The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

178 THE BOOKS OF ENOCH En^ i vi
[. . 4. , . that your petition will not be executed for you for all the days
of eternity, and] judgement will be [by decision and decree against you,
sthat from now on to heaven you] will not return and [not ascend throughout
all ages, and among the prisoners of the earth] a judgement has been decreed,
[to bind] you [until all the days of eternity; ^and that first you will see]
that for destruction [are all your beloved ones and all] their sons, [and the]
possessions [of your beloved ones and of their sons you will not enjoy for
yourselves; and] before you they will fall upon [the sword of destruction 7...]
The identification of the fragments, except perhaps that of g\
Texts for comparison: En9 i vi 13-17 (see notes ad loc), C, and E.
remains somewhat uncertain.
LI. 6-7 (En. 14: 5). In this verse and in the following one the Aramaic seems to use more
emphatic expressions than those in C.
L. 6. Mr]K€Ti,..dvaPrjTaL (read -re) in C corresponds to K^]1 pDl[nn . . . 11S7]
[]1pOn, where the verb DID
has rather a modal function: *any more . . . never again'.
LL 8-10 (En. 14: 6). L. 8. ilept rovrwv seems to translate the temporal conjunction lin^'Qlp
(cf. n^'aip Dan. 7: 7) or f^X HQlp (cf. HIT nZDlp in 'Empire Aramaic', K^aV HQlp
y?H in iQGenAp xxi 23); well understood in E: wa'MqMma zintu,—This first clause is
abridged in C and E. According to En^ i vi 16 the mention of 'your beloved ones' was followed
by the mention of 'their sons', otherwise Giants and Nephilim: all this is telescoped and
inverted by C in rwv vlojv vfxdjv TCOV dyaTTTjTcov; I assume furthermore the omission of 'all'
before both nouns. The phrase which precedes these genitives, CIST^TC TTIV dnoXiavy weakens
the more emphatic expression: 'you shall see that for the destruction are (destined)'. The
particle ort which should follow cSrjTe was for some reason transferred to the next clause, Kal
ort OVK ecTat . . . , where it should not be, according to En9 1 vi 16.
L. 10. Din ^D3, as in i Sam. 31:4.
THIRD COPY (4QEnS Pis. IX-XV)
The description which follows applies also to the first copy of the Book of
Giants, 4QEnGiants* (see below, pp. 310-17), both En^ and EnGiants*
belonging to the same manuscript.
Skin of a colour which varies from deep cream to very dark brown, thick
and stiff in places; surface smooth or finely granular, damaged or flaking
in parts; back fairly wrinkled. Several fragments have shrunk.
Guide-Hnes moderately broad, not very deep.
Calligraphy from the calamus of a professional and skilful scribe (not,
however, without variations in the shape and size of letters), dating from the
early Herodian period or the last third of the first century B.C. The writing is
characterized by a tendency to use the 'broken' form of the letters, a feature
which recalls the North Syrian Aramaic alphabets, notably Palmyrene.