The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

270 THE BOOKS OF ENOCH En* i v
;pxD 12m IX nm-') ]nnisp "PID ntn^i
ix n^ilna"? ana^
[xin na ni&a^i S7iri] '?D'' n m[H b)^ p] xm 12a ix» 20
[ n — b^'D 7]"? nrnn n xm na] ix n'jiD xs7nx n mnsi namx
[nai x^ae? ^nx na VIT "PJD^ n 2?i3x "PID xm uai nmiJi
[p3DiD ]na naDi ]]^Dao pix nDmi pnan xm
[n "7^3 na iD'pni xDiz^p^ iam] nax nax pD^ ]S7DI»4'
^3*?^ pon**! x^pis; nmxi inaoia"? pm x]Dtt?p n m x 25
[ xt&iajx
* *'T seems to be written on *'T.
[. . . who is the man who] can understand the command [of God? "And
who is there of all the children of men] who can hear the words of the Holy
One [and not be troubled, or can think His thoughts] ? Or who is the man
who [can behold all the works of heaven, ^^or] the corner-[pillars] upon which
it (the heaven) rests; [and who (can) see a soul or a spirit and can] return
(from there) to tell [it, or ascend and see the whole community of (spirits)
and think and act like them] ? ^^Or who is there [from the children of] men
who is able [to know and measure what is] the length and the breadth of the
whole earth; or [who is there to whom is shown all its . . .] and its shape?
i^Or what man is there who can [know the length of the heaven and what]
is its height, or how it is supported; [and how great is the number of
the stars] ?
84 lAnd now to you I say, my sons, [love righteousness, and walk in it,
for] the ways of righteousness [are worthy to be accepted, but the ways of
wickedness shall be destroyed and vanish. ^And to the sons] of men [. . .]
The placing of a small fragment at lines 17-18 is a little doubtful; see the note ad loc.
The end of En. 91: 17 (see above, iv 25-6) did not even fill the first line of this column.
Then there came next a section which is not preserved in the Ethiopic text. The end of this
part which has disappeared in this version can be read in the first half of line 15: . .] who
can understand what is the command [of God?]'. This phrase is entirely analogous to those of
lines 15-23 = En. 93: 11-14. I assume, therefore, that this series of rhetorical questions
which describe the transcendence of God in a way similar to that of the Book of Job and of
several sapiential writings from Qumran, a series which was very long in the Aramaic original,
was reduced to almost a third in the Ethiopic version. Besides, this passage constitutes a eulogy
of Enoch (delivered by himself!) who had just accompHshed things inaccessible to simple
mortals, in particular the journeys described in En. i to 36.