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

238 The Booh of Enoch [Sect, v
[2. And in the day of the tribulation of the sinners,
Your children shall mount and rise as eagles,
And higher than the vultures will be your nest,
And ye shall ascend and enter the crevices of the earth.
And the clefts of the rock for ever as coneys before the
unrighteous.
And the sirens shall sigh because of you and weep.]
3. Wherefore fear not, ye that have suffered ;
For healing shall be your portion,
And a bright light shall enlighten you,
And the voice of rest ye shall hear from heaven.
4. Woe unto you, ye sinners, for your riches make you appear
like the righteous,
But your hearts convict you of being sinners,
And this fact shall be a testimony against you for a
memorial of (your) evil deeds.
5. Woe to you who devour the finest of the wheat.
And drink wine in large bowls.
And tread under foot the lowly with your might.
must be an interpolation : it is foolish connexion. Before the unrighteous,
in itself and interrupts the context. It These words imply that the righteous
is the wicked who will flee to hide go into the clefts of the rocks to
themselvesinsecretplaces, 97' 100^1021, escape the unrighteous. The sirens,
and not the righteous : the latter will Whether sirens (so the Ethiopio version
not have to conceal themselves on the renders aeipijves Is. 13^^ Jer. 27'') or
day of judgement, 104^ Perhaps the satyrs, the meaning of the word is un-
first three lines may be original. In certain, qt, read ' as the sirens
the day of the tribulation of the 3. A bright light : see 38^ (note). 4.
sinners. This would naturally mean Your riches make you appear like
when the sinners suiter tribulation ; but the righteous. Wealthy sinners could
it must mean here in the day when appeal to their riches as a proof of their
Iribulation is caused by the sinners. righteousness; for according to the O.T,
Mount and rise, &c. From Is. 40'^. doctrine of retribution, prosperity was
Higher than the vultures : of Jer. m, mark of righteousness. This fact,
49^^ Enter the crevices of the i.e. that your riches prove you to be
earth, &o. These words are taken righteous. For a memorial, &c. : cf.
from Is. 2". ". 2', and are used there ver. 7. 5. The finest of the
of those who flee through fear from wheat: Pss. 81" (ntSH 3^n) 147".
the presence of the Lord. Hence they .fWine in large bowlst,'i.e. not in wine
are most inappropriate in their present cups. Like the magnates in Samaria,
'