1 Enoch / Chapter 56

1 Enoch 56

8 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Enoch sees hosts of angels of punishment preparing to unleash destructive forces. Armies from the east march against the Parthians and Medes, who then attack the land of the elect (Israel). The nations destroy each other in a great battle, and the scattered children of Israel return from the east and west.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This is one of the few passages in the Parables that includes specific geo-political references (Parthians, Medes). The vision of foreign armies attacking Israel only to destroy each other echoes Ezekiel 38-39's Gog and Magog battle, where God turns enemies against each other. The return of the diaspora from all directions reflects the ingathering prophecies of Isaiah 11:11-12 and 43:5-6.

Translation Friction

The Parthian and Mede references may date the Parables to a period when these nations posed a real threat to the eastern Mediterranean world (1st century BCE). Some scholars use this passage as evidence for dating the entire Parables section. The political specificity sits uneasily within the otherwise cosmic and timeless framing of the Parables.

Connections

Ezekiel 38-39 — Gog and Magog attack Israel and destroy each other. Isaiah 11:11-12 — the second regathering from Assyria, Egypt, and the nations. Zechariah 14:13 — enemies struck with confusion and fighting each other. Revelation 20:8-9 — Gog and Magog gathered for battle.

1 Enoch 56:1

Ge'ez: wa-re'iku heyya — 'and I saw there'

I saw the armies of the angels of punishment going forth, holding scourges and chains of iron and bronze.

REF And I saw there the hosts of the angels of punishment going, and they held scourges and chains of iron and bronze.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The angels of punishment carry instruments of war — scourges for inflicting pain and chains for binding. The metals (iron and bronze) echo the military materials of chapter 52, now repurposed as instruments of divine justice rather than human warfare.
1 Enoch 56:2

Ge'ez: wa-se'alku mal'aka — 'and I asked the angel'

I asked the angel of peace who accompanied me: 'Where are those carrying the scourges going?'

REF And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: 'To whom are these who hold the scourges going?'

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The familiar question-and-answer format of apocalyptic dialogue.
1 Enoch 56:3

Ge'ez: wa-yebēlani — 'and he said'

He told me: 'To their chosen and beloved ones, to cast them into the chasm of the abyss of the valley.'

REF And he said unto me: 'To their elect and beloved ones, that they may be cast into the chasm of the abyss of the valley.'

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The 'chosen and beloved ones' here refers ironically to those chosen for punishment — the followers of the fallen angels. The language mirrors the positive 'chosen and beloved' used for the righteous, creating a dark symmetry: God has his elect, and Satan has his.
1 Enoch 56:4

Ge'ez: wa-ye'eti 'emkama — 'and that valley'

That valley will be filled with their chosen and beloved, and the days of their lives will be finished, and the days of their leading others astray will no longer be counted.

REF And then that valley shall be filled with their elect and beloved, and the days of their lives shall be at an end, and the days of their leading astray shall not thenceforward be reckoned.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The punishment terminates two things: their lives and their influence. The 'days of leading astray' ending means their corrupting power over humanity is permanently broken.
1 Enoch 56:5

Ge'ez: wa-ba-ye'eti mawā'el — 'and in those days'

In those days the angels will return and hurl themselves eastward against the Parthians and Medes. They will stir up the kings so that a spirit of turmoil comes upon them, rousing them from their thrones to break forth like lions from their lairs, like hungry wolves among their flocks.

REF And in those days the angels shall return and hurl themselves to the east upon the Parthians and Medes: they shall stir up the kings, so that a spirit of unrest shall come upon them, and they shall rouse them from their thrones, that they may break forth as lions from their lairs, and as hungry wolves among their flocks.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The Parthians and Medes are historical empires east of Israel. Their mention provides one of the few datable references in the Parables, suggesting a period when Parthia was a major power (1st century BCE through 3rd century CE).
  2. God uses pagan nations as instruments of judgment — the same theology as Isaiah's 'Assyria, rod of my anger' (Isaiah 10:5). The angelic stirring of kings echoes 1 Kings 22:19-23 where a spirit from the divine council influences earthly rulers.
1 Enoch 56:6

Ge'ez: wa-ye'allu — 'and they shall go up'

They will march up and trample the land of his chosen ones; the land of his chosen ones will become a threshing floor and a highway before them.

REF And they shall go up and tread under foot the land of His elect ones, and the land of His elect ones shall be before them a threshing-floor and a highway.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The 'land of his chosen ones' is Israel/Palestine. The invaders trample it as a threshing floor — an image of devastating agricultural destruction — and use it as a highway, a mere corridor for military movement. The desolation of the holy land is a necessary prelude to divine intervention.
1 Enoch 56:7

Ge'ez: wa-yekawwen maggabihomu — 'and their city shall be'

But the city of my righteous will be a barrier to their horses. They will begin to fight among themselves — their own right hand strong against themselves — until a man does not recognize his brother, nor a son his father or mother, until the corpses are beyond counting. And their punishment will not be in vain.

REF But the city of my righteous shall be a hindrance to their horses. And they shall begin to fight among themselves, and their right hand shall be strong against themselves, and a man shall not know his brother, nor a son his father or his mother, till there be no number of the corpses through their slaughter, and their punishment be not in vain.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The invaders destroy each other — the classic Gog-and-Magog pattern from Ezekiel 38:21 ('every man's sword will be against his brother'). God does not need to intervene directly; the enemies' own violence becomes self-consuming.
  2. The breakdown of family recognition (brother against brother, son against parents) echoes Micah 7:6 and Jesus's prediction in Matthew 10:35-36 ('I have come to set a man against his father').
1 Enoch 56:8

Ge'ez: wa-ba-ye'eti mawā'el — 'and in those days'

In those days Sheol will open its jaws and swallow them up, and their destruction will be complete. Sheol will devour the sinners in the presence of the chosen.

REF In those days Sheol shall open its jaws, and they shall be swallowed up therein, and their destruction shall be at an end; Sheol shall devour the sinners in the presence of the elect.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Sheol personified as a devouring beast with open jaws echoes Isaiah 5:14 ('Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure') and Numbers 16:30-33 (the earth opening to swallow Korah). The elect witness the destruction — vindication requires visibility.
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