3 Enoch (Hebrew Enoch) 16
Each verse number opens that verse. The numbers follow Odeberg’s 1928 edition. 3 Enoch (Hebrew Enoch) has the history and the issues with this book.
- R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, the Glory of all heaven, said to me: At first I was sitting upon a great Throne at the door of the Seventh Hall; and I was judging the children of heaven, the household on high by authority of the Holy One, blessed be He. And I divided Greatness, Kingship, Dignity, Rulership, Honour and Praise, and Diadem and Crown of Glory unto all the princes of kingdoms, while I was presiding (lit. sitting) in the Celestial Court ( Yeshiba), and the princes of kingdoms were standing before me, on my right and on my left—by authority of the Holy One, blessed be He.
- But when Acher came to behold the vision of the Merkaba and fixed his eyes on me, he feared and trembled before me and his soul was affrighted even unto departing from him, because of fear, horror and dread of me, when he beheld me sitting upon a throne like a king with all the ministering angels standing by me as my servants and all the princes of kingdoms adorned with crowns surrounding me:
- in that moment he opened his mouth and said: “Indeed, there are two Divine Powers in heaven!”
- Forthwith Bath Qol (the Divine Voice) went forth from heaven from before the Shekina and said: “Return, ye backsliding children (Jer. iii. 22), except Acher!”
- Then came ‘Aniyel, the Prince, the honoured, glorified, beloved, wonderful, revered and fearful one, in commission from the Holy One, blessed be He and gave me sixty strokes with lashes of fire and made me stand on my feet.
Hugo Odeberg’s translation in 3 Enoch or The Hebrew Book of Enoch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928). Public domain in the United States only, because the book was published in 1928. Odeberg died in 1973, so the translation is still under copyright in countries that count 70 years from the author’s death. The verses are transcribed from the Internet Archive scan 3enochorhebrewbo00unse (Princeton Theological Seminary Library); translation pages 22–23, missing from that scan, are from the scan ksigaxiienochorthehebrewbookofenoch_202012. Odeberg’s chapter summaries, critical apparatus, notes, and italics are left out, and the underdots in his transliterations are not reproduced. Where he prints parallel recensions in columns, the first column, which carries his base manuscript A, is used. His additional sections 15B, 22B, 22C, and 48B–48D are not included; chapter 48 is his 48A.