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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 40

1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: When the ministering angels say "Holy" before the Holy One, blessed be He, in the proper way, then the servants of His Throne, the attendants of His Glory, go forth with great mirth from under the Throne of Glory. 2 And they all carry in their hands, each one of them thousand thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand crowns of stars, similar in appearance to the planet Venus, and put them on the ministering angels and the great princes who utter the "Holy". Three crowns they put on each one of them: one crown because they say "Holy", another crown, because they say "Holy, Holy", and a third crown because they say "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts". 3 And in the moment that they do not utter the "Holy" in the right order,⁠ a consuming fire goes forth from the little finger of the Holy One, blessed be He, and falls down in the midst of their ranks and is divided into 496 thousand parts corresponding to the four camps of the ministering angels, and consumes them in one moment, as it is written (Ps. xcvii. 3): "A fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries round about". 4 After that the Holy One, blessed be He, opens His mouth and speaks one word and creates others in their stead, new ones like them. And each one stands before His Throne of Glory, uttering the "Holy", as it is written (Lam. iii. 23): "They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness".

Texts in conversation

Compare Lamentations 3:23 and 3 Enoch 40:3

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Lamentations, the speaker trusts that God's mercy is new each morning. In 3 Enoch, God creates new angels to replace those who fail to sing correctly, giving the promise of renewal a literal interpretation, connected to heavenly worship.

Passages

Lamentations 3:23

Hebrew Bible
19 ז (Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison. 20 I continually think about this, and I am depressed. 21 But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope: 22 ח (Khet) The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end. 23 They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant! 24 “My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him. 25 ט (Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him. 26 It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Lamentations

3 Enoch 40:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
3 And in the moment that they do not utter the "Holy" in the right order, a consuming fire goes forth from the little finger of the Holy One, blessed be He, and falls down in the midst of their ranks and is divided into 496 thousand parts corresponding to the four camps of the ministering angels, and consumes them in one moment, as it is written (Ps. xcvii. 3): "A fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries round about". 4 After that the Holy One, blessed be He, opens His mouth and speaks one word and creates others in their stead, new ones like them. And each one stands before His Throne of Glory, uttering the "Holy", as it is written (Lam. iii. 23): "They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness".
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... The recital of the daily hymn, which culminates in the trisha- gion from Isaiah 6:3, is the angels' foremost task. A further large thematic unit revolves around the description of what occurs in heaven during the angels' recital of the powerful, heaven- and earth- shaking "Holy, holy, holy.' When the angels recite the trishagion in the correct manner (ketiqno) they are crowned with splendid crowns; however, when they make the slightest mistake (meaning that they fail to recite the trishagion in perfect harmony), God ex- tends his little finger and burns them: "Then the Holy One, blessed be he, opens his mouth, speaks one word and creates others instead of them, [others] like them, new ones. Each of them then stands in song before the throne of glory and recites 'Holy,' as is written: 'They are renewed every morning, ample is your grace' [Lamen- tations 3:23].'>47 ...”
Peter Schäfer, The Hidden and Manifest God: Some Major Themes in Early Jewish Mysticism, trans. Aubrey Pomerance (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1992), 131–132.

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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Lamentations 3:23 and 3 Enoch 40:3

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