Enoch

Enoch 98

An oath to the wise and the foolish

1 And now I swear to you, to the wise and to the foolish,

For you will have many and varied experiences on the earth.

2 For you men will put on more adornments than a woman,

And more colored garments than a virgin:

In royalty and in grandeur and in power,

And in silver and in gold and in purple,

And in splendor and in food they will be poured out like water.

3 Therefore they will be lacking in teaching and wisdom,

And by it they will perish, together with their possessions;

And with all their glory and their splendor,

And in shame and in slaughter and in great destitution,

Their spirits will be cast into the furnace of fire.

Sin was not sent down from heaven

4 I have sworn to you, you sinners: as a mountain has not become a slave,

And a hill does not become a woman’s servant,

So too sin has not been sent upon the earth,

But man has created it himself,

And those who commit it will fall under a great curse.

5 And barrenness has not been given to the woman,

But because of the deeds of her own hands she dies without children.

6 I have sworn to you, you sinners, by the Holy Great One,

That all your evil deeds are revealed in the heavens,

And that none of your deeds of oppression are covered and hidden.

Every sin is written down

7 And do not think in your spirit, or say in your heart, that you do not know and do not see that every sin is recorded in heaven every day in the presence of the Most High. 8 From now on you know that all the oppression you carry out is written down every day, until the day of your judgment.

Woe to you, you fools

9 Woe to you, you fools, for through your folly you will perish. And you transgress against the wise, and so good fortune will not be your portion. 10 And now know that you are prepared for the day of destruction. So do not hope to live, you sinners; you will depart and die, for you know no ransom. You are prepared for the day of the great judgment, for the day of tribulation and great shame for your spirits. 11 Woe to you, you stubborn of heart, who do wickedness and eat blood. Where do you get good things to eat and to drink and to be filled? From all the good things that the Lord the Most High has placed in abundance on the earth. Therefore you will have no peace. 12 Woe to you who love the deeds of unrighteousness. Why do you hope for good fortune for yourselves? Know that you will be handed over into the hands of the righteous, and they will cut off your necks and kill you, and have no mercy on you.

13 Woe to you who rejoice in the tribulation of the righteous, for no grave will be dug for you. 14 Woe to you who treat the words of the righteous as nothing, for you will have no hope of life. 15 Woe to you who write down lying and godless words, for they write down their lies so that people may hear them and act godlessly toward their neighbor. 16 Therefore they will have no peace, but will die a sudden death.