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2 Enoch

Secrets of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 15

1 Then the elements of the sun, called Phoenixes and Chalkydri break into song, therefore every bird flutters with its wings, rejoicing at the giver of light, and they broke into song at the command of the Lord. 2 The giver of light comes to give brightness to the whole world,⁠ and the morning guard takes shape, which is the rays of the sun, and the sun of the earth goes out, and receives its brightness to light up the whole face of the earth, 3 and they showed me this calculation of the sun's course. And the gates it enters are the great gates used to calculate the hours of the year; 4 for this reason the sun is a great creation, whose circuit lasts twenty-eight years, and begins again from the beginning.

Texts in conversation

Compare 2 Enoch 15:2 and 3 Baruch 6:14

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In 2 Enoch, phoenixes sing at sunrise as the giver of light arrives, and the apocalyptic text 3 Baruch gives a similar cry to its phoenix. These follow the Greek and Roman tradition preserved by Pliny the Elder, where the phoenix is sacred to the sun.

Passages

2 Enoch 15:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Secrets of Enoch
1 Then the elements of the sun, called Phoenixes and Chalkydri break into song, therefore every bird flutters with its wings, rejoicing at the giver of light, and they broke into song at the command of the Lord. 2 The giver of light comes to give brightness to the whole world, and the morning guard takes shape, which is the rays of the sun, and the sun of the earth goes out, and receives its brightness to light up the whole face of the earth, 3 and they showed me this calculation of the sun's course. And the gates it enters are the great gates used to calculate the hours of the year;
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Enoch

3 Baruch 6:14

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Greek Apocalypse of Baruch
12 And I said, Does the bird excrete? And he said to me, He excretes a worm, and the excrement of the worm is cinnamon, which kings and princes use. But wait and you will see the glory of God. 13 And while he was talking with me, there was a sound like a thunderclap, and the place where we were standing shook. And I asked the angel, My Lord, what is this sound? And the angel said to me, The angels are now opening the three hundred and sixty-five gates of heaven, and the light is being separated from the darkness. 14 And a voice came which said, Light giver, give radiance to the world. 15 And when I heard the noise of the bird, I said, Lord, what is this noise? 16 And he said, This is the bird who wakes the roosters on earth from sleep. For just as people communicate with their mouths, the rooster too signals to those in the world in his own language. For the sun is made ready by the angels, and the rooster crows.
1–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Baruch

References

“... Many parallels to the sun and moon chariots of 3 Baruch are found in 2 En: [...] Phoenixes and chalkydri sing: “The light-giver is coming to give radiance to the whole world” (2 En. (J) 15:2; as in 3 Baruch 6:14). [...] When the sun rises, they greet it (as in 3 Bar. 6:14S): the elements of the sun, called phoenixes and chalkydri break into song, herefore every bird flutters with its wings, rejoicing at the giver of light, and they broke into song at the command of the Lord. (2 En. (J) 15:1) In 2 En. (J) 15:2 they also pronounce, “The Light giver is coming to give radiance to the whole world” (as in 3 Bar. 6:14S). ...”
Alexander Kulik, Baruch: Greek-Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010), 232, 238.

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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2 Enoch 15:2 and 3 Baruch 6:14

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