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

Sect. II.] Chapter LX V. 2-1 1 171
for the whole earth : 7. And how silver is produced from
the dust of the earth, and how soft metal originates on the
earth. 8. For lead and tin are not produced from the earth
like the first : it is a fountain which produces them, and an
angel stands therein, and that angel is an eminent one/
9. And after that my grandfather took hold of me with his
hand and raised me up, and said unto me :
' Go, for I have
asked the Lord of Spirits as touching this commotion on the
earth. 10. And He said unto me : " Because of their
unrighteousness their judgment has been finally decided and
will be executed speedily (lit. ' it will no longer be reckoned
before me J
) because of the months which they have searched
out, and through which they know that the earth and those
who dwell upon it will be destroyed." 1 1 . And for these
tive ; but the context requires this rendering. 7. Xrth- wanting
in G. 8. An angel stands therein. So GM, omitting H
before &$ah9°. Other MSS. and Din. ' There is an angel which
stands therein.' And that angel is an eminent one. Hallevi
(Joum. Asiat. 373 ; 1867) reproduces this in Hebrew "»KM Nin Dlpl.
He supposes *7 was read by mistake for "l in EHp\ Hence we get
B"!|?.^ Hiph. from "tip with 3rd pi. masc. suffix. Then comparing
Jer. vi. 7 he translates, ' the angel who stands therein and makes
them to cool is the chief.' But the Hiph. more likely means ' to
cause to spring up.' Hence 'the angel who . . . causes them to spring
up is the chief.' 9. With his hand. So all MSS. but G, which
gives 'by my hand.' 10. Because of the months which they
have searched out, and through which they know that, &c.
Hallevi (Joum. Asiat. 374-5; 1867) objects that hahC-'h signifies
months, and never astrology, and that the knowledge of the future
could hardly be regarded as criminal by the writers of Enoch, and
that the Deluge was generally regarded as a secret : cf. x. 2 ;
lxxxix. 1. He thinks that the corruption arose through reading
D^in (= sorceries, Is. iii. 3) as D^PI = ' months,' and ^ more-
over = on or yap. Hence he would translate, ' Because of the sor-
ceries which they have searched out and know ; for the earth,' &c.
Observe that the destruction of the wrought through the angels. 10.
earth is ascribed to the corruption See Crit. Note. 11. Enoch here