8. THE ANGELS WHO KEEP WATCH
20.1 And these are the names of
the Holy Angels who keep watch.
20.2 Uriel, one of the Holy Angels; namely the Holy Angel of the Spirits of
Men.
20.4 Raguel, one of the Holy Angels; who takes vengeance on the world, and on
the lights.
20.5 Michael, one of the Holy Angels, namely the one put in charge of the best
part of humankind, in charge of the nation.
20.6 Saraqael, one of the Holy Angels; who is in charge of the spirits of men
who cause the spirits to sin.
20.7 Gabriel, one of the Holy Angels, who is in charge of the Serpents, and
the Garden, and the Cherubim.
21.1 And I went round to a place where nothing was made.
21.2 And I saw a terrible thing, neither the High Heaven nor the firm ground,
but a desert place, prepared and terrible.
21.3 And there, I saw seven Stars of Heaven, bound on it together, like great
mountains, and burning like fire.
21.4 Then I said: "For what sin have they been bound, and why have they
been thrown here?"
21.5 And Uriel, one of the Holy Angels, who was with me and led me, spoke to
me and said: "Enoch, about whom do you ask? About whom do you inquire,
ask, and care?
21.6 These are some of the stars which transgressed the command of the Lord
Most High, and they have been bound here until ten thousand ages are completed;
the number of days of their sin."
21.7 And from there I went to another place, more terrible than this. And I
saw a terrible thing: there was a great fire there, which burnt and blazed.
And the place had a cleft reaching into the abyss, full of great pillars of
fire, which were made to fall; neither its extent nor its size could I see,
nor could I see its source.
21.8 Then I said: "How terrible this place is, and how painful to look
at!"
21.9 Then Uriel, one of the Holy Angels, who was with me, answered me. He answered
me and said to me: "Enoch, why do you have such fear and terror because
of this terrible place, and before this pain?"
21.10 And he said to me: "This place is the prison of the Angels, and there
they will be held for ever."
22.1 And from there, I went to another place, and he showed me in the west a
large and high mountain, and a hard rock, and four beautiful places.
22.2 And inside, it was deep, wide, and very smooth. How smooth is that which
rolls, and deep and dark to look at!
22.3 Then Raphael, one of the Holy Angels who was with me, answered me, and
said to me: "These beautiful places are there so that the spirits, the
souls of the dead, might be gathered into them. For them they were created;
so that here they might gather the souls of the sons of men.
22.4 And these places they made, where they will keep them until the Day of
Judgment, and until their appointed time, and that appointed time will be long,
until the great judgment comes upon them.
22.5 And I saw the spirits of the sons of men who were dead and their voices
reached Heaven and complained.
22.6 Then I asked Raphael, the Angel who was with me, and said to him: "Whose
is this spirit, whose voice thus reaches Heaven and complains?"
22.7 And he answered me, and said to me, saying: "This spirit is the one
that came out of Abel, whom Cain, his brother, killed. And he will complain
about him until his offspring are destroyed from the face of the Earth, and
from amongst the offspring of men, his offspring perish."
22.8 Then I asked about him, and about judgment on all, and I said: "Why
is one separated from another?"
22.9 And he answered me, and said to me: "These three places where made,
in order that they might separate the spirits of the dead. And thus the souls
of the righteous have been separated; this is the spring of water, and on it
the light.
22.10 Likewise, a place has been created for sinners, when they die, and are
buried in the earth, and judgment has not come upon them during their life.
22.11 And here their souls will be separated for this great torment, until the
Great Day of Judgment and Punishment and Torment for those who curse, forever,
and of vengeance on their souls. And there he will bind them forever. Verily,
He is, from the beginning of the world.
22.12 And thus a place has been separated for the souls of those who complain,
and give information about their destruction, about when they were killed, in
the days of the sinners.
22.13 Thus a place has been created, for the souls of men who are not righteous,
but sinners, accomplished in wrongdoing, and with the wrongdoers will be their
lot. But their souls will not be killed on the day of judgment, nor will they
rise from here."
22.14 Then I blessed the Lord of Glory, and said: "Blessed be my Lord,
the Lord of Glory and Righteousness, who rules everything forever."
23.1 And from there I went to another place, towards the west, to the ends of
the Earth.
23.2 And I saw a fire that burnt and ran, without resting or ceasing from running,
by day or by night, but continued in exactly the same way.
23.3 And I asked saying: "What is this which has no rest?"
23.4 Then Raguel, one of the Holy Angels, who was with me, answered me, and
said to me: "This burning fire, whose course you saw towards the west,
is the fire of all the Lights of Heaven."
Notes
(8) THE ANGELS WHO KEEP
WATCH (pages 35-37)
Here we are introduced to some of the Watchers and then Enoch has a conversation
with them. At first they discuss the punishment of the runaways then the afterlife
in general.
The Watchers may have provided some type of visual display since Enoch describes
what he sees. The description at 22.2 is strange but compelling.
The story of Cain and Abel is mentioned at 22.7 and in the next section the
story of Adam and Eve is mentioned, at 32.6. So, these stories must have existed,
in some form, even in Enoch's time.
