disperses amid all the mountains of the earth. 17 And the spirit of the frost has its own angel, and the spirit of the hail is a good angel. 18 And the spirit of the snow has left his chambers because of his strength—there is a special spirit in it, and what rises from it is like smoke, and its name is frost.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Common to verses 17-18 is their concern with the cold forms of moisture - frost, hail, and snow. Verse 17 is the first verse in this whole section to identify a wind as an angel. Given the potential destructive power of hail, line b makes the opposite point. For hail is an instrument of divine judgment (against the enemies of God's people). See Exodus 9:18-25; Joshua 10:11; Wisdom of Solomon 16:16, 22; Sirach 39:29; 46:6; 4 Ezra 15:13, 41 ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 231.

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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Joshua 10:11 and 1 Enoch 60:17

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