1 Enoch

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Chapter 67

1 In those days, the word of God came to me, saying: 'Noah, you have found favor in My sight, a life without blame, filled with love and integrity. 2 Now the angels are constructing a wooden structure, and when they complete it, I will place My hand upon it and preserve it, and the seed of life shall come from it, and a change shall set in so that the earth will not remain without inhabitants. 3 I will establish your descendants before me forever, and I will expand the population of those who live with you: the earth will be fruitful and blessed, multiplying in the name of the Lord.' 4 He will confine those angels who acted unrighteously in a burning valley which my grandfather Enoch previously showed me in the west, among the mountains of gold, silver, iron, soft metal, and tin. 5 I saw that valley where there was a great upheaval and stirring of the waters. 6 During this turmoil, from that fiery molten metal and the upheaval there, a smell of sulfur emerged, mixing with those waters, and that valley where the angels who misled humanity burned beneath the land. 7 And through its valleys flow streams of fire, where these angels are punished who misled those living on the earth. 8 These waters, in those days, will serve kings, the mighty, and the exalted, and those who live on the earth, for healing the body but punishing the spirit; now their spirit is consumed with desire, and they will be punished in their bodies because they have denied the Lord of Spirits and see their punishment daily, yet do not believe in His name. 9 As their bodies burn more intensely, a corresponding transformation will occur in their spirits forever; for no one shall speak frivolously before the Lord of Spirits. 10 The judgment upon them comes because they indulge the desires of their body and deny the Spirit of the Lord. 11 These waters will change in those days; when those angels are punished in these waters, the springs will shift in temperature,⁠ and when the angels rise, the water of the springs will turn cold. 12 I heard Michael say: 'This judgment on the angels serves as a testament to the kings and the mighty who possess the earth.' 13 These waters of judgment contribute to the healing of the kings' bodies and the indulgence of their bodily desires; thus, they will not recognize nor believe that these waters will transform into an eternal fire.'

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 67:11 and Origen, Contra Celsum 5.52

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

Summary

The Christian theologian Origen describes a tradition in which warm springs are linked to an underground place of punishment for fallen angels, a view matching the scene in 1 Enoch where shifting spring temperatures highlight the angels’ judgment.

Passages

1 Enoch 67:11

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

10 The judgment upon them comes because they indulge the desires of their body and deny the Spirit of the Lord. 11 These waters will change in those days; when those angels are punished in these waters, the springs will shift in temperature, and when the angels rise, the water of the springs will turn cold. 12 I heard Michael say: 'This judgment on the angels serves as a testament to the kings and the mighty who possess the earth.' 13 These waters of judgment contribute to the healing of the kings' bodies and the indulgence of their bodily desires; thus, they will not recognize nor believe that these waters will transform into an eternal fire.'

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

Origen, Contra Celsum 5.52

Early Christian · Against Celsus

The passage of Celsus that we now wish to examine reads as follows: "Let us pass over, then, the arguments by which they are refuted about their teacher; and let him be regarded as truly an angel. Did he come first and alone, or did others come before? If they said that he alone came, they would be convicted of lying and contradicting themselves. For they say that others too came often, and indeed sixty or seventy together, who became wicked and are punished, being cast in chains under the earth, which is why the hot springs are their tears. And moreover an angel came to this man's own tomb (some say one, others two) who answered the women that he had risen. For the child of God, it seems, could not open the tomb, but needed another to roll away the rock. And again, about Mary's pregnancy an angel came to the carpenter, and another angel so that they might snatch up the infant and flee. And why need I go through everything in detail, and count up those said to have been sent to Moses and others among them? If, then, others too were sent, it is clear that this one also came from the same God. But let him be regarded as announcing something more, as though the Jews were doing wrong, or debasing piety, or not doing holy things; for this is what they hint."

248 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Origen, Contra Celsum 5

References

"... Origen (Cels. 5.52-55) appears to refer to the present passage or the tradition from which it derives, when he states that Celsus associated certain warm springs with the subterranean place of punishment for fallen angels ..."

George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 290.

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 67:11 and Origen, Contra Celsum 5.52

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 67:11

Origen, Contra Celsum 5.52

References

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