XXI. _Preliminary and final place of punishment of the fallen angels
(stars)._
XXI. 1. And I proceeded to where things were chaotic. 2. And I saw there
something horrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded
earth, but a place chaotic and horrible. 3. And there I saw seven stars
of the heaven bound together in it, like great mountains and burning
with fire. 4. Then I said: ‘For what sin are they bound, and on what
account have they been cast in hither?’ 5. Then said Uriel, one of the
holy angels, who was with me, and was chief over them, and said: ‘Enoch,
why dost thou ask, and why art thou eager for the truth? 6. These are of
the number of the stars ⌜of heaven⌝ which have transgressed the
commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand years, the
time entailed by their sins, are consummated.’ 7. And from thence I went
to another place, which was still more horrible than the former, and I
saw a horrible thing: a great fire there which burnt and blazed, and the
place was cleft as far as the abyss, being full of great descending
columns of fire: neither its extent or magnitude could I see, nor could
I conjecture. 8. Then I said: ‘How fearful is the place and how terrible
to look upon!’ 9. Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was
with me, and said unto me: ‘Enoch, why hast thou such fear and
affright?’ And I answered: ‘Because of this fearful place, and because
of the spectacle of the pain.’ 10. And he said 〚unto me〛: ‘This place is
the prison of the angels, and here they will be imprisoned for ever.’