the-book-of-enoch-r-h-charles - Fallen Angels

Sect. I] Chapters XXII. 12—XXir. 1 51
E
I blessed the Lord of glory and
said :
' Blessed be my Lord, the
Lord of righteousness, who
ruleth for ever/
G8
art Thou, Lord of righteous-
ness, who rulest over the
world.'
XXIII. T/ie Fire lliat deah with the Luminaries of Heaven.
XXIII. 1. From thence 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 paused not from its course day or night
but (ran) regularly. 3. And I asked saying : 'What is this
which rests not ? ' 4. Then Raguel, one of the holy angels
who was with me, answered me ""and said unto me^ :
' This
course '^of fire^ "^which thou hast seen^ is the fire in the west
which f persecutes! all the luminaries of heaven.'
XXIV—XXV. Tlie Seven Mountains in the North-West and the
Tree of Life.
XXIV. 1. "^And from thence I went to another place of the
thought with their respective contexts. vengeance on the world of the lumi-
Iiord of glory : see 25* (note). Lord
of righteousness ;
of. 90*" 106'.
XXIII. 1, 2. Enoch still remains
in the west, but proceeds to another
quarter of the west where there is
a restless river of fire.
17* appears to
deal with the same subject. 1. 'West
of the ends
(Gi>'). E. = 'west, to the
ends 2. Burning (E). > Qs.
But (ran) regularly (E). G^ iiixa
(corrupt for dWd)5ia/iE'i'oi'. 4. And
said unto me (E). > Qf. Of fire
(G^). > E. Unless we take coaznl
( = 'and this is') as a corruption of
coa 'Sj = ' of fire ' (FlemuiJng). But it
may = to before wpos Suir/ids. 'Which
thou hast seen (E). > G"-'. Perse-
cutes (G^ iKhiaKov). The text is
highly doubtful. E certainly supports
kxhiSiKov though it is corrupt : that is,
it reads jgnadSd ( = ' burns ') corrupt
for jgsadSd = ' persecutes '. But in
20*, where the functions of Kaguel
are described, it is said that he
' takes
E 2
naries ', i. e. kicdiKuiv. These verbs are
confused elsewhere ; cf. Sir. 39*". Both
passages clearly embody the same idea.
Kaguel ' takes vengeance on the world
of the luminaries ' in 20* and ' perse-
cutes all the luminaries of heaven ' in
23*. The idea of ' taking vengeance
on ' or ' persecuting ' all the luminaries
is inconceivable, and since the object
in both passages is the same, the cor-
ruption lies in the verb. kicdiwKov is
probably secondary to kicbiKoiv. The
latter = y^"13, which means either ' to
requite in a good or bad sense ' or
' to take vengeance on ' Hence I
suggest that the meaning ' requite
should be restored here, and in 20*.
XXIV. Enoch has been in the
extreme west in 23 ; now he goes to
the NW. First he sees a mountain
range of fire and then the seven great
mountains, one of which is the throne
of God. 1. And from thenoe . .
of the earth (E). > G^. Day and
'.