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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 33

1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: At the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, is sitting on the Throne of Judgement, (then) the angels of Mercy are standing on His right, the angels of Peace are standing on His left and the angels of Destruction are standing in front of Him. 2 And one scribe is standing beneath Him, and another scribe above Him. 3 And the glorious Seraphim surround the Throne on its four sides with walls of lightnings, and the 'Ophannim surround them with fire-brands round about the Throne of Glory. And clouds of fire and clouds of flames compass them to the right and to the left; and the Holy Chayyoth carry the Throne of Glory from below: each one with three fingers. The measure of the fingers of each one is 800,000 and 700 times hundred, (and) 66,000 parasangs. 4 And underneath the feet of the Chayyoth seven fiery rivers are running and flowing.⁠ And the breadth of each river is 365 thousand parasangs and its depth is 248 thousand myriads of parasangs. Its length is unsearchable and immeasurable. 5 And each river turns round in a bow in the four directions of 'Araboth Raqia', and (from there) it falls down to Ma'on and is stayed, and from Ma'on to Zebul, from Zebul to Shechaqim, from Shechaqim to Raqia', from Raqia' to Shamayim and from Shamayim upon the heads of the wicked who are in Gehenna, as it is written (Jer. xxiii. 19): "Behold a whirlwind of the Lord, even his fury, is gone, yes, a whirling tempest; it shall burst upon the head of the wicked".

Texts in conversation

Compare 3 Enoch 33:4 and Chagigah 13b:14

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

In 3 Enoch, the fiery river falls from God's throne onto the wicked. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Chagigah similarly describes this river pouring onto those in Gehenna, connecting the heavenly courtroom with divine punishment.

Passages

3 Enoch 33:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
4 And underneath the feet of the Chayyoth seven fiery rivers are running and flowing. And the breadth of each river is 365 thousand parasangs and its depth is 248 thousand myriads of parasangs. Its length is unsearchable and immeasurable. 5 And each river turns round in a bow in the four directions of 'Araboth Raqia', and (from there) it falls down to Ma'on and is stayed, and from Ma'on to Zebul, from Zebul to Shechaqim, from Shechaqim to Raqia', from Raqia' to Shamayim and from Shamayim upon the heads of the wicked who are in Gehenna, as it is written (Jer. xxiii. 19): "Behold a whirlwind of the Lord, even his fury, is gone, yes, a whirling tempest; it shall burst upon the head of the wicked".
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

Chagigah 13b:14

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
The Gemara asks: From where does this river flow? The Gemara answers: From the perspiration of the divine creatures. And where does it flow to? Rav Zutra bar Toviya said that Rav said: Upon the heads of the wicked in Gehenna, as it is stated: “Behold, a storm of the Lord has gone forth in fury, a whirling storm; it shall whirl upon the head of the wicked” (Jeremiah 23:19). And Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: The river flows over those who were snatched away, i.e., the generations that were never created, as it is stated: “Who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream” (Job 22:16), implying that the River Dinur flows over them.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Chagigah

References

“... The only river of fire in the Hebrew Bible is found in Dan. 7:10. It is not a river of punishment, but the stream that issues forth from the throne of the Ancient of Days. Nevertheless, this river comes to be associated with hell. In b. Hagigah 13b and 3 Enoch 33 it is said to pour forth onto the heads of sinners in hell. While G. Scholem dates 3 Enoch to the end of the Talmudic period, the participants in the discussion in Hagigah are R. Jeremiah b. Aba and R. Zutra b. Tuvyah, third-century Babylonian amo- raim and students of Rav. R. Zutra attributes his statement that the river falls on the heads of sinners to Rav. If this attribution is correct, the state- ment goes back to the early third century. ...”
Martha Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and Christian Literature (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1983), 111; 112.

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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3 Enoch 33:4 and Chagigah 13b:14

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