Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil (23 page)

6 Woe to you who drink water at pleasure; for suddenly shall you be recompensed, consumed, and withered, because you have forsaken the fountain of life.

7 Woe to you who act iniquitously, fraudulently, and blasphemously; there shall be a remembrance against you for evil.

8 Woe to you, ye powerful, who with power strike down righteousness; for the day of your destruction shall come;
while
at that very time many and good days shall be the portion of the righteous,
even
at the period of your judgment.

1 The righteous are confident that sinners will be disgraced, and perish in the day of iniquity.

2 You shall yourselves be conscious of it; for the Most High will remember your destruction, and the angels shall rejoice over it. What will you do ye sinners, and where will you fly in the day of judgment, when you shall hear the words of the prayer of the righteous?

3 You are not like them who in this respect witness against you; you are associates of sinners.

4 In those days shall the prayers of the righteous come up before the Lord. When the day of your judgment shall arrive; and every circumstance of your iniquity be related before the great and the holy One;

5 Your faces shall be covered with shame; while every deed, strengthened by crime, shall be rejected.

6 Woe unto you, sinners, who in the midst of the sea, and on dry land, are those against whom an evil record exists. Woe to you who squander silver and gold, not obtained in righteousness, and say, We are rich, possess wealth, and have acquired everything which we can desire.

7 Now then will we do whatsoever we are disposed to do; for we have amassed silver; our barns are full, and the husbandmen of our families are like overflowing water.

8 Like water shall your falsehood pass away; for your wealth will not be permanent, but shall suddenly ascend from you, because you have obtained it all iniquitously; to extreme malediction shall you be delivered up.

9 And now I swear to you, ye crafty, as well as simple ones; that you, often contemplating the earth, you
who are
men, clothe yourselves more elegantly than married women, and both together more so than unmarried ones [or, “than a woman and more coloured (garments) than a girl” (Knibb, p. 230)], everywhere
arraying yourselves
in majesty, in magnificence, in authority, and in silver: but gold, purple, honour, and wealth, like water, flow away.

10 Erudition therefore and wisdom are not theirs. Thus shall they perish, together with their riches, with all their glory, and with their honours;

11 While with disgrace, with slaughter, and in extreme penury, shall their spirits be thrust into a furnace of fire.

12 I have sworn to you, ye sinners, that neither mountain nor hill has been or shall be subservient [literally, “a servant.” Perhaps in furnishing them with treasures for ornaments (Laurence, p. 159)] to woman.

13 Neither in this way has crime been sent down to us upon earth, but men of their own heads have invented it; and greatly shall those who give it efficiency be execrated.

14 Barrenness shall not be
previously
inflicted on woman; but on account of the work of her hands shall she die childless.

15 I have sworn to you, ye sinners, by the holy and the Great One, that all your evil deeds are disclosed in the heavens; and that none of your oppressive acts are concealed and secret.

16 Think not in your minds, neither say in your hearts, that every crime is not manifested and seen. In heaven it is daily written down before the Most High. Henceforwards shall it be manifested; for every act of oppression which you commit shall be daily recorded, until the period of your condemnation.

17 Woe to you, ye simple ones, for you shall perish in your simplicity. To the wise you will not listen, and that which is good you shall not obtain.

18 Now therefore know that you are destined to the day of destruction; nor hope that sinners shall live; but in process of time you shall die; for you are not marked for redemption;

19 But are destined to the day of the great judgment, to the day of distress, and the extreme ignominy of your souls.

20 Woe to you, ye obdurate in heart, who commit crime, and feed on blood. Whence
is it that
you feed on good things, drink, and are satiated? Is it not because our Lord, the Most High, has abundantly supplied every good thing upon earth? To you there shall not be peace.

21 Woe to you who love the deeds of iniquity. Why do you hope for that which is good? Know that you shall be given up into the hands of the righteous; who shall cut off your necks, slay you, and show you no compassion.

22 Woe to you who rejoice in the trouble of the righteous; for a grave shall not be dug for you.

23 Woe to you who frustrate the word of the righteous; for to you there shall be no hope of life.

24 Woe to you who write down the word of falsehood, and the word of the wicked; for their falsehood they record, that they may hear and not forget folly.

25 To them there shall be no peace; but they shall surely die suddenly.

1 Woe to them who act impiously, who laud and honour the word of falsehood. You have been lost in perdition; and have never led a virtuous life.

2 Woe to you who change the words of integrity. They transgress against the everlasting decree [or, “they distort the eternal law” (Knibb, p. 232)];

3 And cause the heads of those who are not sinners to be trodden down upon the earth.

4 In those days you, O ye righteous, shall have been deemed worthy of having your prayers rise up in remembrance; and shall have deposited them in testimony before the angels, that they might record the sins of sinners in the presence of the Most High.

5 In those days the nations shall be overthrown; but the families of the nations shall rise again in the day of perdition.

6 In those days they who become pregnant shall go forth, carry off their children, and forsake them. Their offspring shall slip from them, and while suckling them shall they forsake them; they shall never return to them, and never instruct their beloved.

7 Again I swear to you, ye sinners, that crime has been prepared for the day of blood, which never ceases.

8 They shall worship stones, and engrave golden, silver, and wooden images. They shall worship impure spirits, demons, and every idol, in temples; but no help shall be obtained for them. Their hearts shall become impious through their folly, and their eyes be blinded with mental superstition [literally, “with the fear of their hearts” (Laurence, p. 162)]. In their visionary dreams shall they be impious and superstitious, lying in all their actions, and worshipping a stone. Altogether shall they perish.

9 But in those days blessed shall they be, to whom the word of wisdom is delivered; who point out and pursue the path of the Most High; who walk in the way of righteousness, and who act not impiously with the impious.

10 They shall be saved.

11 Woe to you who expand the crime of your neighbour; for in hell shall you be slain.

12 Woe to you who lay the foundation of sin and deceit, and who are bitter on earth; for on it shall you be consumed.

13 Woe to you who build your houses by the labour of others, every part of which is constructed with brick, and with the stone of crime; I tell you, that you shall not obtain peace.

14 Woe to you who despise the extent of the everlasting inheritance of your fathers, while your souls follow after idols; for to you there shall be no tranquillity.

15 Woe to them who commit iniquity, and give aid to blasphemy, who slay their neighbour until the day of the great judgment; for your glory shall fall; malevolence shall He put into your hearts, and the spirit of his wrath shall stir
you
up, that every one of you may perish by the sword.

16 Then shall all the righteous and the holy remember your crimes.

1 In those days shall fathers be struck down with their children in the presence of each other; and brethren with their brethren shall fall dead: until a river shall flow from their blood.

2 For a man shall not restrain his hand from his children, nor from his children’s children; his mercy will be to kill them.

3 Nor shall the sinner restrain his hand from his honoured brother. From the dawn of day to the setting sun shall the slaughter continue. The horse shall wade up to his breast, and the chariot shall sink to its axle, in the blood of sinners.

1 In those days the angels shall descend into places of concealment, and gather together in one spot all who have assisted in crime.

2 In that day shall the Most High rise up to execute the great judgment upon all sinners, and to commit the guardianship of all the righteous and holy to the holy angels, that they may protect them as the apple of an eye, until every evil and every crime be annihilated.

3 Whether
or not
the righteous sleep securely, wise men shall then truly perceive.

4 And the sons of the earth shall understand every word of that book, knowing that their riches cannot save them in the ruin of their crimes.

5 Woe to you, ye sinners, when you shall be afflicted on account of the righteous in the day of the great trouble; shall be burnt in the fire; and be recompensed according to your deeds.

6 Woe to you, ye perverted in heart, who are watchful to obtain an accurate knowledge of evil, and to discover terrors. No one shall assist you.

7 Woe to you, ye sinners; for with the words of your mouths, and with the work of your hands, have you acted impiously; in the flame of a blazing fire shall you be burnt.

8 And now know ye, that the angels shall inquire into your conduct in heaven; of the sun, the moon, and the stars,
shall they inquire
respecting your sins; for upon earth you exercise jurisdiction over the righteous.

9 Every cloud shall bear witness against you, the snow, the dew, and the rain: for all of them shall be withholden from you, that they may not descend upon you, nor become subservient to your crimes.

10 Now then bring gifts of salutation to the rain; that, not being withholden, it may descend upon you; and to the dew, if it has received from you gold and silver. But when the frost, snow, cold, every snowy wind, and every suffering belonging to them, fall upon you, in those days you will be utterly incapable of standing before them.

1 Attentively consider heaven, all ye progeny of heaven, and all ye works of the Most High; fear him, nor conduct yourselves criminally before him.

2 If He shut up the windows of heaven, restraining the rain and dew, that it may not descend upon earth on your account, what will you do?

3 And if He send his wrath upon you, and upon all your deeds, you are not they who can supplicate him; you who utter against his righteousness, language proud and powerful. To you there shall be no peace.

4 Do you not see the commanders of ships, how their vessels are tossed about by the waves, torn to pieces by the winds, and exposed to the greatest peril?

5 That they therefore fear, because their whole property is embarked with them on the ocean; and that they forbode evil in their hearts, because it may swallow them up, and they may perish in it?

6 Is not the whole sea, all its waters, and all its commotion, the work of him, the Most High; of him who has sealed up all its exertions, and girded it on every side with sand?

7
Is it not
at his rebuke dried up, and alarmed; while all its fish with everything
contained
in it die? And will not you, ye sinners, who are on earth, fear him? Is not He the maker of heaven and earth, and of all things which are in them?

8 And who has given erudition and wisdom to all that move
progressive
upon the earth, and over the sea?

9 Are not the commanders of ships terrified at the ocean? And shall not sinners be terrified at the Most High?

1 In those days, when He shall cast the calamity of fire upon you, whither will you fly, and where will you be safe?

2 And when He sends forth his word against you, are you not spared, and terrified?

3 All the luminaries are agitated with great fear; and all the earth is spared, while it trembles, and suffers anxiety.

4 All the angels fulfil the commands
received
by them, and are desirous of being concealed from the presence of the great Glory; while the children of the earth are alarmed and troubled.

5 But you, ye sinners, are for ever accursed; to you there shall be no peace.

6 Fear not, ye souls of the righteous; but wait with patient hope for the day of your death in righteousness. Grieve not, because your souls descend in great trouble, with groaning, lamentation, and sorrow, to the receptacle of the dead. In your lifetime your bodies have not received a recompense in proportion to your goodness, but in the period of your existence have sinners existed; in the period of execration and of punishment.

7 And when you die, sinners say concerning you, “As we die, the righteous die. What profit have they in their works? Behold, like us, they expire in sorrow and in darkness. What advantage have they over us? Henceforward are we equal. What will be within their grasp, and what before their eyes for ever? For behold they are dead; and never will they again perceive the light.” I say unto you, ye sinners, You have been satiated with meat and drink, with human plunder and rapine, with sin, with the acquisition of wealth and with the sight of good days. Have you not marked the righteous, how their end is in peace? for no oppression is found in them even to the day of their death. They perish, and are as if they were not, while their souls descend in trouble to the receptacle of the dead.

1 But now I swear to you, ye righteous, by the greatness of his splendour and his glory; by his illustrious kingdom and by his majesty, to you I swear, that I comprehend this mystery; that I have read the tablet of heaven, have seen the writing of the holy Ones, and have discovered what is written and impressed on it concerning you.