1 Enoch / Chapter 59

1 Enoch 59

3 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

A brief chapter describing the secrets of lightning and the lights of the heavens. The chapter catalogs meteorological and celestial phenomena under divine governance.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This short passage continues the Parables' integration of cosmological knowledge with theological revelation. Every natural phenomenon — lightning, thunder, meteorological events — is governed by divine decree and serves purposes known only to God.

Translation Friction

Chapter 59 is extremely brief and appears to be a fragment. Some scholars attach it to chapter 60 as a single unit of cosmological revelation. The material is similar to the Astronomical Book (chapters 72-82) and may derive from the same tradition.

Connections

Job 36:26-37:13 — God's governance of weather. Job 38:22-30 — storehouses of snow and hail. Psalm 135:7 — God brings lightning with the rain. Jeremiah 10:13 — storehouses of wind.

1 Enoch 59:1

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

In those days my eyes saw the secrets of the lightnings and of the lights, and the purposes they fulfill. They flash as either blessing or curse, according to the will of the Lord of Spirits.

REF In those days mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightnings, and of the lights, and the judgements they fulfil; and they lighten for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of Spirits willeth.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Lightning serves dual purposes — blessing and curse — depending on God's will. This dual nature of natural phenomena as instruments of both blessing (rain following lightning) and curse (destructive storms) reflects the biblical understanding of nature as morally responsive to divine intent.

1 Enoch 59:2

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

There I saw the secrets of thunder — how when it resounds in the heavens above, its voice is heard. He showed me the judgments carried out on the earth, whether for well-being and blessing or for a curse, according to the word of the Lord of Spirits.

REF And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, and how when it resoundeth above in the heaven, the sound thereof is heard, and he caused me to see the judgements executed on the earth, whether they be for well-being and blessing, or for a curse according to the word of the Lord of Spirits.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Thunder as 'the voice' heard from heaven carries theological weight — in the Psalms, God's voice is often identified with thunder (Psalm 29:3-9). The Enochic tradition extends this: thunder is not merely a meteorological event but a form of divine speech, carrying judgments to earth.

1 Enoch 59:3

Ge'ez: wa-'em-de'eri zeku — 'and after that'

After that, all the secrets of the lights and lightnings were shown to me — they flash for blessing and for satisfaction.

REF And after that all the secrets of the lights and lightnings were shown to me, and they lighten for blessing and for satisfying.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The final note that lightning flashes 'for satisfaction' (Ge'ez: la-mesba') is unusual. It may mean that the phenomena fulfill God's purposes completely, or that they provide satisfaction/sustenance to the earth through the rains they accompany.

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