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Dhammapada · narration sample

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The Book of Enoch · 22 of 109

Chapter XXII. Sheol, or the Underworld

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. 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 as 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 as 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.’

Asked of Guide

Why are the dead gathered in four hollow places, and who is kept where?

Enoch is shown “four hollow places” in a western mountain where the spirits of the dead assemble until the day of judgment; Raphael explains these divisions separate souls by moral condition so each awaits its appointed period. One hollow contains the righteous beside “the bright spring of water,” another holds sinners in great pain awaiting punishment, a third holds spirits who make suit for wrongful deaths like Abel’s, and a fourth houses transgressors whose spirits remain companions but will not be slain or raised at judgment.

This chapter treats the afterlife as orderly and juridical: souls are sorted, their current state corresponds to past deeds, and some cry out for retribution—Abel’s spirit “maketh suit” against Cain’s seed. The arrangement echoes later Jewish and Christian ideas about Sheol and final judgment found also in 2 Maccabees and Revelation, where souls await a decisive vindication or punishment.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.