The Book of Enoch 80
Book III The Astronomical Book (Book of the Luminaries) Chapters 72–82 · 3rd century BCE
Uriel shows Enoch the laws of the sun, moon, and stars, and the gates through which they move - the basis for a 364-day solar calendar.
Dating & manuscripts. As old as the Book of the Watchers. The Aramaic copies from Qumran (4QEnastr) are far longer and more technical than the abridged Ethiopic text preserved here.
Its 364-day calendar is the same one defended by the Book of Jubilees and used by the Qumran community, setting it against the lunar calendar of the Jerusalem temple.
1 Enoch is an anthology of five distinct works, composed over roughly three centuries.
Sinners Shall Alter the Courses of the Stars
The angel Uriel revealed everything to Enoch about the sun, moon, leaders of the stars of heaven, their tasks, times and departures.
1nd in those days the angel Uriel answered and said to me: ' Behold, I have shown thee everything, Enoch, and I have revealed everything to thee that thou shouldst see this sun and this moon, and the leaders of the stars of the heaven and all those who turn them, their tasks and times and departures.
2 And in the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened, And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields, And all things on the earth shall alter, And shall not appear in their time: And the rain shall be kept back And the heaven shall withhold (it).
3 And in those times the fruits of the earth shall be backward, And shall not grow in their time, And the fruits of the trees shall be withheld in their time.
4 And the moon shall alter her order, And not appear at her time.
5 And in those days the sun shall be seen and he shall journey in the evening on the extremity of the great chariot in the west And shall shine more brightly than accords with the order of light.
6 And many chiefs of the stars shall transgress the order (prescribed). And these shall alter their orbits and tasks, And not appear at the seasons prescribed to them.
7 And the whole order of the stars shall be concealed from the sinners, And the thoughts of those on the earth shall err concerning them, And they shall be altered from all their ways, Yea, they shall err and take them to be gods.
8 And evil shall be multiplied upon them, And punishment shall come upon them So as to destroy all.'
Did You Know?
The angel Uriel revealed everything to Enoch about the sun, moon, leaders of the stars of heaven, their tasks, times and departures.
In the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened, their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields, and the rain shall be kept back.
The fruits of the earth shall be backward and not grow in their time and the fruits of the trees shall be withheld in their time.
The moon shall alter her order and the sun shall journey in the evening on the extremity of the great chariot in the west.
Many chiefs of the stars shall transgress the order and alter their orbits and tasks and the sinners shall take them to be gods.
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Commentary
In brief
Uriel reveals to Enoch the orders of the sun, moon, and stars, then describes the days of the sinners when years shorten, rains fail, fruits delay, the moon and sun alter their courses, stars stray from their paths, people err by regarding them as gods, and punishment destroys all.