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1 their hand shall begin to bring down the slain. And all the people shall cease from the sound of the war cry, but the priests shall keep sounding the trumpets of 2 the slain to direct the battle until the enemy is struck down and turns his back. And the priests shall keep sounding to direct the battle, 3 and when they are struck down before them, the priests shall blow the trumpets of the summons, and all the skirmishers shall go out to them from the midst of 4 the front lines. And six battalions shall stand, together with the battalion that is engaged, seven lines in all, twenty-eight thousand 5 men of war, and the riders six thousand. All these shall pursue to destroy the enemy in the war of God, for eternal 6 destruction. And the priests shall blow for them the trumpets of the pursuit, and they shall divide against all the enemy for a pursuit of destruction. And the cavalry 7 shall turn them back at the flanks of the battle until they are destroyed. And when the slain fall, the priests shall keep sounding from a distance, and they shall not come 8 into the midst of the slain so as to be defiled by their unclean blood, for they are holy. They shall [not] profane the oil of their priestly anointing with the blood of 9 a nation of vanity. 10 The rule for changing the order of the battalions of war, to draw up the position against … […] … to go out as a semicircle with towers, 11 and an arc with towers, and as a slow advance with columns going out and wings [going out] from both sides of the line, to melt 12 the enemy. And the shields of the towers shall be three cubits long, and their spears eight cubits long. And the towers 13 go out from the line, a hundred shields, and a hundred to the face of the tower. All of them shall surround the tower on the three front sides, 14 three hundred shields. And there are two gates to a tower, one on the [right and] one on the left. And on all the shields of the towers⁠ 15 they shall write: on the first, Michael; [on the second, Gabriel; on the third,] Sariel; on the fourth, Raphael.⁠ 16 Michael and Gabriel on the [right, and Sariel and Raphael on the left.] 17 And […] for the four [… And if] they set an ambush for the [line] 18 and [… they shall bring down] the [slain …] 19 […] 20 […]

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 9:1 and 1QM 9:14

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts

Summary

1 Enoch 9 and the Dead Sea Scrolls War Scroll both portray four angels who act on behalf of humanity. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and a fourth angel appear as intermediaries in each and show an early stage in the growth of the archangel tradition.

Passages

1 Enoch 9:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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."'

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

1QM 9:14

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts · The War Scroll

10 The rule for changing the order of the battalions of war, to draw up the position against … […] … to go out as a semicircle with towers, 11 and an arc with towers, and as a slow advance with columns going out and wings [going out] from both sides of the line, to melt 12 the enemy. And the shields of the towers shall be three cubits long, and their spears eight cubits long. And the towers 13 go out from the line, a hundred shields, and a hundred to the face of the tower. All of them shall surround the tower on the three front sides, 14 three hundred shields. And there are two gates to a tower, one on the [right and] one on the left. And on all the shields of the towers 15 they shall write: on the first, Michael; [on the second, Gabriel; on the third,] Sariel; on the fourth, Raphael. 16 Michael and Gabriel on the [right, and Sariel and Raphael on the left.]

160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1QM

References

"... A complement of four, and later seven, named archangels (here “holy ones”) appears first in 1 Enoch 9–10 and then becomes something of a staple in Jewish and Christian literature. Their existence and the number four were doubtless inferred from the four living creatures in the throne vision of Ezekiel 1–2, and they are implicit in Zechariah 1. The later literature makes an association with Ezekiel 1–2 explicit. In the action of 1 Enoch 9–10, however, the four are not placed at the throne. They go forth from heaven, view the world, approach the divine throne with their petition in behalf of humanity, and are then dispatched to the world to act in God’s behalf ... The four angels are mentioned in the Qumran War Scroll, remarkably with the same names as here, in the order Michael, Gabriel, Sariel, and Raphael (1QM 9). Their association with the eschatological war is compatible with the activity of Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael in 1 Enoch 10 ..."

George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 207.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Column 9

1QM22 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 9:1 and 1QM 9:14

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 9:1

1QM 9:14

References

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