Egyptian-Hebrew stream·The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)·Book V — Epistle of Enoch (with Appendix)·Chapter CVIII — Postscript: the Book of Comfort
For the elect of the last generation
The closing chapter of 1 Enoch — a separate book written by Enoch for Methuselah and the elect of the last generation. The judgment of the wicked; the reward of the righteous who walked humbly and chastely. The elect shall shine as bright lights.
Source context
- Theme
- final judgment of the righteous and wicked, preservation of the souls of the holy, and the eschatological reward of those who loved God
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Jewish apocalyptic literature (Daniel, 4 Ezra)The motif of a heavenly book recording the deeds of the righteous and wicked, with final eschatological separation, appears across Jewish apocalyptic literature as a structural parallel to Chapter CVIII's closing judgment scene.
- Zoroastrian eschatologyThe Zoroastrian concept of the Chinvat Bridge, where souls are weighed and directed toward light or darkness according to their deeds, exhibits cross-tradition congruence with the chapter's depiction of differentiated post-mortem destiny.
- Egyptian funerary religion (Book of the Dead, Weighing of the Heart)The Egyptian psychostasia — weighing of the heart against the feather of Ma'at before Osiris — presents a structural parallel to the chapter's insistence on moral record as the basis for final cosmic judgment.
Chapter CVIII
CHAPTER CVIII.
1Another book which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who will come after him, and keep the law in the last days. 2. Ye who have done good shall wait for those days till an end is made of those who work evil; and an end of the might of the transgressors. 3. And wait ye indeed till sin has passed away, for their names shall be blotted out of the book of life and out of the holy books, and their seed shall be destroyed for ever, and their spirits shall be slain, and they shall cry and make lamentation in a place that is a chaotic wilderness, and **in the fire shall they burn**; for there is no earth there. 4. And I saw there something like an invisible cloud; for by reason of its depth I could not look over, and I saw a flame of fire blazing brightly, and things like shining mountains circling and sweeping to and fro. 5. And I asked one of the holy angels who was with me and said unto him: 'What is this shining thing? for it is not a heaven but only the flame of a blazing fire, and the voice of weeping and crying and lamentation and strong pain.' 6. And he said unto me: 'This place which thou seest--here are cast the spirits of sinners and blasphemers, and of those who work wickedness, and of those who pervert everything that the Lord hath spoken through the mouth of the prophets--(even) the things that shall be. 7. For some of them are written and
inscribed above in the heaven, in order that the angels may read them and know that which shall befall the sinners, and the spirits of the humble, and of those who have afflicted their bodies, and been recompensed by God; and of those who have been put to shame by wicked men: 8. Who love God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things which are in the world, but gave over their bodies to torture. 9. Who, since they came into being, longed not after earthly food, but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly, and the Lord tried them much, and their spirits were found pure so that they should bless His name. 10. And all the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And he hath assigned them their recompense, because they have been found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world, and though they were trodden under foot of wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, yet they blessed Me. 11. And now I will summon the spirits of the good who belong to the generation of light, and I will transform those who were born in darkness, who in the flesh were not recompensed with such honour as their faithfulness deserved. 12. And I will bring forth in shining light those who have loved My holy name, and I will seat each on the throne of his honour. 13. And they shall be resplendent for times without number; for righteousness is the judgement of God; for to the faithful He will give faithfulness in the habitation of upright paths. 14. And they shall see those who were, born in darkness led into darkness, while the righteous shall be resplendent. 15. And the sinners shall cry aloud and see them resplendent, and they indeed will go where days and seasons are prescribed for them.'
JSON: /api/sources/book-of-enoch/enoch-epistle/98-chapter-cviii.json