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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 9

1 Then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven⁠ and saw much blood being shed on the earth, and all the lawlessness being committed on the earth.⁠ 2 They said to one another: 'The earth, left without inhabitants, cries out, and the voice of their crying reaches the gates of heaven.'⁠ 3 'And now to you, the holy ones of heaven, the souls of men plead, saying, "Present our case before the Most High."'⁠ 4 They said to the Lord of the ages:⁠ 'Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings,⁠ and God of the ages,⁠ the throne of Your glory stands through all generations,⁠ and Your name is holy and glorious and blessed through all ages!⁠ 5 You have created all things, and over all things You have power. All things are open and visible in Your sight, and You see everything, and nothing can hide from You.⁠ 6 You see what Azâzêl has done, who has taught all unrighteousness on the earth and revealed the eternal secrets that were kept in heaven,⁠ which men were eager to learn.⁠ 7 And Semjâzâ, to whom You gave the authority to rule over his companions. 8 They have gone to the daughters of men on the earth, have lain with the women, have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. 9 The women have borne giants, and as a result the whole earth has been filled with blood and unrighteousness. 10 And now the souls of those who have died are crying out and pleading at the gates of heaven, and their laments have risen up; they cannot stop because of the lawless acts committed on the earth.⁠ 11 You know all things before they happen, and You see these things and allow them, and You do not tell us what we should do about them.'⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 9:3 and Tobit 3:16

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Deuterocanon

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Summary

Tobit and 1 Enoch both describe angels carrying human prayers to the divine throne, following Jewish traditions of heavenly intercession that developed early in the Second Temple period.

Passages

1 Enoch 9:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 They said to one another: 'The earth, left without inhabitants, cries out, and the voice of their crying reaches the gates of heaven.' 3 'And now to you, the holy ones of heaven, the souls of men plead, saying, "Present our case before the Most High."' 4 They said to the Lord of the ages: 'Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings, and God of the ages, the throne of Your glory stands through all generations, and Your name is holy and glorious and blessed through all ages!
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Tobit 3:16

Deuterocanon
15 and that I never polluted my name, nor the name of my father either, in the land of my captivity. I am the only daughter of my father, and he has no other child to be his heir, nor has he kinsman near him, nor has he relation, that I should keep myself for a wife to him. Seven husbands of my are dead already; and why should it be mine to live on? And if it pleases you not to slay me—O Lord, now hear my reproach. 16 At the very same time the prayer of both was heard before the glory of God. 17 And Raphael was sent to heal them both: the case of Tobit to remove the white films from his eyes, that he might see the light of God with his eyes; and in the case of Sarah the daughter of Raguel, to give her for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit, and to unbind Asmodaeus the evil demon from her; because it belonged to Tobias that he should inherit her rather than all those which wished to take her, At that time did Tobit return from the courtyard into his house, and Sarah the daughter of Raguel herself also came down from the upper chamber.
225–175 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tobit

References

"... For “before the glory of the majesty”, we should perhaps read “before the glory of the Great One”, a corruption that could go back to the Aramaic. Compare the parallelism of “the Most High” and “the Great Holy One” in 1 Enoch 10:1. Compare also 1 Enoch 104:1 and Tobit 3:16; 12:15, where the suggested phrase occurs in the context of the heavenly intercession of the angels ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 208.

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 9:3 and Tobit 3:16

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