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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 1 Enoch 60:7 and Bava Batra 74b

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

1 Enoch describes Leviathan and Behemoth as female and male monsters, thrown into the sea and the wilderness. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Bava Batra reads Genesis 1:21 to make each of them male and female, castrated so they cannot breed.

Passages

1 Enoch 60:7

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

Bava Batra 74b

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
The verse states: “And God created the great sea monsters” (Genesis 1:21). Here, in Babylonia, they interpreted this as a reference to the sea oryx. Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This is leviathan the slant serpent, and leviathan the tortuous serpent, as it is stated: “In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the slant serpent, and leviathan the tortuous serpent” (Isaiah 27:1). § The Gemara provides a mnemonic for the following statements of Rav Yehuda citing Rav: Everything; time; Jordan. Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Everything that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created in His world, He created male and female. Even leviathan the slant serpent and leviathan the tortuous serpent He created male and female. And if they would have coupled and produced offspring, they would have destroyed the entire world. What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, do? He castrated the male and killed the female, and salted the female to preserve it for the banquet for the righteous in the future. As it is stated: “And He will slay the serpent that is in the sea” (Isaiah 27:1). And He created even the beasts on the thousand hills (see Psalms 50:10) male and female. And they were so enormous that if they would have coupled and produced offspring, they would have destroyed the entire world. What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, do? He castrated the male and cooled the sexual desire of the female and preserved it for the righteous in the future. As it is stated about the beasts: “Lo now, his strength is in his loins” (Job 40:16); this is referring to the male. The continuation of the verse: “And his force is in the stays of his body”; this is the female, alluding to the idea that they did not use their genitals for the purpose of procreation.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Bava Batra

References

“... First Enoch 60 presumes such a taming of Leviathan and Behemoth as well as the sea, and these figures are completely within the control of the creator deity. They are separated from one another such that Leviathan dwells in the water and Behemoth on the land. They are preserved for the purpose of feasting upon those being punished in the “great Day of the Lord”: And on that day two monsters (ʿanābərt) will be separated from one another, a female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the abyss of the ocean over the fountains of the waters. But the male is named Behemoth, who covers with his belly an empty wilderness named Duidain. . . . And I besought the other angel that he should show me the might of those monsters, how they were separated in one day and cast, the one into the abysses of the sea, and the other into the dry land of the wilderness. . . . And the angel of peace who was with me said to me: “These two monsters are to be ready for the great Day of the Lord to be feasted, so that the punishment of the Lord of spirits may fall upon them and not come forth in vain”. (1 Enoch 60:7–9, 24) First Enoch 60 explicitly describes the “Head of Days” enthroned and fully controlling the sea, Leviathan, and Behemoth, along with the moon, stars, and various weather phenomena. [...] This text is distinct in portraying Leviathan and Behemoth feasting on people in the eschaton, rather than people feasting on Leviathan and Behemoth as in the other examples of the combat-banquet tradition. However, the notion that the “Head of Days” has preserved Leviathan and Behemoth for a purpose and that he will utilize them in some way is consistent with 2 Baruch 29:4, 4 Ezra 6, b. Baba Batra ...”
Debra Scoggins Ballentine, The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 155.
“... B. Baba Batra 74b–75a describes the creation, preservation, and slaying of two Leviathans and two Behemoths: “And Elohim created the great sea-dragons” (Gen 1:21). . . . R. Johanan said: This is Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, as it is written: “On that day the Lord will punish with his sharp, [great, and strong] sword [Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent]” (Isa 27:1). Rab Judah said that Rab said: All that the Holy One, blessed be he, created in his world, male and female he created them. So too, Leviathan the fleeing serpent and Leviathan the tortuous serpent, male and female he created them; and if they had coupled with one another they would have destroyed the entire world. What did the Holy One, blessed be he, do? He castrated the male and killed the female, salting (preserving) her for the righteous for the coming future; as it is written: “And he will slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Isa 27:1). So too, Behemoth on a thousand hills, male and female he created them, and if they had coupled with one another they would have destroyed the entire world. What did the Holy One, blessed be he, do? He castrated the male and cooled the female, and he preserved her for the righteous for the coming future; as it is written: “Look, his strength is in his loins” (Job 40:16); this is the male; “and his strength is in the muscles of his belly” (Job 40:16); this is the female. . . . (b. Baba Batra 74b) The plural “great sea-dragons” of Gen 1:21 are identified as male and female Leviathans, reading the parallel lines in Isa 27:1 as referring to separate creatures rather than two synonymous descriptions of one Leviathan. R. Johanan reasons that the “Holy One” created a male and female Behemoth as well and that he castrated the males and preserved the females “for the righteous in the world to come.” ...”
Debra Scoggins Ballentine, The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 163–164.

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1 Enoch 60:7 and Bava Batra 74b

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