Journal for the study of the Pseudepigrapha

Vol 23.3 (2014): 179-200

© The Author(s), 2014. Reprints and Permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/0951820714528628
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The Ethiopic ‘AndΩmta’ Commentary on

Ethiopic Enoch 2 (1 Enoch 6–9)

RALPH LEE

Holy Trinity Theological College, PO Box 31244, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract
The little-studied corpus of biblical commentary material in the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church includes a commentary on the book of Enoch. The commentary tradition
reÀects the outlook of seventeenth-century Gondar, the then capital of Ethiopia,
although it undoubtedly contains much older material. Enoch is an important book in
the Ethiopian tradition, with its theology underpinning the interpretation of many
other books. This article presents a translation of the commentary on Enoch 6–9, the
fallen angels, and the related commentary on Ps. 82(81).7. The commentary views the
fallen angels as holy men who fell into temptation, and reÀects the strongly ascetic
outlook of Ethiopian Christianity. The commentary on Psalm 82 includes reference to
a story found in the Midrash ha-Gadol on Genesis raising the question of the
inÀuence of Jewish commentary material on the Ethiopian tradition.

Keywords: 1 Enoch, AndΩmta, Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church, fallen angels,

Psalm 82.

Background
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has a tradition of com-
mentary on biblical books and other patristic texts known as ģŠĽƘų,
andΩmta. The name derives from the Amharic ģŠĽƘ, andΩm, ‘and
one’, an abbreviation for the phrase ‘there is one who says’, which is
180 Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 23.3 (2014)

used to introduce contrasting interpretations (Cowley 1983: 3). The

commentaries on canonical texts give explanations for each verse,
giving ¿rst the Ge‘ez text known as ũĞƁƑŠŵ ĪƟ, yäliqawnt zär, ‘the
scholars’ text’, which is often referred to as just the zär or nΩbab. This
is followed by an often colloquial translation into Amharic called
ĪŮĄ, zäyΩbe; and then a commentary or ŵƟǶƗ, tΩrgwame, in the form
of ŔŰų, ­atäta, explanations; ųƜĚ, tarik, illustrative stories; and
ŋƃČ, ÓΩqs, quotations. Sometimes textual variations are discussed,
known as ģąśŵ, abnät, although they are not always referred to with
this name, and are often introduced with the phrase ‘and one says’ as
in the commentary on Eth. En. 2.4 (1 En. 6.3) below. Stylistically the
commentary is often framed in the form of a question, introduced by a
phrase like Ăĝ, bilu, ‘if one says/asks…’ Extensive commentary will
often come at the end of a group of verses (Cowley 1983: 5). The
biblical text used in the andΩmta is closest to the four-volume litho-
graphed Ge‘ez and Amharic Bible, known as the Haile Selassie Bible,
printed in 1927 E.C.1 (Anonymous 1927 E.C.; Cowley 1974: 320).
In the introduction to the commentary on the Pauline Epistles there
is an explanation of the exegetical techniques used throughout the
AndΩmta Corpus (Cowley 1977). The interpretation opens with a
colloquial Amharic translation, often with alternatives that may reÀect
textual variants. Other techniques employed include: grammatical
analysis that also offers a discussion of alternative punctuation; clari¿-
cation of ambiguous or unclear Ge‘ez words; treatment of homo-
phones or situations where gemmination of a consonant alters the
meaning; elucidation of the meaning through poetical rearrangement;
the supplying of words implied in the text; identi¿cation of other
biblical passages with similar meaning; an explanation of important
details that might not be understood well by the listener; a retelling of
related biblical stories; an attempt to reconcile the meaning with other
apparently contradictory biblical passages while often appealing to
diverse authorities; and an explanation of the mystery or hidden mean-
ing of the text, frequently utilizing the classical Ethiopic ‘wax and
gold’ method for conveying meaning (Cowley 1971: 9-20). Although

1. E.C. = ‘Ethiopian Calendar’, which starts on the 11th of September in the

Gregorian Calendar, and on the 12th of September in the year before a Gregorian leap
year. It has 12 lunar months, and one of 5 or 6 epagomenal days. The current year is
2006, which started on the 11th of September, 2013.

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 LEE The Ethiopic ‘Andԥmta’ Commentary 181

not articulated in the explanation in the Pauline Epistles, the andΩmta

interpretations frequently employ typology, and may utilize diverse
authorities to show that there is agreement over particular matters. The
corpus interprets prophecy as having signi¿cance in the historical
period in which it was spoken, with true ful¿lment in Christ; in addi-
tion, it may also provide further meanings (Cowley 1983: 48-53).
These methods serve a much wider purpose, namely, to illustrate the
‘true’, that is received, meaning of a text, and to resolve any dispute
over its meaning. Notwithstanding such attempts to streamline
interpretation, the commentaries often cite mutually exclusive views,
and often make little attempt to resolve them.
According to Ethiopian tradition, the Old Testament books came to
Ethiopia at the time of Menelik I, in the tenth century BCE, when,
according to the account in the Ethiopian national epic, the Ěąƚ
śƅǗŵ, KΩbrä NägäĞt, the Ark of the Covenant, came to Ethiopia
along with cohorts of Israelite priests, and the nation converted to
Judaism.2 Tradition also claims that the commentary tradition started
at this time, as the books were translated into Ge‘ez (Cowley 1983:
23). There are some rare Ge‘ez commentaries similar to the andΩmta,
but there is, for instance, no Tigrinya tradition; nonetheless it seems
logical that the commentary became necessary as Ge‘ez ceased to be
widely spoken. All of the internal evidence of the AndΩmta Corpus,
through its use of:
language, historical references to named Ethiopian emperors, other refer-
ences to Ethiopian history, Ethiopian geographical references, Ethiopian
teachers named in the commentary, general outlook, and MS evidence,
conclusively demonstrates that the Gondar kingdom is the temporal and
geographical provenance of the de¿nitive formulation of the Andԥmta
Corpus. (Cowley 1983: 23)

Despite claims about the antiquity of the AndΩmta tradition, there is no

direct evidence of its earlier development. It seems in any event likely
that the tradition substantially pre-dates the Gondar kingdom. Further-
more, according to Ethiopian tradition it was by an imperial decree of
1674 E.C. that the andΩmta commentaries were committed to writing,
a point that is consistent with Cowley’s conclusion regarding the
Gondar Kingdom (Yohannes 2000 E.C.: 187-88).

2. A critical edition of the Ge‘ez text of this work was published by Bezold, and
an English translation is also available (Bezold 1909; Budge 2004).

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The material comes from a wide range of often unidenti¿ed sources.

The material includes numerous references to early patristic sources,
much of which has been reworked in Ge‘ez and Amharic; moreover,
reference is often made to original material written in Ge‘ez. Cowley
identi¿ed in the andΩmta a large amount of material from the Church
of the East. The most frequently identi¿ed source of their transmission
is Abu’l-Faraj ‘AbdallƗh ibn aÓ-ܑayyib al-‘IrƗqƯ, who, as a scholar of
the ‘Antiochene’ school drawing strongly on Theodore of Mopsuestia
(Graf 1948: 160-69), is an important inÀuence on account of the use in
the andΩmta corpus of his commentaries on the Pentateuch on the
Gospels (Cowley 1983: 36, 39). Cowley commented that, ‘It seems
that the Ethiopian church was able to reject the formula in which the
teaching of Nestorius was encapsulated…while accepting much of the
exegetical work of writers who were Nestorians’ (1988: 378).

The Enoch Commentary

Ethiopian tradition regards Enoch and Job as the ¿rst Old Testament
books to be written, and dates Enoch to 4014 BCE. Enoch, together
with the other Old Testament books, according to this tradition, came
to Ethiopia starting from the time of Menelik I, in the tenth century
BCE. Tradition further states that the oral commentary on these books
came with the cohorts of Jewish teachers and priests who at that time
came to Ethiopia (Cowley 1983: 19). There is, however, no textual
evidence to corroborate this. What we do know is that the andΩmta
commentaries list contributors from the time of Ethiopia’s ¿rst bishop,
Frumentius, in the fourth century CE (Cowley 1983: 19).
Although the andΩmta commentaries generally contain a lot of non-
Ethiopian material, the same is unlikely to be true for Enoch, as there
would have been very few accessible sources outside of Ethiopia on
which to draw. This makes the Enoch andΩmta signi¿cant for the
study of the development of Ethiopian hermeneutics.

The Current Translation

The section of the Ethiopic andΩmta translated here is that concerning
the giants in ch. 2 of the Ethiopic version, corresponding to 1 Enoch
6–9. The translation is based on the printed edition of the Ethiopic
andΩmta on Henok (Anonymous 2003 E.C.: 10-17). The scholars’ text

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 LEE The Ethiopic ‘Andԥmta’ Commentary 183

as presented in the Ethiopic commentary is indicated in italics; the

form of the text itself corresponds closely to Knibb’s text and transla-
tion (Knibb 1978a, 1978b). As much as possible this version has been
used for the translation of the text of Enoch, with Knibb’s chapter and
verse numbering given in brackets. One should note, however, that in
some cases the andΩmta clearly draws on a different text from that
used and translated by Knibb.
A further section from the commentary on Psalm 82 is also pro-
vided, given its particular relevance for the andΩmta on Henok. It
contains a section introduced with ųƜĚ, an illustrative story through
which some extra ‘historical’ information is introduced to give a more
detailed understanding of the meaning of a text. The andϷmta text is
often very condensed, and in this translation square brackets are used
to supply missing connectives that would be clear to a traditional
scholar.

Ethiopic Commentary on Ethiopic Enoch 2 (1 Enoch 6–9)

2.1 (6.1) And it came to pass, when the sons of men had increased

The Ge‘ez text says ƌěś ĨƘĪĀįDž [meaning] ĨƘĽljƚ ĀįDž to say
‘later they became many’ [this unusual construction is used else-
where] ĨƘĪśćűė ŵŵŔśǢ ƌĨƘĪƚƌŪ ģƊƊƖĞƾ ĨŠĺġ to say
that later they became many; ‘after they destroyed you then you were
built’,3 and ‘after his camels had drunk their ¿ll’ (see Gen. 24.22); [so
this means] ‘after the children of men had multiplied they became like
this’.
[meaning] that in those days there were born to them fair and
beautiful daughters.
Meaning that in those times daughters with beautiful faces and
good complexion were born to them, and after Cain and Abel had died
Lud and Aqlema married them; from Lud daughters with attractive
eyes and nice legs were born; ‘for from beautiful women beautiful
daughters were born to them’ (cf. Gen. 6.1); those who were born
from Aqlema were cross-eyed and rheumy eyed.

3. What is being referred to here is not readily apparent, but it is primarily used as
an example of unusual grammar, and so the meaning of these particular words is not
necessarily important in the understanding of Enoch.

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2.2 (6.2) And the angels, the sons of heaven, saw them and desired
them.

The children of heaven saw them and loved them; those who are
called ‘angels’ are the children of Seth, [meaning] that they are called
angels because of their purity (cf. Jub. 6.9) living on the Holy
Mountain. One says [living] on the stairway to the highest place. One
says they who lived on the heavenly stairway; these children of Seth
vowed saying, ‘we live keeping ourselves from women and guarding
our purity’; and they kept themselves until their time; the children of
Cain were at the foot of the mountain, making short dresses for their
nakedness like an aroused stallion or a brood mare; when they
climbed up they saw and they were stung by the arrows of adultery,
for the time a few married, but later they were as they were found.

2.3 (6.2) And they said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose for our-
selves wives from the children of men, and let us beget for ourselves
children’.

They said to each other, ‘Come let us choose wives for ourselves from
the children of Cain, let us beget children for ourselves’.

2.4 (6.3) And Semyaza, who was their leader, said to them: ‘I fear that
you may not wish this deed to be done, and (that) I alone will pay for
this great sin’.

And he was angered, you said ‘let’s do it!’ and you left it, I did it, this
great sin, and the recompense will be paid by me alone, and I am
afraid. One says, 4 ‘I fear perhaps’ [meaning] certainly you do not
desire to do this, so I am afraid.

‘And I …will pay’

If you are indebted I alone with pay the recompense for this great sin.

4. Here ‘one says’ introduces a textual variation.

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 LEE The Ethiopic ‘Andԥmta’ Commentary 185

2.5 (6.4) And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an
oath, and bind one another with curses not to alter this plan, but to
carry out this plan effectively’.

Meaning ‘we shall not turn back’; that we will not change this deci-
sion, this decision is permanent, we will do it, ‘when we separate we
swear an oath to each other’ they all said in reply to him.

2.6 (6.5-6) Then they all swore together and all bound one another
with curses on him5

When they swore the oath to each other they departed from each
other; by what they said they bound each other by an oath.

One says, ‘I fear perhaps’, see the commentary on 2.4 (6.3), [no
further comment is needed].

‘Do not desire it’,6 [meaning] ‘do not desire to do this deed!’.

‘For I shall be’, referring to 2.4 (6.3): since you are a leader, if some-
one does this kind of deed, why do you not say “I shall order you; I
shall punish you” but rather [you say] “It will be judged against me” ’.

‘Do not desire to do this work!’: and they answered him, ‘if he fails to
turn up will it be serious, let us not change the situation, let us swear
an oath;

‘they swore an oath on him’ [meaning] they swore on Semyaza, in

case he did not come.

And they were in all two hundred.

5. Knibb has ‘to it’ in place of ‘on him’, but the andΩmta makes it clear below that
it is understood to be an oath on Semyaza.
6. This reading is an imperative, in contrast to the present/future tense of the
scholars’ text of 2.6 (6.3).

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2.7 (6.6) And they came down on Ardis which is the summit of Mount
Hermon.

They called the summit of Hermon, Ardis, to say the summit of the
Mount of Olives, rawat;

And they called the mountain Hermon,

And they called it Hermon,

Because on it they swore and bound one another with curses.

For they swore an oath on it, for they bound each other with an oath
on it, he was urged on and so they said to him ‘it will be on us’.

One says, they called it ‘mount of his oath’, because they swore an
oath on it.

2.8 (6.7-8) And these (are) the names of their leaders:

Semyaza, who was their leader

Urakiba, Ramiel, Kokabiel, Tamiel, Ramiel, Daniel, Ezeqiel, Baraqiel,

Asael, Armaros, Batriel, Ananel, Zaqiel, Samsiel, Sartael, Turiel,
Yomiel, Araziel,7

These are the leaders of the two hundred angels,

These are the chiefs of two hundred.

And of all the others with them.

And others: there were others with them. More than the eighteen
counted, he brings in the three later.

7. The transliterations of the names as written in the andΩmta are: SΩmazyas,

Urakibäram’el, Akibi’el, †ami’el, Ramu’el, Dan’el, Ezeqa’el, Suruqayal, As’el,
Armors, BäÓrΩ’el, Anan’el, Zäqibi, Samsapi’el, SärtΩ’el, †ur’el, Yomya’el, Arazyal.

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One gives [the following textual variation], ‘these are the two hundred
leaders, their chiefs’

These are their chiefs, they are two hundred,

And the others

They are the ones whom they picked up from time to time.

2.9 (7.1) And they took wives for themselves

They married wives from amongst them.

And everyone chose for himself one each.

And each of them chose one woman for himself.

2.10 (7.1) And they began to go into them and they were promiscuous
with them.

And they started entering into them, and they became one with them,
and they knew them in nature.

2.11 (7.1) And they taught them charms

Sorcery using the roots of various plants, and the making of remedies
from roots and herbs.

And spells,

They taught them to summon daemons

And showed to them the cutting of roots,

He spoke like this, ‘this root is bene¿cial for this purpose’; one says,
‘when they bite this root they will be strong, they will recover from
illness, if they bite this root they will become paralysed’.

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And trees.

This tree is bene¿cial for this purpose, one says if they cut it at this
time it will be strong, if they cut it at this time it will be straight.

2.12 (7.2) And they became pregnant

That is to say ‘they also became pregnant’.

And they bore large giants

That is to say ‘mighty giants’, [meaning] they bore powerful tall

warriors. One says those who can see from a great distance; those who
push the clouds to bring them;

And their height was three thousand cubits

The height of each of them was three thousand cubits.

2.13 (7.3) They devoured all the toil of men, until men were unable to
sustain them.

Until it was impossible for their fathers and mothers to feed them;
they consumed all the wealth that these people had wearied them-
selves [to gain].

2.14 (7.4) And the giants turned against them in order to devour men.

If their mothers brought ¿ve or six baskets of food for them and it was
not enough for them, they began to devour their mothers and fathers.

2.15 (7.5) And they began to sin against birds.

By eating birds; one says by worshipping [them].

And against animals and against reptiles.

By eating wild animals and reptiles; one says they began to do wrong
by worshipping [them].
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And against ¿sh.

By eating ¿sh; one says they began to do wrong by worshipping

[them].

2.16 (7.5) And they devoured one another’s Àesh

Three thousand [devoured] two thousand; two thousand [devoured]

one thousand, they began to eat each other.

And drank blood from it.

They drank blood from the earth; one says 8 it has said ‘and they
devoured Àesh’ so they drank blood from the organs of their bodies.

2.17 (7.6) Then the earth complained about the lawless ones.

Then the earth brought accusations against the evildoers, the humble
threw out the lofty ones, the poor threw out the rich, they brought
accusations against them.

2.18 (8.1) And Azazel taught men to make swords, and daggers, and
shields and breastplates.

Azazel taught them to make swords and curved swords, to beat out
shields, and to wear chain mail.

2.19 (8.1) And he showed them the things after these,

To ¿ght with the sword, with the single edged sword; to throw spears;
to ward off blows with a shield; to wear chain mail; one says9 ‘those
who came after them’ he taught those generations who rose up after
them.

8. Here ‘one says’ introduces a textual variation.

9. Here again ‘one says’ introduces a textual variation.

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The things after these, and the art of making them: bracelets.

Under these things, he taught them to make metal bracelets; in order

to say ‘You are a king, after Pharaoh’ (see Gen. 44.18).

And ornaments, and the art of making up the eyes.

To beautify with jewellery; to apply cosmetics (kohl) to the eyes;

necklaces; rings; piercing for earrings (or nose rings).

And of beautifying of the eyelids.

The plucking of the eyebrows.

And the most precious and choice stones

He showed them those stones which are choice and the most precious
of stones; the choice amongst metals; silver that is more precious than
[other] metals, gold that is more precious than silver, pearl that is
more precious than gold.

The all (kinds of) coloured dyes.

Meaning that if God created white nails, to lighten them with fennel,
and to darken them with dängwa10 or with henna.

And the world was changed.

And they showed them the change in the world, one pregnancy by
one, one to create a pregnancy in one womb; one says to turn a horse
or a mule into a person, or to turn a person into a horse or a mule.

2.20 (8.2) and there was great impiety and much fornication, and they
went astray, and all their ways became corrupt.

They sinned constantly and fornicated, they committed adultery, they

became licentious, all their [good] deeds disappeared.

10. I have not been able to establish the meaning of this term.

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2.21 (8.3) Amezarak taught all those who cast spells.

Amezarak taught the summoning of demons and the revealing of

phantoms.

And cut of roots,

He taught sorcery, and the medicine of leaves.

Armaros the release of spells

Armaros taught the explanation of magic.

2.22 (8.3) And Baraqiel [taught] astrologers,

Baraqiel taught astrologers to say, ‘it is like this when [a star] rises,
and such kind of things will happen’; one says he taught those who
count the stars.

2.23 (8.3) And Kokabel [taught] portents,

Kokabel said, ‘when it is like this, such things will happen’.

2.24 (8.3) And Tamiel taught astrology,

Tamiel taught the ones who say ‘it is like this when [a star] rises, and
such kind of things will happen’; one says [he taught] those who count
the stars.

2.25 (8.3) And Asradel taught the path of the moon

Asradel taught them saying, ‘if the moon rises here, then there will be
mercy; if the moon rises here there will be calamity’; they [the writers
of Enoch] said this disdaining them and bringing accusations against
[them].

2.26 (8.4) And at the destruction of men they cried out,

With the destruction of people, people cried out; one says if it says
‘destruction of mankind’ half of them were destroyed and half of them
cried out.
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And their voice reached heaven.

Their voice reached heaven.

2.27 (9.1) And then Michael, Gabriel looked down

The poor who were the victims of injustice when they cried out in a
public place, the mediator [asked] that the keepers come to the public
place and help them. At that time Michael and Gabriel, being in
heaven, came down and came to help them.

Suriel, and Uriel looked down from heaven

Uriel and Suriel being in heaven, came to help them.

2.28 (9.1) And they saw the mass of blood that was being shed on the
earth, and all the iniquity that was done on the earth.

They saw the blood of many people that had been poured out through
injustice, and all the injustice done in this world.

2.29 (9.2) And they said to one another, ‘it is only the crying out of the
earth that brings the sound of their crying out up to the gates of
heaven’11

They spoke to each other crying out; the earth alone remained and she
cried out to the gate of heaven; one says the poor and the rich said,
‘our relatives have perished, and we alone remain’ and their crying out
to each other reached the gate of heaven.

11. Knibb has here, ‘Let the devastated earth cry out with the sound of their cries
unto the gate of heaven’. The difference hinges on the translation of ǞƝƁ, ‘Ωraqa’,
which can mean ‘devastated’, but Leslau indicates that with possessive suf¿x pro-
nouns it can also mean ‘only’ (Leslau 2006: 71). The andΩmta interpretation seems to
indicate that the translation above is preferable in the Ethiopian understanding of the
text.

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2.30 (9.3) And now, to you, O holy ones of heaven, the souls of men
complain saying, ‘Bring our suit before the Most High’.

It is Henok that said this, ‘O Angels who live in Heaven, present the
judgement and our pleading of the souls of men to God!’, they
implore you, they appeal to you for justice.

One says [referring to the text of 2.29] ‘they said to each other and to
the angels’ the relatives of poor and the rich had perished, they alone
remained, and their crying out reached the gate of heaven.

One says [referring to] ‘O holy ones of heaven’ that it is an angel that
said it. ‘O holy ones of heaven, of course it is you!’ ‘Present our
judgement and our pleadings for us to the Most High! They appeal to
you for justice’, he said. He is like a kind elder [in Ethiopian culture]
who when a poor man who has been sinned against cries out, he takes
all that they have said and is then silent. Then another stands to say, ‘it
is indeed you’; one angel said this to many angels.

2.31 (9.4) And they said to their Lord, the King, for He is the Lord of
Lords, and God of Gods, and King of Kings!

The mediator heard the matter of the poor, and went to his Lord in
order to speak. They spoke thus to their Lord the King, ‘Since you are
Lord of Lords, God of Gods, King of Kings...’

2.32 (9.4) And the throne of His Glory [stands] in all generations of
eternity.12

The throne of your Lordship [stands] for generations, for eternity; one
says since it is for generations.

And your Name is holy and glorious in all the generations of the
world, and You are blessed and glorious.

Because Your Name is one that will be honoured and praised, you are
honoured and praised.

12. Knibb has here, ‘Your glorious throne (endures) for all the generations of the
world…’, but the pronoun is third person both in the andΩmta text and Knibb’s text
(Knibb 1978a: 25 line 2).

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2.33 (9.5) You have made everything, and power over everything is
yours.

You are the one who made everything, for authority over all things is
with you.

2.34 (9.5) And everything is uncovered and open before you, and you
see everything, and there is nothing which can be hidden from you.

You have investigated all things and know all things, since there is
nothing which is able to hide from you

2.35 (9.6) See then what Azazel has done, how he has taught all
iniquity on the earth.

See all that Azazel has done in this world and how he has taught all
injustice.

And revealed all the eternal secrets of the world13 which were made in
heaven.

See how he has made clear things that were performed in heaven that
were hidden in the world; one says the things that the angels know and
cause to be done in heaven, the things that the demons know and
cause to be done in the world.

2.36 (9.7) And Semyaza made known spells,

Semyaza showed [them] sorcery.

(He) to whom you gave authority to rule over those who are with him.

You gave him power to rule over those who are united with him. See
how Semyaza has taught [them] how to look into sorcery.

13. Knibb does not have ‘of the world’, although the phrase is present in his
edition of the Ge‘ez text (Knibb 1978a: 26 line 5).

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2.37 (9.8) And they went in to the daughters of men together, and lay
with those women, and became unclean,

They became one and went to the children of Cain, they slept with
these women, and they de¿led [them].

And revealed to them [those women] these sins.

They revealed these sins to them.

2.38 (9.9) And the women bore giants, and thereby the whole earth
has been ¿lled with blood and iniquity.

The women gave birth to giants and with this the whole world was
¿lled with injustice and blood.

2.39 (9.10) And now behold the souls which have died cry out.

The souls of dead people: one says, ‘Behold, the souls that have been
separated from their bodies are crying out!’

And complain unto the gate of heaven.

They bring their accusations to the gate of heaven.

2.40 (9.10) And their lament has ascended

Their crying out has reached heaven.

And they cannot go out in the face of the iniquity which is being
committed on earth.

The wealthy cannot be saved from misery of the injustice that has
arisen in this world. One says that the poor cannot be saved from the
evil of injustice that has arisen in this world.

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2.41 (9.11) And you know everything before it happens, and you know
this.

You know this before it is done; the mistreatment of the poor.

And what concerns each of them.

The mistreatment of the wealthy. One says you know the mistreatment
of the righteous; of sinners; one says you know the mistreatment of
the children of Seth; the children of Cain.

2.42 (9.11) But you say nothing to us. What ought we to do with them
about this?

What is ¿tting for us to do to them since they have done this to us?
One says if ‘what’ is said, what it ¿tting for us to do to them? One
says, because they have done things in this way, is there nothing that
you will say to us to do to them?

Ethiopic Commentary on Psalm 82(81).7

There is also a mention of Semyaza in the andΩmta on Ps. 82(81).7
(Anonymous 1998 E.C.: 412-13), demonstrating the essential unity of
the AndΩmta Corpus, and that Enoch has been used in the Ethiopian
Church to clarify the interpretation of other books. This account gives
more details of how the sons of Seth were led into sin:

81.7 And you will die like men, and like one of the princes you will fall

…separated from the chiefs as one injured, you will become like one
of them.

…You will die like the giants, you will be like Semyaza. Illustrative
story: if one asks: the children of Seth were keeping themselves pure,
keeping themselves far from women, like angels they were saying,
‘holy, holy holy’, and while they praised their praises became their
food, and they were living on the holy mountain. The children of Cain
multiplied, and they committed all kinds of sins, and lived in the Land
of Tribulation, and they fornicated like animals in the open square.
From those on the holy mountain one desired to go and give a mes-
sage to the children of Cain, and that one went from where they were,

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 LEE The Ethiopic ‘Andԥmta’ Commentary 197

and saw how they fornicated like wild animals, and especially their
leader, called Nuhem,14 who took a drum, and performed traditional
dancing right in the middle of the crowd, like a swimmer swimming to
the centre of a lake. When he saw this he was pierced with the arrow
of adultery and said to the brothers, ‘What kind of life do we live? All
we do is praise like angels, without our Àesh being stuck and attached
to our bones! The children of Cain really live life!’ After this, they
were drawn down, and when they looked, and when they copulated
with each other like animals, they looked and said, ‘Come! Let’s go
down, and let us look at and take one for each of us!’ Their chief was
called Semyaza said to them, ‘Stop! Do not do this thing!’ ‘Why do
you tell lies?’ They said to him, ‘If you stop, we will not stop!’ He
said to them, ‘Although I said “Do not do this!” if you do it, I am
answerable for this sin, I will receive the coming judgement!’ They
became one [with them] and fell into sin, he stood ¿rm against them.
After this those who were born, the tall ones, ate food cooked by the
sun. The short ones lived in the shadow of the chick pea plant. After
this some were called giants, and they lived running with the sun,
before it set, if it burned them like ¿re they left it [the sun], and it set.
The great heat was hard for them [to bear].

One says, the angel gave a giant some sulphur, and when it burned
him, he drank from the water of the ocean, and when he drank the
level of the ocean reduced by the length of a hand. His stomach
expanded, so that he could not even walk. The angel pierced his
stomach with a sword, and the water that came out destroyed seventy
or eighty people, and the ocean was restored to its original level.

Discussion and Conclusions

The commentary as found in the andΩmta appears to be framed in the
ascetic life that is so typical of Ethiopian Christianity. The ‘angels’ are
understood to be holy men, living pure lives at the foot of the holy
mountain. The children of Cain are culpable in leading the pure

14. Nuhem is most probably the Naamah mentioned in Gen. 4:22, the daughter of
Lamech and Zillah and sister of Tubal-cain. In Dillmann’s critical edition of Genesis
the name is written as šǁƘ, Nohem (Dillmann 1853: 9).

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children of Seth astray, although there is some indication too that the
holy men were not being as pure as they should have been, as
Semyaza is rebuked for not being more forceful with his men. In the
commentary on Psalm 82, Semyaza is excused a little more, with the
burden for the falling of the holy men being on Nuhem’s shoulders.
The resulting fall into sin is discussed in detail, with various aspects
being connected with the local knowledge of rural of Ethiopian
farmers. Interestingly, with the antediluvian prohibition of eating
meat, the commentary considers simply eating animals, birds and
reptiles as a possible sin, not just worshipping them. The style of
commentary is typical of the andΩmta, so different options for under-
standing a verse are presented without seeking to resolve any
differences.
The commentary on Psalm 82 is of great interest, because of the
identi¿cation of the character Nuhem, who is the primary agent in this
account of leading the holy men astray. Nuhem is identi¿ed as
Naamah mentioned in Gen. 4.22,15 but her direct connection with the
fall of the angels is found in the Midrash ha-Gadol on Genesis
(Schechter 1902: I, 118), which is probably sourced in the Pirke de-
Rabbi Eliezer (Ginzberg 1925: 147 n. 45). This is not, of course, to
presume that the andΩmta used these sources directly; as Cowley com-
mented, ‘it should not, however, be asserted of any speci¿c example
that material was borrowed directly from Jewish sources into the AC
[the AndΩmta Corpus], unless there are credible claims, in documented
historical circumstances, that this was so’ (Cowley 1988: 66). More-
over, there are numerous routes by which such material may have
entered Ethiopia. Studies on the Ethiopic commentaries on a selection
of Psalms (not including Ps. 82[81]) have identi¿ed some correlation
with those of Theodore of Mopsuestia (Pedersen 1995: 294), probably
mediated through Abu’l-Faraj ‘AbdallƗh ibn aÓ-ܑayyib al-‘IrƗqƯ’s
commentaries. The KΩbrä NägäĞt contains a similar story, which is an
embellishment of the account in Enoch, but without the speci¿c
attribution to Nuhem. Chapter 100, ‘Concerning the angels who
rebelled’ (Bezold 1909: 142-46), states:

15. See n. 14 above.

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 LEE The Ethiopic ‘Andԥmta’ Commentary 199

they lowered themselves down from heaven above, and they descended to
earth, to the foolishness of the dancing of the children of Cain, together
with all the handicraft that they fashioned in the foolishness of their
adultery, their songs with drums, stringed and other musical instruments,
and great shouting, joy and singing, and their daughters were there singing
and dancing16 without shame. (Bezold 1909: 144 b 3-10).

Much Arabic material came to Ethiopia during the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries (Harden 1926: 21-22), that is, around the time of the
completion of the current compilation we know as the KΩbrä NägäĞt
(Marrassini 2007), and ch. 100 belongs to material that was most
probably added at the time of the compilation (Hubbard 1956: 410-
11). Thus it remains unclear whether the story came through Arabic
literature, or was known in Ethiopia at an earlier date.

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