1. In the five hundredth year, and in the seventh month, on the
fourteenth _day_ of the month, of the lifetime of Enoch, in that
parable, I saw that the heaven of heavens shook; that it shook
violently; and that the powers of the Most High, and the angels,
thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, were agitated with great
agitation. And when I looked, the Ancient of days was sitting on the
throne of his glory, while the angels and saints were standing around
him. A great trembling came upon me, and terror seized me. My loins were
bowed down and loosened; my reins were dissolved; and I fell upon my
face. The holy Michael; another holy angel, one of the holy ones, was
sent, who raised me up.
2. And when he raised me, my spirit returned; for I was incapable of
enduring this vision of violence, its agitation, and the concussion of
heaven.
3. Then holy Michael said to me, Wherefore art thou disturbed at this
vision?
4. Hitherto has existed the day of mercy; and he has been merciful and
longsuffering towards all who dwell upon the earth.
5. But when the time shall come, then _shall_ the power, the punishment,
and the judgment _take place_, which the Lord of spirits has prepared
for those who prostrate themselves to the judgment of righteousness, for
those who abjure that judgment, and for those who take _his_ name in
vain.
6. That day has been prepared for the elect _as a day of_ covenant; and
for sinners _as a day of_ inquisition.
7. In that day shall be distributed _for food_ two monsters; a female
monster, whose name is Leviathan, dwelling in the depths of the sea,
above the springs of waters;
8. And a male _monster_, whose name is Behemoth; which possesses,
_moving_ on his breast, the invisible wilderness.
9. His name was Dendayen in the east of the garden, where the elect and
the righteous will dwell; where he received _it_ from my ancestor, who
was man, from Adam the first of men, whom the Lord of spirits made.
10. Then I asked of another angel to show me the power of those
monsters, how they became separated on the same day, one _being_ in the
depths of the sea, and one in the dry desert.
11. And he said, Thou, son of man, art here desirous of understanding
secret things.
12.[122] And the angel of peace, who was with me, said, These two
monsters are by the power of God prepared to become food, that the
punishment of God may not be in vain.
13. Then shall children be slain with their mothers, and sons with their
fathers.
14. And when the punishment of the Lord of spirits shall continue, upon
them shall it continue, that the punishment of the Lord of spirits may
not take place in vain. After that, judgment shall exist with mercy and
longsuffering.
Footnote 120:
There is no chap. lviii. in the MS. I have therefore divided chap.
lix. into two parts, denominating this first part chap. lviii.
Footnote 121:
Paris MS.
Footnote 122:
These last three verses, viz. 12, 13, 14, are placed in both MSS. at
the end of chap. lix.; but they so evidently belong to this account of
the Leviathan and Behemoth, that I have ventured to insert them here.