Psalms

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Psalm 24

1 A psalm of David. The Lord owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it. 2 For he set its foundation upon the seas, and established it upon the ocean currents.⁠ 3 Who is allowed to ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may go up to his holy dwelling place? 4 The one whose deeds are blameless who has clean hands and a pure heart^*, who does not lie,⁠ or make promises with no intention of keeping them.⁠ 5 Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord, and vindicated by the God who delivers them. 6 Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. (Selah) 7 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors.⁠ Then the majestic king will enter.⁠ 8 Who is this majestic king? The Lord who is strong and mighty. The Lord a mighty man in battle.⁠ 9 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 10 Who is this majestic king? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He is the majestic king. (Selah)

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 24:7 and 1 Enoch 72:3

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

Summary

1 Enoch 72 echoes ancient Near Eastern imagery in Psalm 24, where the opening of heavenly gates is a part of the daily path of the sun. 1 Enoch uses this to describe a standard account of the sun’s path across the sky as part of a predictable cosmology.

Passages

Psalm 24:7

Hebrew Bible

5 Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord, and vindicated by the God who delivers them. 6 Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. (Selah) 7 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 8 Who is this majestic king? The Lord who is strong and mighty. The Lord a mighty man in battle. 9 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter.

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

1 Enoch 72:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

2 The first rule of the lights: the Sun rises from the eastern portals of the heavens and sets in the western portals. 3 I observed six portals for the sun's rising and setting, and for the moon's rising and setting. The leaders of the stars and their groups also follow this path: six portals in the east and six in the west, all precisely aligned, with numerous windows on either side.

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

References

"... Note also further examples ... The powers of the underworld invoked in Assyrian Medical Texts 32 may be compared with the powers of the gates of the underworld to bless Kaka, the vizier of Anu, in Nergal and Ereskigal and the blessing of the doors of heaven ... 'O Sun-god, when you enter Heaven's Interior (anšà);' may the bolt of the clear heavens say "hello?" May the doors of the heavens bless you.' Note also biblical parallels in Psalms 19:2; 24:7-10; 96:11-12. ..."

Wayne Horowitzh, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1998), 217.

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

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Psalm 24:7 and 1 Enoch 72:3

Summary

Passages

Psalm 24:7

1 Enoch 72:3

References

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