The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

En^iv SEVENTH COPY 271
The text of verses iic to 14 is composed of two tetrastichs, the first of which (verses iic and
12) describes the heavenly abode and its inhabitants, whilst the second (verses 13 and 14)
calls for admiration of the expanse of the earth and of heaven and also the incalculable number of
heavenly bodies.
LI. 14-15. Towards the end of Hne 14 began the second colon of a tetrastich which expressed
the inscrutability of God to human intelligence.
L. 15. Probably read DS7D!l, followed by a name of God, or else [n]ZDS7DD: the lower lefthand
angle of the Teth is very thick, just like the Teth which is found at line 22 of the preceding
column.
LI. 15-17 (En. 93: 11). The third phrase of this verse in E, *and who is there that can behold
all the works (plural with E*) of heaven', is more or less repeated in the two first phrases of the
following verse, 93: 12: *and how should there be one who could behold the heaven, and who is
there that could understand the work of heaven'. Note, moreover, that E^ omits *behold (. . .
behold)' of verses iic-i2a, whilst E"^ omits *could (behold . . . could) understand' in v. 12.
E does not, on the other hand, have the phrase of our lines 17 end-i8 first part. One may assume
that En« omitted these two phrases by homoeoteleuton. Seeing, however, their repetitious and
superfluous character I suppose that Abyssinian copyists were trying, in various ways, to
account for an insertion-mark, traced on the margin of ancient exemplars, which indicated that
a phrase had been omitted. This phrase was actually inserted further on in a wrong place; see
the note to line 23.
^ 0 0 0 0 0
LI. 17-18. The letters **T of line 17 and Hin** ] of line 18 are found on the small fragment e\
the Daleth which is retraced on the Zain, just as in i iii 25, is more legible on an earlier
photograph, PAM 42. 458.
LI. 17-19 (En. 93: 12). For the first half of v. 12 in E see the note to lines 15-17.—The text
of En«, line 17 end-line 18 first part, is missing in E, but see the note to line 23.
L. 18. The term X'^IT, *the angles', should have been preceded by a noun like 'stones' (]3X
nniD Job 38: 6; Tov XiOov TTJS yoivLas En. 18: 2) or like 'corners' (D^'IT y^^p
in Mishnaic
Hebrew) or even, the most likely solution, we must supply the term 'pillars', drawing on
En. 18: 2-3 (the four winds which are 'the pillars of heaven') and on Job 26: 11 (D^'DB? ''LLFIS?).
L. 19. [n*'3]nQ^ 3nQ^, 'to return (from there) to tell it': an allusion to the ultra-terrestrial
journeys of Enoch, in particular to that in the abode of souls. En. 22. E has only 'to tell thereof.
—The end of the verse falls in the lacuna of Ens. In the text of E, 'or ascend and see all their
extremities (^akndfihomu), and think them or act like them', there is an unmistakable reference
to the final translation of Enoch and to his sojourn in the community of the angels. I restore
PNMSI? in line with Sir. 16:17: DIK "PD DINN NISI?a nai (omit "73
DIX *'33 with the ancient versions and a quotation from Sa'adya). See further the note to
En* I i 6-8.
LI. 20-2 (En. 93: 13). At line 20, to 'who can know' in E there corresponded perhaps in the
Aramaic 'who can know and measure'.
L. 21. 'The length and the breadth' inverted in E.
L. 22. is the defective spelling of HmiS, 'its shape, form, figure'; omitted in E.
LI. 22-3 (En. 93: 14). At line 23 there is no space at all in the lacuna for the phrase of E,
'and where all the luminaries rest'. I think that we find here the reduced text of lines 17 end-i8
first
part, with 'all the luminaries' replacing 'the corner-pillars (of heaven)'. This phrase