Go to Related Reading
About this book

Revelation

About this book
Chapter 4

1 After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said: “Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things.” 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was standing in heaven with someone seated on it!⁠ 3 And the one seated on it was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald encircled the throne. 4 In a circle around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on those thrones were twenty-four elders.⁠ They were dressed in white clothing and had golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came out flashes of lightning and roaring and crashes of thunder.⁠ Seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne, 6 and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.⁠ 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man’s, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying.⁠ 8 Each one of the four living creatures had six wings and was full of eyes all around and inside. They never rest day or night,⁠ saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, Who was, and who is, and who is still to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns before his throne, saying: 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, since you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created!”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 23:2 and Revelation 4:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

Share:

Summary

1 Enoch describes a fire at the western edge of the earth that never rests day or night, driving the sun and stars. Revelation uses the same cosmic language to describe worshipping creatures around God’s throne, never resting day or night.

Passages

1 Enoch 23:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 From there I went to another place to the west of the ends of the earth. 2 And I saw a burning fire which ran without resting, and did not pause in its course day or night but ran regularly. 3 And I asked saying: 'What is this that does not rest?' 4 Then Raguel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered me and said to me: 'This course of fire which you have seen is the fire in the west that pursues all the lights of heaven.'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Revelation 4:8

New Testament
6 and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man’s, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying. 8 Each one of the four living creatures had six wings and was full of eyes all around and inside. They never rest day or night, saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, Who was, and who is, and who is still to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

... Enoch’s throne vision, specifically 14:19-23, offers another parallel to, and the possible source of, this imagery. Streams of fire issue from under God’s throne, and this fire encircles him and stands by him like a guard. Those who ‘approached him did not depart by day, nor by night did they leave him.’ Supporting this parallel is the description of God’s throne attendants in Revelation 4:8: καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς λέγοντες ... τὸ μὴ ἔχον ἀνάπαυσιν, 1 Enoch 23:3). In the next chapter Enoch will arrive at the mountain throne of God, which in 18:6 is associated with fire that ‘burns night and day’ (compare 18:9). ...
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 310.

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

Your feedback

1 Enoch 23:2 and Revelation 4:8

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library