The book of Enoch : translated from Professor Dillmann's Ethiopic ...

Sect. II.] Chapter XXXIX. 5-14. 1 1
faileth before Him. 8. Here I wished to dwell and my
soul longed for that dwelling-place : here already heretofore
had been my portion, for so has it been established concerning
me before the Lord of Spirits. 9. And in those days I
lauded and extolled the name of the Lord of Spirits with
blessings and praises, because He hath destined for me
blessing and glory according to the good pleasure of the Lord
of Spirits. 10. For a long time my eyes regarded that
place and I blessed Him and extolled Him, saying :
(
Blessed be
and may He be blessed from the beginning for evermore.
11. Before Him there is no ceasing. He knows what the
world is before it is created, and generation unto generation
that shall arise : 12. Those who sleep not bless Thee :
they stand before Thy glory and bless, laud, and extol, saying :
" Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits :
He filleth the earth
with spirits."' 13. And here my eyes saw all those who
sleep not, how they stand before Him and bless, and say :
' Blessed be Thou and blessed be the name of the Lord for
ever and ever/ 14. And my face was changed until I
could no longer see.
SoCEFGHLMNO. Din. omits with A B D. 10. Blessed
Him and extolled. So C E G M. Din., with A B D, omits ' and
extolled Him' wftftcMlfP. 14. Until I could no longer see.
Instead of Xflh = ' until,' G reads XftffD =< for.'
' shine as the stars.' 8. Enoch pre- i. 5 I have identified them with the
destined to a place in the kingdom. ' Watchers.' Holy, holy, holy,
Cf. lxxi. 14-17; xc. 31. 9. The is the Lord of Spirits. The change
good pleasure of the Lord. In in the trisagion, Is. vi. 3, is in keeping
xxxvii. 4, and here, the free grace with the character of the entire sec-
of God is brought forward, but not tion. 13-XL. Enoch next sees all
exclusively ; for, like a true Pharisee, the chief angels and thousands of
man's part in salvation is emphasised thousands of angels who stood before
in xxxvii. 4 ' according to my insight.' the throne of God, and recounts this,
11. Before Him there is no eeas- not as a prophetic vision, but as an
ing. Past, present, and future are be- actual experience. 14. The change
fore Him. 12. Those who sleep of face here is not to be understood as
not : cf. xxxix. 13 ; xl. 2 ; lxi. 1 2. This a transfiguration, as in Ascensio Isaiae
designation is taken over into the In- vii. 25 : Enoch is ' blinded by excess
terpolations, lxxi. 7. In the note on of light.'