19. That the child which is born is his child in truth; and that there
is no deception.
20. When Mathusala heard the word of his father Enoch, who had shown him
every secret thing, he returned with understanding,[302] and called the
name of that child Noah; because he was to console the earth on account
of all its destruction.
21. Another book, which Enoch wrote for his son Mathusala, and for those
who should come after him, and preserve their purity of conduct[303] in
the latter days. You, who have laboured, shall wait in those days, until
the evil doers be consumed, and the power of the guilty be annihilated.
Wait, until sin pass away; for their names shall be blotted out of the
holy books; their seed shall be destroyed, and their spirits slain. They
shall cry out and lament in the invisible waste, and in the bottomless
fire shall they burn.[304] There I perceived, as it were, a cloud which
could not be seen through; for from the depth of it I was unable to look
upwards. I beheld also a flame of fire blazing brightly, and, as it
were, glittering mountains whirled around, and agitated from side to
side.
22. Then I inquired of one of the holy angels who was with me, and said,
What is this splendid _object_? For it is not heaven, but a flame of
fire alone which blazes; and _in it there is_ the clamour of
exclamation, of woe, and of great suffering.
23. He said, There, into that place which thou beholdest, shall be
thrust the spirits of sinners and blasphemers; of those who shall do
evil, and who shall pervert all which God has spoken by the mouth of the
prophets; all which they ought to do.
For respecting these things there shall be writings and impressions
above in heaven, that the angels may read them and know what shall
happen both to sinners and to the spirits of the humble; to those who
have suffered in their bodies, but have been rewarded by God; who have
been injuriously treated by wicked men; who have loved God; who have
been attached neither to gold nor silver, nor to any good thing in the
world, but have given their bodies to torment;
24. To those who from the period of their birth[305] have not been
covetous of earthly riches; but have regarded themselves as a breath
passing away.
25. Such has been their conduct;[306] and much has the Lord tried them;
and their spirits have been found pure, that they might bless his name.
All their blessings have I related in a book; and He has rewarded them;
for they have been found to love heaven with an everlasting aspiration.
_God has said_, While they have been trodden down by wicked men, they
have heard from them revilings and blasphemies; and have been
ignominiously treated, while they were blessing me. And now will I call
the spirits of the good from the generation of light, and will change
those who have been born in darkness; who have not in their bodies been
recompensed with glory, as their faith may have merited.
26. I will bring them into the splendid light of those who love my holy
name: and I will place each of them on a throne of glory, of glory
_peculiarly_ his own, and they shall be at rest during unnumbered
periods. Righteous is the judgment of God;
27. For to the faithful shall he give faith in the habitations of
uprightness.[307] They shall see those, who having been born in darkness
unto darkness shall be cast; while the righteous shall be at rest.
Sinners shall cry out, beholding them, while they exist in splendour and
proceed forwards to the days and periods prescribed to them.[308]
Here ends the vision of Enoch the prophet. May the benediction of
his prayer, and the gift of his appointed period, be with his
beloved! Amen.
Footnote 300:
_after days._
Footnote 301:
_a changed son._
Footnote 302:
_seeing._
Footnote 303:
_their state of life._
Footnote 304:
_in the fire shall they burn, where there is no earth._
Footnote 305:
_from the time they were._
Footnote 306:
_And this have they kept._
Footnote 307:
_of upright ways._
Footnote 308:
_written down for them._