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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 61

1 And I saw in those days how long cords were given to those angels, and they took to themselves wings and flew,⁠ heading north.⁠ 2 I asked the angel, 'Why have those angels taken these cords and departed?' And he replied, 'They have gone to measure.'⁠ 3 The angel who accompanied me said, 'These shall bring the measures of the righteous, and the ropes of the righteous to the righteous, so that they may rely on the name of the Lord of Spirits forever and ever.' 4 The chosen will begin to dwell with the chosen, and these are the measures which shall be given to faith and which shall strengthen righteousness. 5 And these measures shall uncover all the secrets of the depths of the earth, and those who were destroyed in the wilderness, and those devoured by beasts, and those eaten by the fish of the sea,⁠ so that they may return⁠ and rely on the day of the Chosen One;⁠ for none shall be destroyed before the Lord of Spirits, nor can any be destroyed.⁠ 6 And all who dwell above in heaven received a command and power and one voice and one light like fire.⁠ 7 And with their first words, they blessed, extolled, and praised with wisdom, and they were wise in speech and in the spirit of life. 8 And the Lord of Spirits⁠ placed the Chosen One on the throne of glory, and he shall judge all the works of the holy above in heaven, and in the balance their deeds shall be weighed. 9 And when he lifts up his face to judge their secret ways according to the word of the Lord of Spirits, and their path according to the way of the righteous judgment of the Lord of Spirits, then they all shall speak and bless with one voice, and glorify, exalt, and sanctify the name of the Lord of Spirits. 10 And He will summon all the armies of the heavens, and all the holy ones above, and the army of God, the Cherubic, Seraphim, and Ophanim, and all the angels of power, and all the angels of principalities, and the Chosen One, and the other powers on the earth and over the water.⁠ 11 On that day, they shall raise one voice, and bless and glorify and exalt in the spirit of faith, wisdom, patience, mercy, judgment, peace, and goodness, and shall all say with one voice: 'Blessed is He, and may the name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed forever and ever.' 12 All who do not sleep above in heaven shall bless Him: all the holy ones in heaven shall bless Him, and all the chosen who dwell in the garden of life: and every spirit of light who is able to bless, glorify, exalt, and sanctify His blessed name, and all flesh shall immensely glorify and bless His name forever and ever. 13 For the mercy of the Lord of Spirits is great, and He is long-suffering, and all His works and all that He has created He has revealed to the righteous and chosen in the name of the Lord of Spirits.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 61:5 and Apocalypse of Peter 1:12

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

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Summary

1 Enoch 61 describes the dead being restored on judgment day, including those devoured by beasts and eaten by fish. The Apocalypse of Peter takes up this tradition, having God command wild beasts and birds to give back the flesh they ate.

Passages

1 Enoch 61:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
4 The chosen will begin to dwell with the chosen, and these are the measures which shall be given to faith and which shall strengthen righteousness. 5 And these measures shall uncover all the secrets of the depths of the earth, and those who were destroyed in the wilderness, and those devoured by beasts, and those eaten by the fish of the sea, so that they may return and rely on the day of the Chosen One; for none shall be destroyed before the Lord of Spirits, nor can any be destroyed. 6 And all who dwell above in heaven received a command and power and one voice and one light like fire.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Apocalypse of Peter 1:12

Early Christian · Revelation of Peter
11 See now what will come upon them in the last days, when the day of God and the day of the decision of the judgment of God comes. From the east to the west all the children of men will be gathered together before my Father, who lives forever. And he will command hell to open its bars of adamant and give up all that is in it. 12 He will command the wild beasts and the birds to restore all the flesh that they have devoured, because he wills that all people should appear; for nothing perishes before God, and nothing is impossible with him, because all things are his. 13 For all things come to pass on the day of decision, on the day of judgment, at the word of God: and as all things were done when he created the world and commanded all that is in it and it was done — so also will it be in the last days; for all things are possible with God. Therefore he says in the scripture: Son of man, prophesy upon the bones and say to the bones: bone to bone in joints, sinews, nerves, flesh and skin and hair on them, and soul and spirit.
100–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Peter

References

... It is possible that the Apocalypse of Peter is dependent on 1 Enoch 61:1 (which would make it the earliest evidence of the existence of the Parables of Enoch), but most likely that all three texts are dependent on a common tradition. In the Apocalypse of Peter this tradition in chapter 4:4 occurs in a form exactly parallel to 4:3 and so becomes a variant of the tradition that the place of the dead will give back the dead. 1 Enoch 61:5 deals with a problem in the old concept of resurrection as the return of the dead from Sheol. Since Old Testament thought did not distinguish sharply between the grave and the underworld, those who are in Sheol are those who have been buried. But the question may then arise: what of those who are not buried? 1 Enoch 61:5 mentions three examples: those who die in the desert where there is none to bury them, those who die at sea and are eaten by fish, those who are eaten by wild animals. ...
Richard Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, NovTSup 93 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 285–288.

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 61:5 and Apocalypse of Peter 1:12

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