II Enoch Merilo Pravednoe
II Enoch Merilo Pravednoe
Russian scholars were researching a medieval judicial codex called the Just Balance (Merilo Pravednoe), a collection of historical laws and commentaries. And a large group of the manuscripts of II Enoch (MPr, TSS 253, TSS 489, TSS 682) are copies of the compilation of rearranged materials from chs. 40–65 of II Enoch from a judicial codex “The Just Balance” ("Merilo Pravednoe"). The following text is from Slavonic Apocalypse of Enoch (Late First Century A.D.) with Appendix: Enoch II in Merilo Pravednoe
1. Listen, my children! Even before all things did not exist, the LORD established the age of creation. And after that he created the whole creation, visible and invisible; and after all that he created man according to his own image, with his own two hands, small and great and he appointed for him eyes to see and ears to hear and reason to argue.
2. Then the LORD released the age for the sake of man; and he divided it into seasons and years, into months and days and hours; so that a person might think about the changes of the seasons, the beginnings and the endings, so that he might estimate his own life and death.
3. And behold, my children, I am the manager of the arrangements on earth. I wrote them down. And the whole year I combined, and the hours of the day. And the hours I measured; and I wrote down every seed on earth." And I compared every measure and the just balance I measured. And I wrote them down, just as the LORD commanded. And in everything I discovered differences: One year is more worthy than another year, and day than day and hour than hour. Similarly also one person is more worthy than another person: one because of much property; another because of superlative wisdom of the heart; and another because of intelligence and, it could be, silence of the lips.
4. But no one is better than the person who fears the LORD. He who fears the LORD will be glorified forever. Listen, children! In the days of our father Adam, the LORD came down onto the earth, and he inspected all the creatures which he himself had created. And the LORD summoned all the animals of the earth and the beasts and all the flying birds. And he brought them before the face of our father Adam, so that he might pronounce names for all. And Adam named everything on earth.
5. And he subjected to him everything in inferiority. And he made them deaf for all submission and obedience. For every animal soul in that age there is one place, one fold, and one paddock. For the soul of an animal which the LORD created will not be shut up until the judgment. The LORD appointed mankind to all his own property. Concerning this there will not be judgment for every living soul, but for man alone. And all the souls will accuse humans.
6. He who does wickedness to an animal in secret, it is a lawless evil. He acts lawlessly against his own soul. He who does wickedness to a human soul commits wickedness against his own soul. He who commits murder puts his own soul to death, and there is no healing for him for eternity. And he who lies in wait for a person with a net will himself be entangled in it. He who seethes a person in a caldron, his judgment will not come to an end for eternity. He who insults and misprises the face of a human person insults and misprises the face of the LORD. Anger and great judgment for whoever spits in a person's face. Happy is he who directs his heart to every kind of person, and helps him who has been condemned, and gives support to him who has been broken; for in the great judgment day every measure and weight in the market will be exposed, and each one will recognize his own measure, and in it he will receive his reward.
7. And the LORD will send out his great light, and in it will be the judgment, so that who, there, will hide? Before mankind existed, a place of judgment, ahead of time, was prepared for them, and scales and weights by means of which a person will be tested. I the doings of each person will put down, and no one will hide; because the LORD is the one who pays, and he will be the avenger on the great judgment day. Gold and silver lose for the sake of your brother, and you will receive a treasure without end on the day of judgment.
8. To orphan and widow stretch out your hands, and in accordance with your strength help the wretched, and you will be a shelter in the time of testing. Every yoke, afflictive and burdensome, which comes upon you, loose it for the LORD's sake, and you will receive a reward on the day of judgment. Happy is he who praises the works of the LORD and preserves the foundations of the most ancient ancestors, and who cultivates peace and who has peace.
9. Cursed is he who despises the creation of the LORD and who looks to destroy the works of his neighbor and who breaks down the rules and restrictions of his ancestors and who speaks peace but there is not peace in his heart. All this in the balance and in the books will be convicted on the day of the great judgment.
10. Happy is he who judges righteous judgment for orphan and widow, and who helps everyone who has been oppressed. Happy is he in whom is truth, and who speaks truth to his neighbor, and there is kindness in his lips and gentleness. Happy is he who sows righteous seed, and he will reap seven-fold, and who creates righteous judgment, the naked he clothes with a garment, and to the hungry he gives bread. Happy is he who understands the works of the LORD, and glorifies him and who because of his works, acknowledges their creator.
11. I arrived at the place of judgment, and I saw hell open. And I saw there something more, like a prison, judgment unmeasured. And I descended, and I wrote down all the judgments of the judged, and all their accusations I knew. And I sighed and I wept over the perdition of the impious. And I said in my heart, "Happy is he who has never been born, or who, having been born, has not sinned against the face of the LORD, so that he did not come into this place, nor endure the stench of this place."
12. And I saw the guardians of hell standing at the large gates, their faces like those of great serpents and their eyes like extinguished lamps, and their fangs exposed down to their breasts. And I said in their presence, "It would have been better if I had not seen you, nor heard of your activities, nor that any member of my race had been brought to you."
13. Do not say, my children, "Our father is with God, and he will pray us out of sin." You know, all the deeds of every person I continually record; and no one can destroy what I have written, because the LORD sees everything, so that you might do what is good in the face of the LORD, most of all, to every living soul.
14. Just as one asks for his own soul from the LORD, so let him do to every living soul. Now preserve your heart from every unrighteous deed, so that you might inherit the anchor of light forever. And it will be yours in an inheritance of peace when all creation shall come to an end, which the LORD created, each person will go to the LORD's great judgment.
15. Then the seasons will perish and they will no longer constitute the year. Days and hours will not be reckoned. But it will be a single age. And all the righteous will escape the great judgment. And they will gain the great age, and the age will gain the righteous, and they will be eternal. And none of them will have weariness nor sickness nor affliction nor fear of violence nor exhaustion nor night nor darkness; but the great light will be in them, and the great age, an indestructible wall and a shelter, a great and eternal Paradise.
16. Happy are the righteous, who will escape the LORD's great judgment. And they will shine forth like even the sun.