Apocryphal books (Old Testament); Enoch (Biblical figure); Ethiopic book of Enoch -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
LXXX. 2-8. _Perversion of Nature and the heavenly Bodies owing to the
Sin of Men._
2. And in the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened,
And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields,
And all things on the earth shall alter,
And shall not appear in their time:
And the rain shall be kept back,
And the heaven shall withhold (it).
3. And in those times the fruits of the earth shall be backward,
And shall not grow in their time,
And the fruits of the trees shall be withheld in their time.
4. And the moon shall alter her order,
And not appear at her time.
5. [And in those days the =sun= shall be seen and he shall journey
in the =evening= †on the extremity of the great chariot in† the
west]
And shall shine more brightly than accords with the order of light.
6. And many chiefs of the stars shall transgress the order
(prescribed);
And these shall alter their orbits and tasks,
And not appear at the seasons prescribed to them.
7. And the whole order of the stars shall be concealed from the
sinners,
And the thoughts of those on the earth shall err concerning them,
[And they shall be altered from all their ways],
Yea, they shall err and take them to be gods.
8. And evil shall be multiplied upon them,
And punishment shall come upon them
So as to destroy all.’
LXXXI. _The Heavenly Tablets and the Mission of Enoch._
LXXXI. 1. And he said unto me:
‘Observe, Enoch, these heavenly tablets,
And read what is written thereon,
And mark every individual fact.’
2. And I observed the heavenly tablets, and read everything which was
written (thereon) and understood everything, and read the book of all
the deeds of mankind, and of all the children of flesh that shall be
upon the earth to the remotest generations. 3. And forthwith I blessed
the great Lord, the King of glory for ever, in that He has made all the
works of the world.
And I extolled the Lord because of His patience,
And blessed Him because of the children of men.
4. And after that I said:
‘Blessed is the man who dies in righteousness and goodness,
Concerning whom there is no book of unrighteousness written,
And against whom no day of judgement shall be found.’
5. And those seven holy ones brought me and placed me on the earth
before the door of my house, and said to me: ‘Declare everything to thy
son Methuselah, and show to all thy children that no flesh is righteous
in the sight of the Lord, for He is their Creator. 6. One year we will
leave thee with thy son, till thou givest thy (last) commands, that thou
mayest teach thy children and record (it) for them, and testify to all
thy children; and in the second year they shall take thee from their
midst.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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