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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 81

1 He said to me, 'Look closely, Enoch, at these heavenly tablets, read what is written on them, and pay attention to every detail.'⁠ 2 I examined the heavenly tablets, read everything written on them, understood it all, and read the book detailing all the actions of humankind and of all flesh that will exist on the earth for generations to come. 3 Immediately, I praised the great Lord, the King of glory, forever, for creating all the works of the world. I praised the Lord for His patience and blessed Him because of humanity. 4 Afterward, I declared, 'Blessed is the person who dies in righteousness and goodness, who has no record of unrighteousness written about them, and against whom no day of judgment will be held.' 5 The seven holy ones then took me and placed me on the earth before my home's door and said, 'Tell everything to your son Methuselah, and inform all your children that no one is righteous in the sight of the Lord,⁠ for He is their Creator. 6 'You will have one more year to live with your son, during which you must give your final instructions, teach your children, write it down for them, and bear witness to all your children; and in the second year, you will be taken from among them.'⁠ 7 'Let your heart be strong, for the righteous will share truths with the righteous; they will rejoice together, and congratulate one another.' 8 'But the sinners will perish with other sinners, and those who turn away will fall with other apostates.' 9 'And those who practice righteousness will perish because of the actions of humans and will be taken away because of the behavior of the godless.'⁠ 10 After they stopped speaking to me, I returned to my people, blessing the Lord of the world.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 57:1 and 1 Enoch 81:9

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch echoes Isaiah’s description of the righteous being removed from the world, connecting this to injustice and their gathering to a place of rest. 1 Enoch develops this into a vision where the righteous either escape coming judgment or are martyred.

Passages

Isaiah 57:1

Hebrew Bible
1 The godly perish, but no one cares. Honest people disappear, when no one minds that the godly disappear because of evil. 2 Those who live uprightly enter a place of peace; they rest on their beds. 3 “But approach, you sons of omen readers, you offspring of adulteresses and prostitutes! 4 At whom are you laughing? At whom are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue? You are the children of rebels, the offspring of liars, 5 you who inflame your lusts among the oaks and under every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 81:9

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
7 'Let your heart be strong, for the righteous will share truths with the righteous; they will rejoice together, and congratulate one another.' 8 'But the sinners will perish with other sinners, and those who turn away will fall with other apostates.' 9 'And those who practice righteousness will perish because of the actions of humans and will be taken away because of the behavior of the godless.' 10 After they stopped speaking to me, I returned to my people, blessing the Lord of the world.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Apart from explicit or implicit references to the resurrection, there are several Jewish texts which imply other forms of afterlife or prefer more general ideas and terminology instead of expressing its particular forms. This section will analyze the basic texts of this type in order to describe Jewish views on the immortality of the soul and some other similar ideas. First, this set of ideas is seen in the motif of the departure of the righteous from the world and their entry into the heavenly place of rest. This motif can be traced back to the account of the destiny of the suffering servant in the Book of Isaiah (especially Isaiah 53) as his return and restoration to life, and to the idea of the premature departure of the righteous ones from this world and their gathering in the heavenly place of rest in Isaiah 57:1–2. Then, this motif had been developed in the Astronomical Book and the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon. To start with the Astronomical Book, some of the Ethiopic versions of 1 Enoch 81:9 give the following reading: “those who do right shall not die on account of the (evil) deeds of the people, they will gather on account of the deeds of the evil ones,” while others read “those who do right shall die on account of the deeds of the people, they will assemble on account of the deeds of the evil ones.” Thus, either the righteous will escape the judgment and perdition (which connects with the thought of 81:4: in spite of the mass of sinful humanity there are some exceptions – the righteous who will have no record of evil deeds at the day of the judgment) or else some righteous will die unjustly at the hands of the wicked. These righteous will be “assembled” or “gathered up” on account of the wicked ..."
A. Somov, “Representations of the Afterlife in Luke-Acts” (PhD diss., Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2014), 180–181.

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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Isaiah 57:1 and 1 Enoch 81:9

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