THE PARABLES
The Third Parable
- The Blessedness of the Saints.
Chapter 58
1 I now begin to declare the third parable, concerning the righteous and the elect.
2 Happy are ye, Oh ye righteous and elect,
For your lot is glorious.
3 The righteous shall exist in the light of the sun,
And the elect in the light of everlasting life,
The days of whose life shall never end,
And the days of the saints shall not be numbered,
4 Who seek for light,
And obtain righteousness with the Lord of Spirits.
Peace be to the righteous with the Lord of the world.
5 Henceforth the saints shall be told that they must seek in heaven
For the secrets of righteousness, the portion of faith,
For like the sun it has risen upon the earth,
And darkness has vanished away.
6 And there shall be light which shall never end,
And they shall never attempt to number their days,
For before that darkness shall be destroyed,
And light will become strong before the Lord of Spirits,
The light of uprightness will become strong before the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.
- The Lights and the Thunder.
Chapter 59
1 In those days my eyes beheld the secrets of the lightnings, and the glances, and their judgment. They lighten for a blessing, and an execration, according to the will of the Lord of Spirits.
2 And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, when it cracks above in heaven, and its sound is heard. Also the habitations of the earth were shewn to me, the sound of the thunder is for peace, and for blessing, as well as for an execration, according to the word of the Lord of Spirits.
3 Afterward every secret of the glances, and of the lightnings was seen by me, for blessing and for fertility they lighten.
- Quaking of Heaven: Behemoth and Leviathan: the Elements.
Chapter 60
1 In the five hundredth year, in the seventh month, on the fourteenth day of the month of the lifetime of Enoch, in that parable, I saw that the heaven of heavens shook with a powerful shake, and that the powers of the Most High, and the angels, thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, were agitated with a great agitation.
2 And immediately I saw the Creator of Days sitting on the throne of his glory, and the angels, and the righteous standing around Him.
3 A great trembling came upon me,And terror seized me,My loins were bowed down and relaxed,My whole were loosened,And I fell on my face.
4 The holy Michael, another holy angel, one of the Holy Ones, was sent to me, and he raised me up. And when he had raised me up, my spirit returned, for I was not able to endure this vision of power, its agitation, and the concussion of heaven.
5 Then holy Michael said to me, “Wherefore art thou affrighted at such a vision?”
This day was the day of mercy, and He has been merciful and forbearing towards all who dwell on the earth.
6 But when the day shall come, and the power, and the punishment, and the judgment, which the Lord of Spirits has prepared for those who humble themselves before the judgment of righteousness, for those who deny that judgment of righteousness, and for those who take his name in vain. That day has been prepared for the covenant of the elect, and for the examination of sinners.
7 In that day there shall be distributed two monsters, a female monster, whose name is Leviathan, because it dwells in the depths of the sea above the springs of water.
8 And a male monster whose name is Behemoth, which occupies with his breast the invisible desert. His name was Dendayen in the east of the garden, where the elect and the righteous will dwell, where he received it from my ancestor who was man, from Adam the first of men, whom the Lord of Spirits made.
9 And I asked that angel to shew me the power of these monsters, how they became divided on the same day, one being put into the depths of the sea, and one on the earth in the desert.
10 And he said, “Son of man, thou here desirest to know what is concealed.”
11 Then another angel, who went with me spoke to me. And he shewed me the first and last secrets in the height of heaven, and in the depths of the earth, and in the ends and foundations of heaven,
12 and in the receptacles of the winds. He shewed me how their spirits were divided, how they were balanced, and how both the springs and the winds were numbered according to the strength of the spirits. He shewed me the power of the light of the moon, that its power is justice, and the divisions of the stars, their particular names, that every division is divided,
13 that the thunder falls down, that every part which is parted is flash with flash, that their host immediately obey,
14 that the thunder has a resting place. It is endowed with a perseverance in its sound. And the thunder and lightning are not divided, nor move they both with one spirit, yet they are not divided.
15 For when the lightning lightens, the thunder gives a sound, and at its time the spirit rests, and makes an equal division between them. For the provision of their time is as sand, and each of them at its time is restrained with a bridle, and turned by the power of the spirit, which thus propels them according to the abundance of the land of the earth.
16 The spirit of the sea also is powerful and strong. And like a strong power draws it back with a bridle, so it is driven forward, and dispersed against the mountains of the earth.
17 The spirit of the frost has its angel, in the spirit of hail there is a good angel.
18 The spirit of snow on account of its strength has a separate spirit, which ascends from it like vapour, and its name is refrigeration.
19 The spirit of mist is not in union with them in their receptacle, but it has a receptacle by itself, for its mutation is in splendour. In light, and in darkness, in winter, and in summer, its receptacle is bright, and an angel is there.
20 The spirit of dew has its place in the ends of heaven in connection with the receptacle of rain, and its mutation is in winter and in summer, and its cloud and the cloud of the mist are united, one gives to the other.
21 And when the spirit of rain moves from its receptacle, angels come, and open its receptacle, and bring it forth. When it is scattered over all the earth, it unites at every time with the water on the earth, for the waters are a part which is found on the earth
22 to be nourishment for the earth from the Most High, who is in heaven. Therefore there is a measure in the rain, which the angels receive.
23 I saw all these things, even to the Garden of the Righteous.
24 And the angel of peace who was with me said to me, “These two monsters are by the power of the Almighty prepared to become needful of food,
25 that the punishment of the Almighty may not be in vain. Then children shall be slain with their mothers, and sons with their fathers. And when the punishment of the Lord of Spirits rests upon them, so it shall rest upon them, that the punishment of the Lord of Spirits may not come upon them in vain. In the end there will be a judgment according to his mercy and forbearance.”