1 Enoch / Chapter 103

1 Enoch 103

15 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Enoch's answer to the sinners' challenge. He swears by the glory of the Great One and by his own heavenly experience that the spirits of the righteous who have died will live, rejoice, and not perish. Their names are recorded before the Great One. He then catalogs the specific sufferings of the righteous — hunger, persecution, slander, forced labor — and promises that all of it is documented in heaven for vindication.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This chapter contains one of the most developed statements of postmortem hope in pre-Christian Jewish literature. Verses 1-4 explicitly assert that the righteous dead 'will live and rejoice' — their spirits 'will not perish.' This goes beyond Daniel 12:2's resurrection language to describe conscious, joyful existence after death. The catalog of suffering in verses 9-15 reads like a first-person account of persecution, giving it an almost autobiographical quality.

Translation Friction

The basis for Enoch's confidence is personal testimony ('I have read the heavenly tablets') rather than philosophical argument. The chapter offers no rational proof of afterlife — only the prophetic assertion of one who claims to have seen heaven's records firsthand.

Connections

Daniel 12:2-3 — resurrection of the righteous. Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-4 — 'the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.' Luke 6:20-23 — 'Blessed are you who are poor... Blessed are you who are hungry now.' Hebrews 11:35-38 — the catalog of faithful suffering. Revelation 14:13 — 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord... their deeds follow them.'

1 Enoch 103:1

Ge'ez: 'emmahalu lakemu — 'I swear unto you'

I swear to you that in heaven the angels remember you for good before the glory of the Great One. Your names are written before the glory of the Great One.

REF I swear unto you, that in heaven the angels remember you for good before the glory of the Great One: and your names are written before the glory of the Great One.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The angels 'remember you for good' — an active, ongoing advocacy in heaven. This is not merely a record but an intercession. Compare Romans 8:34 — 'Christ Jesus is the one who... is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.'

1 Enoch 103:2

Ge'ez: tesmā — 'be hopeful'

Take hope. Before, you were put to shame through suffering and affliction, but now you will shine like the lights of heaven. You will shine and be seen, and the gates of heaven will be opened to you.

REF Be hopeful; for aforetime ye were put to shame through ill and affliction; but now ye shall shine as the lights of heaven, ye shall shine and ye shall be seen, and the portals of heaven shall be opened to you.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

'You shall shine as the lights of heaven' — this is the direct source for Daniel 12:3 ('those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above') and ultimately Matthew 13:43 ('then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father'). The transformation of the shamed into the luminous is the Epistle's most powerful image of vindication.

1 Enoch 103:3

Ge'ez: wa-ba-gā'yakemu — 'and in your cry'

In your cry, cry out for judgment, and it will come to you. All your suffering will be visited upon the rulers and upon all who helped those who plundered you.

REF And in your cry, cry for judgement, and it shall appear to you; for all your tribulation shall be visited on the rulers, and on all who helped those who plundered you.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Not only the primary oppressors but their helpers — those who assisted, enabled, or profited from the plundering — will face judgment. The expanded circle of accountability echoes Isaiah 10:1-3.

1 Enoch 103:4

Ge'ez: tesmā — 'be hopeful'

Take hope, and do not abandon your hopes — for you will have great joy like the angels of heaven.

REF Be hopeful, and cast not away your hopes; for ye shall have great joy as the angels of heaven.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Joy 'like the angels of heaven' — the righteous will share in the angelic state. Compare Matthew 22:30 — 'in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.'

1 Enoch 103:5

Ge'ez: wa-mā geberkemu — 'what shall ye be obliged to do?'

What will you need to do? Do not be afraid, for you will be companions of the hosts of heaven.

REF What shall ye be obliged to do? Ye need not fear, for ye shall be partners of the hosts of heaven.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The righteous as 'companions of the hosts of heaven' — sharing the community of angels — represents the highest possible honor in the Enochic worldview.

1 Enoch 103:6

Ge'ez: wa-'ebbēl — 'and though you say'

Even though you sinners say, 'Our sins will not be investigated or recorded,' they do write down all your sins every day.

REF And, although ye sinners say: 'All our sins shall not be searched out and be written down,' nevertheless they shall write down all your sins every day.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The sinners' false confidence that their sins go unrecorded is directly refuted. The 'they' who record are the angels — the heavenly scribes whose documentation is comprehensive and ongoing.

1 Enoch 103:7

Ge'ez: wa-ye'zē 'ar'eykemu — 'and now I show you'

Now I show you that light and darkness, day and night, all see your sins.

REF And now I show you that light and darkness, day and night, see all your sins.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Even the natural cycles of light and darkness serve as witnesses. There is no moment — day or night — when sin goes unobserved. Compare Job 34:21-22 — 'For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.'

1 Enoch 103:8

Ge'ez: 'iye-tkun 'akala lebb — 'be not godless in your hearts'

Do not be godless in your hearts. Do not lie or distort the words of uprightness, or accuse the words of the Holy Great One of falsehood, or worship your idols — for all your lying and godlessness lead not to righteousness but to great sin.

REF Be not godless in your hearts, and lie not and alter not the words of uprightness, nor charge with lying the words of the Holy Great One, nor take account of your idols; for all your lying and all your godlessness issue not in righteousness but in great sin.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Charging God's words with 'lying' — denying the truth of divine revelation — is listed alongside idolatry as a fundamental sin. Compare Romans 1:25 — 'they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.'

1 Enoch 103:9

Ge'ez: wa-ye'zē 'a'meru — 'and now I know this mystery'

Now I know this mystery: sinners will alter and twist the words of righteousness in many ways. They will speak wicked words, lie, practice great deception, and write books about their own doctrines.

REF And now I know this mystery, that sinners will alter and pervert the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practise great deceits, and write books concerning their words.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The writing of books promoting false doctrine represents a literary battle for authority. The Enochic community sees rival texts as deliberate distortions. Compare 2 Peter 3:16 — 'the ignorant and unstable twist [Paul's letters] to their own destruction.'

1 Enoch 103:10

Ge'ez: wa-'emma gerum — 'but when they write'

But when they write down all my words accurately in their own languages, and do not alter or subtract anything from my words but record everything faithfully — all that I first testified concerning them —

REF But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or diminish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully — all that I first testified concerning them.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The insistence on faithful transmission of Enoch's words — without alteration, subtraction, or change — parallels Deuteronomy 4:2 ('you shall not add to the word... nor take from it') and Revelation 22:18-19.

1 Enoch 103:11

Ge'ez: wa-kāle' ra'i — 'then another mystery I know'

Then I know another mystery: books will be given to the righteous and wise, becoming a source of joy, uprightness, and great wisdom.

REF Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The promise that the righteous will receive books of wisdom anticipates the concept of a scriptural canon — texts that bring joy and wisdom to the faithful community.

1 Enoch 103:12

Ge'ez: wa-yetwahabu — 'and to them shall the books be given'

The books will be given to them, and they will believe in them and rejoice over them. Then all the righteous who have learned the paths of uprightness from them will be rewarded.

REF And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefrom all the paths of uprightness be recompensed.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The cycle completes: righteous people receive books, learn uprightness from them, and are rewarded. The Enochic literature itself is presented as one such gift — a book that creates righteousness in its readers.

1 Enoch 103:13

Ge'ez: way lakemu 'ella motū — 'woe to you who have died sinners'

Woe to you who die in the company of sinners, whose friends say about you: 'How blessed were the sinners — they enjoyed all their days.'

REF Woe to you who have died in the tribulation of the sinners, when your friends say of you: 'Blessed were the sinners, they have seen all their days.'

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The friends of the dead sinners pronounce a false beatitude — 'blessed were the sinners.' This inverts the true beatitudes of the righteous and reveals a worldview where success in this life is the only measure of blessing.

1 Enoch 103:14

Ge'ez: wa-motū — 'and they have died'

They died in happiness and wealth, never seeing suffering or violence in their lifetime. They died in glory, and no judgment was carried out against them during their lives.

REF And now they have died in happiness and in wealth, and have not seen tribulation and murder in their lifetime; in glory they have died, and judgement was not executed on them during their life.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The sinners' peaceful, wealthy deaths — without visible judgment — are precisely what creates the theological crisis. Compare Psalm 73:3-5 — 'I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death.'

1 Enoch 103:15

Ge'ez: wa-re'eyu — 'know ye'

Know that their souls will be brought down into Sheol, and they will suffer in great anguish. Into darkness, chains, and a burning flame your judgment will descend, and the great judgment will endure for all generations. Woe to you — you will have no peace.

REF Know ye, that their souls will be made to descend into Sheol, and they shall be wretched in their great tribulation. And into darkness and chains and a burning flame shall your judgement descend, and the great judgement shall be for all the generations of the world. Woe to you, for ye shall have no peace.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The threefold punishment — darkness, chains, burning flame — parallels 2 Peter 2:4 ('God... cast [the angels] into chains of gloomy darkness') and Jude 6 ('eternal chains under gloomy darkness'). The 'great judgment for all generations' emphasizes permanence — no reprieve, no appeal.

Chapter 102 Report an error 1 Enoch index Chapter 104