Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 10:8 and 4Q180 1 7

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation

Summary

1 Enoch 10 describes Azazel as the source of human sin. The Dead Sea Scroll 4Q180 follows this tradition, describing Azazel as the leader of the rebellious angels, showing how the Dead Sea Scrolls community used 1 Enoch as scripture.

Passages

1 Enoch 10:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

6 On the day of great judgment he shall be thrown into the fire. 7 And restore the earth which the angels have corrupted, and announce the restoration of the earth, so that the plague may be healed, and all the children of men may not perish due to the secrets that the Watchers have revealed and taught their children.' 8 The entire earth has been corrupted by the deeds taught by Azâzêl: attribute all sin to him.' 9 And to Gabriel, the Lord said: 'Proceed against the bastards, the outcasts, and the children of fornication: and destroy the children of the Watchers from among men; make them fight one another, so they may destroy each other in battle: for they shall not have long lives. 10 And no request made by their fathers on their behalf will be granted; for they hope to live an eternal life, and each one of them thinks he will live five hundred years.' 11 And the Lord said to Michael: 'Go, bind Semjâzâ and his companions who have joined with women and defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness.

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

4Q180 1 7

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation · The Ages of the Creation

1 Interpretation concerning the ages that God made: an age to complete […] 2 and will be. Before he created them he set in place [their] workings […] 3 age by age. And it is engraved on […] 4 … the ages of their dominions. This is the order of … […] 5 … fathered Isaac; the ten […] 6 […] 7 Interpretation concerning Azazel and the angels who […] 8 and they bore them mighty ones. And concerning Azazel […] 9 […] iniquity, and to make wickedness an inheritance, all … […] 10 […] … judgments and the judgment of the council of … […]

160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q180

References

"... Several Qumran materials also appear cognizant of this angelological reinterpretation of the scapegoat figure when they choose to depict Azazel as the eschatological leader of the fallen angels, incorporating him into the story of the Watchers’ rebellion. Thus, 4Q180 1:1–10 reads ..."

Andrei Orlov, The Eschatological Yom Kippur in the Apocalypse of Abraham: Part I: The Scapegoat Ritual (Marquette Theology Faculty Research and Publications 85, 2009), 79–111.

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

Fragment 1

4Q1804 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 10:8 and 4Q180 1 7

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 10:8

4Q180 1 7

References

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