Thematic parallel
The dead awaiting judgement
Enoch sees separated places for the spirits of the dead and asks why they are divided. Luke's account of the rich man and Lazarus also includes separation after death, but develops it through a dialogue about suffering, comfort and hearing Moses and the prophets.
Read these as distinct passages with their own references. The columns compare a relationship between works; they do not align equivalent verses or highlight translation differences.
Ethiopian collection
R. H. Charles
1 Enoch 22:1–14
1 And thence I went to another place, and he showed me in the west ⌜another⌝ great and high mountain [and] of hard rock.
2 And there was in it †four† hollow places, deep and wide and very smooth. †How† smooth are the hollow places and deep and dark to look at.
3 Then Raphael answered, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: ‘These hollow places have been created for this very purpose, that the spirits of the souls of the dead should assemble therein, yea that all the souls of the children of men should assemble here.
4 And these places have been made to receive them till the day of their judgement and till their appointed period [till the period appointed], till the great judgement (comes) upon them.’
5 I saw the spirits of the children of men who were dead, and their voice went forth to heaven and made suit.
6 Then I asked Raphael the angel who was with me, and I said unto him: ‘This spirit—whose is it whose voice goeth forth and maketh suit?’
7 And he answered me saying: ‘This is the spirit which went forth from Abel, whom his brother Cain slew, and he makes his suit against him till his seed is destroyed from the face of the earth, and his seed is annihilated from amongst the seed of men.’
8 Then I asked regarding it, and regarding all the hollow places: ‘Why is one separated from the other?’
9 And he answered me and said unto me: ‘These three have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And such a division has been made ‹for› the spirits of the righteous, in which there is the bright spring of water.
10 And such has been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed on them in their lifetime.
11 Here their spirits shall be set apart in this great pain till the great day of judgement and punishment and torment of those who †curse† for ever, and retribution for their spirits. There He shall bind them for ever.
12 And such a division has been made for the spirits of those who make their suit, who make disclosures concerning their destruction, when they were slain in the days of the sinners.
13 Such has been made for the spirits of men who were not righteous but sinners, who were complete in transgression, and of the transgressors they shall be companions: but their spirits shall not be slain in the day of judgement nor shall they be raised from thence.’
14 Then I blessed the Lord of glory and said: ‘Blessed be my Lord, the Lord of righteousness who ruleth for ever.’
Biblical passage
World English Bible
Luke 16:19–31
19 "Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
20 A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 It happened that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.
23 In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.
24 He cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.'
25 "But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish.
26 Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'
27 "He said, 'I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house;
28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won't also come into this place of torment.'
29 "But Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.'
30 "He said, 'No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
31 "He said to him, 'If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.'"
Editorial reading aids
Context for the comparison
An angel-guided vision and a narrated story serve different purposes. Similar imagery alone does not prove direct borrowing or make their descriptions an identical map of the afterlife. Charles prints parallel textual witnesses for Enoch 22; our reader follows his Ethiopic column.
Questions for close reading
- What reason does each passage give for separation?
- Where does each passage turn the reader's attention back to conduct in this life?
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Text sources and editorial treatment
R. H. Charles's translation, reprinted in 1917 from his 1912 edition. Public-domain translation text, transcribed by Project Gutenberg. We retain his textual brackets and uncertainty marks, join poetry into verse paragraphs, omit editorial headings and footnotes, and arrange verses by their reference numbers. Where chapters 22, 27 and 32 print Ethiopic and Greek readings side by side, this reader uses the Ethiopic column. Lettered subverse portions are grouped under their verse number, with their labels retained. The misprinted second label 5 in chapter 60 is restored to 25, following Charles's 1913 edition. This historic scholarly edition is not an official English translation of the Ethiopian Church. See the source for the critical notes and typographic distinctions.
Charles's Enoch: edition and full source · About World English Bible and the other Bible editions
Each panel displays the stored source text without rewriting it to resemble the other passage. Verse labels belong to that edition. The observations above describe these selected passages; they are not ancient text or a claim that all scholarly interpretations agree.