6.3
The Book of Enoch 6.3 · Semyaza is afraid📜 Charles 1906, the printed page
The angels have agreed to take wives. Their leader speaks first.
· · ·
ስምያዛ፡1
Sǝmyāzā
And Semyaza,
, እንዘ፡2
ʾǝnza
whowhile
ውእቱ፡3
wǝʾǝtu
washe [was]
መልአኮሙ፡4
malʾakomu
their chief,their angel
, ወይቤሎሙ፡5
wa-yǝbelomu
said to them:and he said to them
: እፈርህ፡6
ʾǝfarrǝh
“I fearI am afraid
ዮጊ፡7
yogi
that perhaps
ኢትፍቅዱ፡8
ʾi-tǝfqǝdu
you will not really wantyou will not wish
ዝንቱ፡9
zǝntu
this
ግብር፡10
gǝbr
deedwork
ይትገበር፡11
yǝtgabbar
to be done,that it be done
, አነ፡12
ʾana
and I
ባሕቲትየ፡13
baḥtitǝya
aloneby myself
ወእከውን፡14
wa-ʾǝkawwǝn
will beand I shall be
ፈዳየ፡15
fadāya
the one to paypayer
ለኃጢአት፡16
la-ḫāṭiʾat
for a sin
ዓባይ።17
ʿabāy
great.”
And Semyaza, who was their chief, said to them: “I fear that perhaps you will not really want this deed to be done, and I alone will be the one to pay for a great sin.”
And Semyaza, who was their chief, said to them: “I fear that perhaps you will not really want this deed to be done, and I alone will be the one to pay for a great sin.”
6.4
The Book of Enoch 6.4 · Let us all swear an oath📜 Charles 1906, the printed page
The others answer their leader.
· · ·
And they all answered him and said: “Let us swear an oath, all of us, and bind ourselves by curses all of us to one another, that we will not turn back from this plan, but carry out this [plan] in deed.”
The leader has a name. Semyaza (Shemihazah in the Aramaic fragments from Qumran) is malʾakomu, “their chief”: Dillmann gives princeps, a chief, as a second sense of the word for angel. He does not argue that the plan is wrong. He is afraid the others will lose their nerve.
His word for himself is fadāya, “the one who pays”. Dillmann sets the verb beside Hebrew pādāh, “to ransom”, and glosses it persolvere debitum, to pay off a debt. Semyaza thinks of the sin as a bill that will come due, and he does not want to be left holding it alone.