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

244 The Book of Enoch [Sect. V
of the righteous j for no grave shall be dug for you. 14. Woe
to you who set at nought the words of the righteous; for ye
shall have no hojie of life. 15. Woe to you who write down
lying and godless words ; for they write down their lies that
men may hear them and act godlessly towards (their) neighbour.
16. Therefore they shall have no peace but die a sudden death.
IFoes pronounced on the Godless, the Lawhreakers : evil Plight of
Sinners in the last Bays : further Woes.
XCIX. 1. Woe to you who work godlessness,
And glory in lying, and extol them :
Ye shall perish, and no happy life shall be yours.
2. Woe to them who pei'vert the words of uprightness.
And transgress the eternal law.
And transform themselves into what they were not [into
sinners] :
They shall be trodden under foot upon the earth.
3. In those days make ready, ye righteous, to raise your prayers
as a memorial,
the hands of the righteous ; see 91'^
(note), 13. No grave shall be
dug for you. ij^ij read 'no grave of
yours shall be seen'. Cf. Jer. 8^ 22".
14. No hope of life, &c. : ef. Se^
08". 15. Cf. 1041°. This verse
attests the vigorous literary sti ife exist-
ing between the Sadduoean or Hellenistic
and the Pharisaic party. Act
godlessly {{/qtu. ras'a - daeliHv : cf. 1^
6* 8^^ &o.). j8 inserts a negative and
changes ba'ed ( = * neighbour ') into 'febad
= ' fully'. This necessitates a change
of rendering 'not forget (their) folly '-
Cf. vei-. 9. 16. Have no peace :
see 5* (note). A sudden death : cf.
941. «. ' 96" 961. '.
XCIX. 1. In 981= the writers of the
Hellenistic literature are denounced :
here all those who sympathize with
or praise them; cf 94^ 98'= (note).
To you (a-jj). iff, 13
' to them '. There
is » constant confusion of the second
and third persons in the MSS.—in part
owing no doubt to a not infrequent
change in the original from the second
person to the third or vice versa. I will
notice only the most important. 2.
To them {gigm). qtu, P 'to you'-
Pervert the virords of uprightness :
cf. 94=. The eternal law, i.e. the
Mosaic law; 5* 99". Transform
themselves into what they were not.
This may merely mean that they adopt
generally tlie Hellenistic customs, as I
thought in my first edition ; but the
reference is rather the medical opera-
tion undergone by many of the yoimg
Jews of noble birth, in order that they
might appear like Greeks when they
undressed for the Greek games in Jeru-
salem. Cf Ass. Mos. 8°; Jos. Ant.
xii. 6. 1. By this operation the fore-
skin was brought forward. [Into
sinners.] Bracketed as a gloss. 3.
Your praiyers ; see 97' (note).