ETHIOPIC MS. BY THE LATE RICHARD LAURENCE, BISHOP OF CASHEL.
CHAP 37
1. The vision which he saw, the second vision of wisdom, which ENOCH
saw, the son of JARED, son of MALALEEL, son of CANAN, son of ENOS, son
of SETH, son of ADAM. This is the commencement of the word of wisdom,
which I recieved to declare and tell to those who dwell upon earth.
Hear from the beginning, and understand to the end, the holy things
which I utter in the presence of the LORD of spirits. Those who were
before us thought it good to speak;
2. And let not us, who come after, obstruct the beginning of wisdom.
Until the present period never has there been given before the Lord
of spirits that which I have recieved, wisdom according to the capacity
of my intellect, and according to the pleasure of the Lord of spirits;
that which I have received from him, a portion of life eternal.
3. And I obtained three parables, which I declared to the inhabitants
of the world.
CHAP 38
1. Parable the first. When the congregation of the righteous shall be
manifested; and sinners be judged for their crimes, and be troubled in
the sight of the world;
2. When righteousness shall be manifested in the presence of the
righteous themselves, who will be elected for their good works duly
weighed by the Lord of spirits; and when the light of the righteous
and the elect, who dwell on earth, shall be menifested; where will
the habitation of sinners be? And where the place of rest for those
who have rejected the Lord of spirits? It would have been better for
them, had they never been born.
3. When, too, the secrets of the righteous shall be revealed, than
shall sinners be judged; and impious men shall be afflicted in the
presence of the righteous and the elect.
4. From that period those who possess the earth shall cease to be
powerful and exalted. Neither shall they be capable of beholding the
countenances of the holy; for the light of the countenances of the
holy, the righteous, and the elect, has been seen by the Lord of spirits.
5. Yet shall not the mighty kings of that period be destroyed; but
be delivered into the hands of the righteous and the holy.
6. Nor thenceforwards shall any obtain commiseration from the Lord
of spirits, because their lives in this world will have been completed.
CHAP 39
1. In those days shall the elect and holy race descend from the upper
heavens, and their seed shall then be with the sons of men. ENOCH
received books of indignation and wrath, and books of hurry and
agitation.
2. Never shall they obtain mercy, saith the Lord of spirits.
3. A cloud then snatched me up, and the wind raised me above the
surface of the earth, placing me at the extremity of the heavens.
4. There I saw another vision; I saw the habitations and couches of
the saints. There my eyes beheld their havitations with the angels,
and their couches with the holy ones. They were entreating,
supplicating, and praying for the sons of men; while righteousness
like water flowed before them , and mercy like dew was scattered
over the earth. And thus shall it be with them for ever and for ever.
5. At that time my eyes beheld the dwelling of the elect, of truth,
faith, and righteousness.
6. Countless shall be the number of the holy and the elect, in the
presence of God; for ever and for ever.
7. Their residence I beheld under the wings of the Lord of spirits.
All the holy and the elect sung before him, in appearance like a
blaze of fire; their mouths being full of blessings, and their lips
glorifying the name of the Lord of spirits. And righteousness
incessantly dwelt before him.
8. There was I desirous of remaining and my soul longed for that
habitation. There was my antecedent inheritance ; for thus had I
prevailed before the Lord of spirits.
9. At that time I glorified and extolled the name of the Lord of
spirits with blessing and with praise; for he has established it
with blessing and with praise, according to his own good pleasure.
10. That place long did my eyes contemplate. I blessed and said,
Blessed by he, blessed from the beginning for ever. In the beginning,
before the world was created, and without end is his knowledge.
11. What is this world? Of every existing generation those shall
bless thee who do not sleep in the dust, but stand before thy glory,
blessing, gloryfying, exalting thee, and saying, The holy, holy,
Lord of spirits, fill the whole world of spirits.
12. There my eyes beheld all who, without sleeping, stand before
him and bless him, saying, Blessed be thou, and blessed be the name
of God for ever and for ever. Then my continance became changed,
until I was incapable of seeing.
CHAP 40
1. After this I beheld 1,000' s and 1,000's and myriads of myriads,
and on infinite number of people, standing before the lord of spirits.
2. On the four wings likewise of the Lord of spirits, on the four
sides, I perceived others, besides those who were standing before
them. Their names too, I know; because the angel, who proceeded with
me, declared them to me, discovering to me every secret thing.
3. Then I heard the voices of those upon the four sides magnifying
the lord of glory.
4. The first voice blessed the Lord of spirits for ever and for ever.
5. The second voice I heard blessing the elect One, and the elect who
suffer on account of the Lords of spirits.
6. The third voice I heard petitioning and praying for those who dwell
upon earth, and supplicate the name of the Lord of spirits.
7. The fourth voice I heard expelling the impious angels, and
prohibiting them from entering into the presence of the Lord of spirits,
to prefer accusations against the inhabitants of the earth.
8. After this I besought the angel of peace,who proceeded with me, to
explain all that was concealed. I said to him, Who are those whom I
have seen on the four sides, and whose words I have heard and written
down? He replied, The first is the merciful, the patient, the holy
MICHAEL.
9. The second is he who presides over every suffering and every
affliction of the sons of men, the holy RAPHAEL. The third, who
presides over all that is powerful, is GABRIEL. And the fourth,
who presides over repentance, and the hope of those who will inherit
eternal life, is PHANUEL. These are the four angels of the most high
God, and their four voices, which at that time I heard.
CHAP 41
1. After this I beheld the secrets of the heavens and of Paradise,
according to its divisions; and of human action, as they weigh it there
in balances. I saw the habitations of the elect, and the habitations of
the holy. And there my eyes beheld all the sinners, who denied the Lord
of glory, and whom they were expelling from thence, and dragging away,
as they stood there; no punishment proceeding against them from the Lord
of spirits.
2. There, too, my eyes beheld the secrets of the lightning and the
thunder; and the secrets of the winds, how they are distributed as
they blow over the earth: the secrets of the winds, of the dew, and
of the clouds. There I perceived the place from which they issued
forth, and become saturated with the dust of the earth.
3. There I saw the wooden (the woods) receptacles out of which the
winds become separated, the receptacle of hail, the receptacle of
snow, the receptacle of the clouds, and the cloud itself, which continued
over the earth before the creation of the world.
4. I beheld also the receptacles of the moon, whence the moons came,
whither they proceeded, their glorious return, and how one became more
splended than another. I marked their rich progress, there unchangeable
progress, their disunited and undiminished progress; their proceeding
forth before the sun, and their adherence to the path alloted them, in
obedience to the command of the Lord of spirits. Potent is his name
forever and for ever.
5. After this I perceived, that the path both concealed and manifest of
the moon, as well as the progress of its path, was there completed by
day and by night; while each, one with another, looked towards the Lord
of spirits, magnifying and praising without cessation, since praise to
them is rest; for in the splended sun there is a frequent conversion to
blessing and to malediction.
6. The course of the moons path to the righteous is light, but to
sinners it is darkness; in the name of the Lord of spirits, who created
a division between light and darkness, and, separating the spirits of
men, strengthened the spirits of the righteous in the name of his own
righteausness.
7. Nor does the angel prevent this, neither is he endowed with the
power of preventing it; for the Judge beholds them all, and judges
them all in his own presnce.
CHAP 42
1. Wisdom found not a place on earth where she could inhabit; her
dwelling therefore is in heaven.
2. Widom went forth to dwell among the sons of men, but she obtained
not an habitation. Wisdom returned to her place and seated herself
in the midst of the angels. But iniquity went forth after her return,
who unwillingly found an habitation, and resided among them, as rain
in the desert, and as a dew in a thirsty land.
CHAP 43
1. I beheld another splendour, and the stars of heaven. I observed
that he called them all by their respective names, and that they heard.
In a righteous balance I saw that he weighed out with their light the
amplitude of their places,and the day of their appearance, and their
conversion. Splendour produced splendour; and their conversion was
into the number of the angels, and of the faithful.
2. Then I inquired of the angel, who proceeded with me, and explained
to me secret things, what their names were. He answered, A similitude
of those has the Lord of spirits shown thee. They are names of the
righteous who dwell upon earth, and who believe in the name of the
Lord of spirits for ever and for ever.
CHAP 44
Another thing also I saw respecting splendour; that it rises out
of the stars, and becomes splendour; being incapable of forsaking them.
CHAP 45
1. Parable the 2nd, respecting these who deny the name of the
habitation of the holy ones, and of the Lord of the spirits.
2. Heaven they shall not ascend, nor shall they come on the earth.
This shall not ascend, nor shall they come on the earth. This shall
be the portion of sinners, who deny the name of the Lord of spirits,
and who are thus reserved for the day of punishment and affliction.
3. In that day shall the Elect One sit upon a throne of glory; and
shall choose their conditions and countless habitations ( while their
spirits within them shall be strengthened, when they behold my
Elect One), shall choose them for those who have fled for protection
to my holy and glorious name.
4. In that day I will cause my Elect One to dwell in the midst of
them; will change the face of heaven; will bless it , and illuminate
it for ever.
5. I will also change the face of the earth; will bless it; and cause
those whom I have elected to dwell upon it. But those who have
committed sin and iniquaty shall not inhabit it, for I have marked
their proceedings. My righteous ones will I satisfy with peace, shall
draw near , that I may destroy them from the face of the earth.
