15. ENOCH'S LETTER TO METHUSELAH
81.5 And these three Holy ones brought
me and set me on the earth in front of the door of my house, and said to me:
"Tell everything to your son Methuselah, and show all your children that
no flesh is righteous, before the Lord, for He created them.
81.6 For one year we will leave you with your children, until you have regained
your strength, so that you may teach your children and write these things down
for them, and testify to all your children. And in the second year we will take
you from amongst them.
81.7 Let your heart be strong, for the good will proclaim righteousness to the
good, the righteous will rejoice with the righteous and they will wish each
other well.
81.8 But the sinner will die with the sinner and the apostate will sink with
the apostate.
81.9 And those who practice righteousness will die because of the deeds of men,
and will be gathered in because of the deeds of the impious."
81.10 And in those days they finished speaking to me and I went to my family
as I blessed the Lord of Ages.
82.1 And now, my son Methuselah, all these things I recount to you, and write
down for you. I have revealed everything to you, and have given you books about
all these things. Keep, my son Methuselah, the books from the hand of your father
so that you may pass them on to the generations of eternity.
82.2 I have given wisdom to you, and to your children, and to those who will
be your children, that they may give it to their children, for all the generations,
forever, this wisdom that is beyond their thoughts.
82.3 And those who understand it will not sleep, but will incline their ears
that they may learn this wisdom, and it will be better for those who eat from
it than good food.
Notes
(15) ENOCH'S LETTER TO
METHUSELAH (pages 107-108)
This short section may be in the wrong location. It may have been a letter that
Enoch gave to his son, with the book. Or it may have originally been at the
end of the book, as a conclusion. It stands satisfactorily on its own, so I
have kept to the order of the Ethiopian manuscripts.
