1
In the year five hundred, in the seventh month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the life of Chanokh. In that Parable I saw how a mighty quaking made the heaven of heavens to quake, and the host of the El Elyon, and the mal’akhiym, a thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, were disquieted with a great disquiet. 2. And the Head of Days sat on the throne of His glory, and the mal’akhiym and the righteous stood around Him.
3
And a great trembling seized me, And fear took hold of me, And my loins gave way, And dissolved were my reins, And I fell upon my face.
4
And Mikha’el sent another mal’akh from among the set-apart ones and he raised me up, and when he had raised me up my spirit returned; for I had not been able to endure the look of this host, and the commotion and the quaking of the heaven. 5. And Mikha’el said to me: ‘Why are you disquieted with such a vision? Until this day lasted the day of His mercy; and He has been merciful and long-suffering towards those who dwell on the earth. 6. And when the day, and the power, and the punishment, and the judgement come, which the Sovereign of Spirits has prepared for those who worship not the righteous law, and for those who deny the righteous judgement, and for those who take His name in vain - that day is prepared; for the elect a covenant, but for sinners an inquisition.
5
When the punishment of the Sovereign of Spirits shall rest upon them, it shall rest in order that the punishment of the Sovereign of Spirits may not come in vain, and it shall slay the children with their mothers and the children with their fathers. Afterwards the judgement shall take place according to His mercy and His patience.’
7
And on that day were two monsters parted, a female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the abysses of the ocean over the fountains of the waters. 8. But the male is named Behemoth, who occupied with his breast a waste wilderness named Dûidâin, on the east of the garden where the elect and righteous dwell, where my grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Sovereign of Spirits created. 9. And I besought the other mal’akh that he should show me the might of those monsters, how they were parted on one day and cast, the one into the abysses of the sea, and the other to the dry land of the wilderness. 10. And he said to me: ‘You son of man, herein you do seek to know what is hidden.’
11
And the other mal’akh who went with me and showed me what was hidden told me, what is first and last in the heaven in the height, and beneath the earth in the depth, and at the ends of the heaven, and on the foundation of the heaven. 12. And the chambers of the winds, and how the winds are divided, and how they are weighed, and (how) the portals of the winds are reckoned, each according to the power of the wind, and the power of the lights of the moon, and according to the power that is fitting: and the divisions of the stars according to their names, and how all the divisions are divided. 13. And the thunders according to the places where they fall, and all the divisions that are made among the lightnings that it may lighten, and their host that they may at once obey. 14. For the thunder has places of rest (which) are assigned (to it) while it is waiting for its peal; and the thunder and lightning are inseparable, and although not one and undivided, they both go together through the spirit and separate not. 15. For when the lightning lightens, the thunder utters its voice, and the spirit enforces a pause during the peal, and divides equally between them; for the treasury of their peals is like the sand, and each one of them as it peals is held in with a bridle, and turned back by the power of the spirit, and pushed forward according to the many quarters of the earth. 16. And the spirit of the sea is masculine and strong, and according to the might of his strength he draws it back with a rein, and in like manner it is driven forward and disperses amid all the mountains of the earth. 17. And the spirit of the hoar-frost is his own mal’akh, and the spirit of the hail is a good mal’akh.
18
And the spirit of the snow has forsaken (his chamber) on account of his strength - there is a special spirit in it, and that which ascends from it is like smoke, and its name is frost. 19. And the spirit of the mist is not united with them in their chambers, but it has a special chamber; for its course is glorious both in light and in darkness, and in winter and in summer, and in its chamber is an mal’akh. 20. And the spirit of the dew has its dwelling at the ends of the heaven, and is connected with the chambers of the rain, and its course is in winter and summer: and its clouds and the clouds of the mist are connected, and the one gives to the other. 21. And when the spirit of the rain goes forth from its chamber, the mal’akhiym come and open the chamber and lead it out, and when it is diffused over the whole earth it unites with the water on the earth. And whensoever it unites with the water on the earth.... 22. For the waters are for those who dwell on the earth; for they are nourishment for the earth from the El Elyon who is in heaven: therefore there is a measure for the rain, and the mal’akhiym take it in charge. 23. And these things I saw towards the Garden of the Righteous. 24. And the mal’akh of peace who was with me said to me: ‘These two monsters, prepared, conformably to the greatness of Elohim, shall feed....’