The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

EnMxxvi FIFTH COPY 231
{avTTwv C), En. 20: 3 (C and C; pi. XXIX^ 15-17 and XI^ 4-6). The same archangel appears
again beside Enoch in the Paradise of Righteousness and speaks to him of the tree of wisdom,
En. 32: 6: *Paa'ij\, 6 DYTO? dyyeXos 6 fxer ifxov wv. However, it is Gabriel who, according to
En. 20: 7, is the official *in charge of paradise, of the dragons, and of the cherubim', FaPpi'qX, 6
€LS Twv dylwv dyyiXwv os iwl (O €7T€i C) tov napaSlaov Kal rwv SpaKovrwv Kal x^pov^el (x^povplv
C) (XXIX'' 24-6 and XP 13-16). But the function of Gabriel is that of chief of the guardians
of paradise (Gen. 3: 24: DDDriDOn mnfl DPI^ and D'^DnDH), whilst Raphael features
there in the capacity of the divine watchman of the souls of the patriarchs, including those of
the first parents who are the subject of this passage; cf. i xxvii 9-11.
In En. 24: 6-25: 6 it is the archangel Michael who explains to Enoch the mountain-throne of
God and the tree of life, the fruit of which will serve as nourishment to the just and to the
elect. He makes these revelations because he is in charge of the grove of trees which encircle
the throne of God: MixoL'qXy els rwv dylwv dyy4Xwv os pi€T ipuov TJV Kal avros avrwv (sc. rwv
SevSpwv) 'qyetroy En. 24: 6. This function coincides with that of En. 20: 5: 'Michael, one of
the holy angels, he who is superintendent of the righteous of the people', MT^AIJA (Mrjxa'qX C),
o €LS rwv (rov C) dylwv dyyiXwv 6 inl {os incl C) rwv rov Xaov dyaOwv reraypiivos (RERA/CRAT
C), C(XXIX'- 19-21) and C (X^ 8-10); the addition Kal inl rw x^w (read Xaw Charles),
should come after.
L. 6. The adverb ]1DT was translated in C by STO ovrws, 'because thus', which leads one to
surmise that the Aramaic archetype of the Greek version had ]TD
Ll. 7-8 (En. 22: 7). The special compartment in the abode of the dead reserved for men borne
away by violent death, killed without good reason {ncpl pLrjScvos, 'for nothing', says an inscription
from southern Syria), of whom Abel was the archetype par excellence, reveals the strong
sensitiveness of the ancients to this kind of death. Eloquent proof of this is also given in a long
series of funeral stelae in which supine hands are represented, a brilliant study of which by F.
Cumont appeared in Syria, xiv (1933), 383-95. He also discusses there two remarkable stelae
commemorating two young Jewesses from the island of Delos (cf. A. G. Deissmann, Licht vom
Osten\ 1923, pp. 351-62). See further L. Robert, Collection Froehner, i: Inscriptions grecques,
1936, pp. 54-5 and 122-3, and H. Seyrig, 'Inscriptions grecques'. Appendix II to G. Tchalenko,
Villages antiques de la Syrie du Nord, iii (1958), 31-2, no. 34.
L. 8. Instead of rd i^eXOov, C and E, one would expect O e^rjXOev, Did the Greek translator
confuse the feminine ending of the perfect DjPDl with the feminine ending of the Hebrew
singular participle ?
[4QEn® I xxiii-xxv are missing]
4QEn« 1 xxvi-En. 28: 3-29: 2 and 31: 2-32: 3 (PI XVIII)
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