SEFER ELIJAH

The Hebrew tractate known as Sefer Elijah has lately been characterized as the oldest and the least

innovative of the Jewish apocalypses produced during late antiquity. According to Robert L. Wilken,

There is little in the Book of Elijah that is new. Indeed much of the book is a

pastiche of biblical texts strung together in a simple plot: humiliation, hope,

conflict, victory, and restoration. Its themes are familiar and traditional and

are well documented in Jewish and Christian sources in early centuries, but

they indicate that at the time of the Sassanid conquest the ageless hope of

deliverance came rushing to the surface with irrepressible force and energy.

No event since the destruction of the Second Temple, except Julian’s effort to

rebuild the Temple, had unleashed such fervor and enthusiasm among the Jews

of Palestine. 1

However, a closer scrutiny of the work’s contents reveals very little that is ‘simple’ or ‘traditional’ with

regard to its setting, structure, ‘plot,’ or narrative resolution. No explicit instructions or information are

provided about the physical production or ‘accidental’ discovery of the work, an unusual omission of what

was a standard topos in the late antique representation of the revelatory book. 2 While it purports to be a

vision mediated by the angel Michael to the biblical prophet Elijah during the latter’s flight to Horeb (1

1
Robert L. Wilken, The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History and Thought (New Haven and
London: Yale University Press, 1992), 208.
2
Compare Dan 12:4; 1 En. 82:1; As. Mos. 1:16-18; 4 Ezra 12:36-38, 14:45-48; Rev 22:8-10; Apoc. Paul
2; CMC 49.5-10, 54.11-17; Massekhet Kelim (see Jellinek, BHM 2:88); end of Sefer Zerubbabel.
Kgs 19:1-8), it paradoxically depicts the locus of that same revelation as ‘Mount Carmel.’ 3 The vision

itself jarringly juxtaposes and intersperses two formally distinct narrative genres. The bulk of Sefer Elijah

consists of a lengthy third-person discourse by the angel Michael concerning the ‘mystery’ of the End

wherein he describes for the prophet a confusing succession of military disasters which would mark that

era. Supplementing and framing the angelic discourse are a series of first-person reports put in the mouth

of Elijah about a number of marvelous sights which he beheld during the course of a cosmic tour and again

at the time of the eschaton. Curiously very little direct interaction between the angel and the prophet takes

place, a circumstance which hints at the artificial character of the present form of this work. It thus seems

likely that Sefer Elijah is a conglomerate piece, having been fashioned from at least two separate earlier

collections of traditions, only one of which perhaps was originally associated with the figure of the Tishbite

prophet. While there are certain broad thematic continuities that link Sefer Elijah with earlier Elijah

literature (such as the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah), there is no concrete philological evidence that the

Hebrew work was dependent upon such sources. 4

One might outline the narrative progression of the present form of the work in the following

manner:

1. Introductory frame-narrative

2. [Elijah-discourse 1]: cosmic tour

a. vision of the south

b. vision of the east

c. vision of the west

3. Michael-discourse 1: name of the last emperor

4. [Michael-discourse 2]: conflict between Persia and Rome

a. defeat of three Roman ‘mighty warriors’

b. advent of Gīgīt (the fourth Roman ‘mighty warrior’)

c. signs of Gīgīt

d. his oppression of the ‘faithful people’

3
Also noticed by David Frankfurter, Elijah in Upper Egypt: The Apocalypse of Elijah and Early
Egyptian Christianity (SAC; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 61. For some medieval Jewish references
to a revelatory angelophany at Mount Carmel, see below.
4
Note especially the sensible observations of Frankfurter, Elijah in Upper Egypt, 44-57.

2
5. [Michael-discourse 3]: signs of the End

a. 20 Marheshvan: earthquakes and tremors

b. 20 Kislev: heavenly ‘sword’ attacks Gentiles at behest of Israel

c. 20 Nisan: first group of exiles departs Babylon

d. 25 Tishri: second group of exiles departs Sambatyon region

e. 25 Marheshvan: third group of exiles departs from ?

6. [Michael-discourse 4]: signs of the End redux

a. 20 Nisan: king from the west ravages and burns Zion

b. [ ]: ‘second battle’ waged by Demetrius and Philip (?)

c. 20 Ellul: advent of Messiah and Gabriel

d. 20 Tevet: ‘third battle’ waged in Eretz Israel up to Jaffa and Ashkelon

e. 20 Shevat: advent of Messiah and ‘angels of destruction’

f. [ ]: Gentile nations grovel before Israel

g. 20 Adar: advent of Messiah and ‘thirty thousand righteous ones’

h. destruction of besieging armies followed by forty-year period of prosperity

i. coming of Gog and Magog: their defeat by the Messiah

j. list of devastated cities

7. [Michael-discourse 5]: the final ‘day’

a. this ‘day’ lasts for forty days

b. earthquakes and tremors

c. earth herself will testify against the wicked

8. Elijah-discourse 2: vision of the resurrection of the dead

9. Elijah-discourse 3: vision of the punishment of apostates and the wicked

10. Elijah-discourse 4: vision of the patriarchs and Land as Eden

11. Elijah-discourse 5: vision of the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem

12. Elijah-discourse 6: vision of the dwellings of the righteous

3
 Sefer Elijah or the ‘Book of Elijah’ was first published in an anthology of midrashic texts in

Salonika in 1743. This version of the text was subsequently reprinted by Adolph Jellinek in his Bet ha-

Midrasch. 5 Another edition based on the version of the work found in Munich Ms. Hebr. 222, a

manuscript dating from the fifteenth century 6 containing an anthology of brief midrashim, was prepared by

Moses Buttenwieser and published in 1897. 7 Even-Shmuel published an eclectic version which combines

and harmonizes the editions of Jellinek and Buttenwieser. 8 The same author has also published a later

reworked version that is taken from a Yemenite manuscript of uncertain date. 9 The present translation

utilizes Buttenwieser as its base text with frequent reference in the notes to the variant renderings found in

the edition published by Jellinek.

SEFER ELIJAH, MAY HIS MEMORY BE FOR A BLESSING

‘And he lay down and fell asleep beneath a broom-shrub. Then lo, this angel touched him and said,

“Get up, eat!”’ (1 Kgs 19:5). Michael, ‘the great prince’ of Israel, 10 revealed this mystery to the prophet

Elijah at Mount Carmel; 11 (namely), the eschaton and what was scheduled to transpire at the End of Days

at the end of the four empires (and) the things which would take place during the reign of the fourth ruler. 12

5
Adolph Jellinek, ed., Bet ha-Midrasch: Sammlung kleiner Midraschim und vermischter Abhandlungen
aus der jüdischen Literatur (6 vols.; Leipzig, 1853-77; repr., Jerusalem: Bamberger & Wahrmann, 1938),
3:65-68.
6
Fol. 65b-68b. Bearing the title íéùòîä øôñ, it also contains versions of Pirqe Mashiaḥ (36b-46b) and
Secrets of R. Šim‘ōn b. Yoḥai (107b-111a). See Moses Buttenwieser, Die hebräische Elias-Apokalypse und
ihre Stellung in der apokalyptischen Litteratur des rabbinischen Schrifttums und der Kirche (Leipzig:
Eduard Pfeiffer, 1897), 9.
7
Buttenwieser, Elias-Apokalypse, 15-26.
8
Yehudah Even-Shmuel, Midreshey Ge’ullah (2d ed.; Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1954), 41-48.
9
Even-Shmuel, Ge’ullah, 49-54.
10
ìàøùéã àáø àøù ìàëéî = êîò éðá ìò ãîòä ìåãâä øùä ìàëéî (Dan 12:1).
11
This clause is in Aramaic: ìîøëã àøåèá àéáðä åäéìàì ìàøùéã àáø àøù ìàëéî äéì àìâ àðã àæø.
Interestingly, a Hekhalot adjuration found in Ms. JTS 8128 and published by Peter Schäfer contains a
reference to a revelation made to Elijah at Mount Carmel by the angel Malkiel: íäù úåùøåôîä úåîùä åìéà
äìòúð íäáå ìîøëä øäá åäéìàì 'ä'á'÷ä éðôì ãéîú ãîåò àåäù êàìîä ìàéëìî øñîù ãåáëä àñëá úå÷å÷ç ‘these
are the explicit names which are engraved on the Throne of Glory which the angel Malkiel, the one who
serves constantly before the Holy One, blessed be He, transmitted to Elijah at Mount Carmel, and using
them he was raised (to heaven).’ Text quoted from Peter Schäfer, ed., Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur
(TSAJ 2; Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1981), 199 (§505). Note also the Genizah fragment JTSL ENA 3635.17
fol. 17a line 12: ìîøëä øäá åäéìàì åìâðù íäîå ‘and some of them (i.e., powerful angelic and demonic

4
 A wind from the Lord lifted me (i.e., Elijah) up and transported me to the southern part of the world,

and I saw there a high place burning with fire where no creature was able to enter. Then the wind lifted me

up and transported me to the eastern part of the world, and I saw there stars battling one another

incessantly. Again the wind lifted me up and transported me to the western part of the world, and I saw

there souls undergoing a painful judgment, 13 each one in accordance with its deeds. 14

Then Michael said to me, 15 ‘The appointed time for the End of Days will occur during the reign of a

king who will be named úìîøä. 16 There are some that say that àìéîøú will be his name.’ 17 R. Simai says

úøùëä will be his name. R. Eleazar says àúñùçúøä (Artaxerxes) 18 will be his name. R. Judah b. Betira

names) were revealed to Elijah on Mount Carmel’; text cited from Peter Schäfer and Shaul Shaked, eds.,
Magische Texte aus der Kairoer Geniza, Band I (TSAJ 42; Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1994), 19.
12
The ‘four empires’ scheme, a prominent topos in Near Eastern apocalypticism, has its biblical basis in
the familiar sequential progression recounted in the dream-visions of the book of Daniel. For further
discussion of this scheme’s background and influence, see especially Oded Irshai, “Dating the Eschaton:
Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic Calculations in Late Antiquity,” in Apocalyptic Time (ed. Albert I.
Baumgarten; Leiden: Brill, 2000), 115 n.6.
13
Jellinek: ìåãâ øòöá ‘in great pain.’ Frankfurter has pointed out that the association of the western
quadrant with the abode of the dead is an Egyptian idea (Elijah in Upper Egypt, 45 n.44).
14
Buttenwieser (Elias-Apokalypse, 15 n.8) suggests that the description of Enoch’s journeys through
heaven and hell as provided in 1 Enoch serves as the source for this paragraph. See also idem, Outline of
the Neo-Hebraic Apocalyptic Literature (Cincinnati: Jennings & Pye, 1901), 31. Cf. 1 En. 18:6; 21:7;
22:11, none of which however display the close relationship which he posits. Nevertheless, Buttenwieser’s
supposition of an Enochic influence upon this section of the apocalypse has been uncritically accepted and
extended by Richard Bauckham, “Early Jewish Visions of Hell,” JTS 41 (1990): 362-65, 375-77. More
pertinent parallels are supplied by Michael E. Stone and John Strugnell, The Books of Elijah: Parts 1-2
(SBLTT 18; Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1979), 14-24, 25 n.1; note also Frankfurter, Elijah in Upper
Egypt, 45-46. For Elijah’s popularity as a revealer or recipient of visions concerning Gehinnom and its
suffering inhabitants, see Martha Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and Christian
Literature (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983; repr., Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 30-
37.
15
This is the only place in the apocalypse where Michael directly addresses the visionary. It is probably
not accidental; see the following note.
16
A resumptive repetition of the much of the final line of the first paragraph, a literary device in Hebrew
prose which frequently serves to frame a later insertion within an integral narrative composition. For a
brief discussion of this technique, see Shemaryahu Talmon, “The Presentation of Synchroneity and
Simultaneity in Biblical Narrative,” in Studies in Hebrew Narrative Art Throughout the Ages (ed. Joseph
Heinemann and Shmuel Werses; ScrHier 28; Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1978), 12-17. Note also Michael
Fishbane, Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 136 n.8.
17
Jellinek (BHM 3:xviii) suggests that these two designations refer to Armilos, the principal villain found
in the roughly contemporary Sefer Zerubbabel and its derivative literature; his suggestion is seconded by
Samuel Krauss, “Der römisch-persische Krieg in der jüdischen Elia-Apocalypse,” JQR o.s. 14 (1902): 362.
Buttenwieser argues that úìîøä is a corrupt reference to Hurmuz, son of Shāpūr I; see his Elias-
Apokalypse, 77-78; Even-Shmuel, Midreshey Ge’ullah, 34 n.12.
18
Cf. Ezra 4:7, 8, 11, 23; 6:14; 7:1, 11, 12, 21, 23; 8:1; Neh 2:1; 5:14; 13:6.

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says ùøåë (Cyrus) will be his name. 19 R. Šim‘ōn b. Yoḥai says àøñëä (Khusrau) will be his name. The

halakhah in this case follows R. Šim‘ōn who said ‘Khusrau’ will be his name. 20

The last king who rules Persia shall come up against the Romans three successive years until he

expands (his gains) against them for twelve months. Three mighty warriors will come up to oppose him

from the west, but they will be handed over into his control. Then the lowliest of the kings, the son of a

slave woman and whose name is Gīgīt, will confront him from the west. 21 These will be his signs, for

Daniel has already foreseen him: 22 his face will be long, there will be a bald patch between his eyes, 23 he

will be very tall, 24 the soles of his feet will be high (sic), 25 and his thighs will be thin. 26 At that time he

will attack the faithful people, 27 and he will provoke at that time three agitations. All the constellations will

be gathered together and move to one place. They will plunder houses and rob fields and strike the orphan

and the widow in the bazaar, but if they perform penitence they will be forgiven.

On the twentieth (day) of Marheshvan, the world will be shaken ‘and the heavens and the earth will

quake.’ 28 On the twentieth (day) of Kislev, all Israel will stand in prayer and clamor before their heavenly

Father, and a sword will descend and fall upon the nations of the world, in accordance with what scripture

says: ‘The sword kills indiscriminately’ (2 Sam 11:25). On the twentieth 29 (day) of Nisan, the first group

of exiles will depart from Babylon: they will number eighteen thousand men and women, and not a single

one of them will perish. On the twenty-fifth (day) of Tishri, the second group of exiles will depart from the

region of the River Sa(m)batyon: 30 they will number seventeen thousand, but twenty men and fifteen

19
See Isa 44:28; 45:1; but contrast b. Meg. 12a. Wilken calls attention to the ‘uncanny correspondence’
between the names of the Persian liberators Cyrus and Khusrau; see his Land Called Holy, 204.
20
Either Khusrau Anūširwān (531-79 CE) or Khusrau Aparwīz (591-628 CE), if a historical personage is
intended. In Arabic historical literature, the proper name Kisrā (derived from a Syriac rendition of
Khusrau) functions as a generic title for all Persian rulers just as Qayṣar (i.e., Caesar) is employed for all
rulers of Rome and Byzantium. An analogous usage may be intended here.
21
Probably to be identified with the Byzantine emperor Phokas (602-610); so Even-Shmuel, Midreshey
Ge’ullah, 37; Michael Avi-Yonah, The Jews of Palestine: A Political History from the Bar Kokhba War to
the Arab Conquest (New York: Schocken Books, 1976), 261.
22
Presumably Dan 7:8; see below.
23
Read úçáâ in place of úåäáâ; see Buttenwieser, Elias-Apokalypse, 16 n.12.
24
Cf. Apoc. El. (C) 3:15 and Frankfurter, Elijah in Upper Egypt, 315 n.63.
25
See Greek Apoc. Ezra 4:31 (OTP 1:575) and the note of Michael E. Stone ad loc.
26
See Stone and Strugnell, Books of Elijah, 38; Frankfurter, Elijah in Upper Egypt, 121-22.
27
Cf. Hos 12:1. Wilken (Land Called Holy, 322 n.54) suggests that Heraclius is the intended referent.
28
Cf. Joel 4:16 (see Buttenwieser, Elias-Apokalypse, 29 n.4).
29
Jellinek: á''ë ‘twenty-second.’
30
ïåéèáñ øäðáù. The legendary river which lies to the east of Eretz Israel and which reportedly ceases its
flow on the Sabbath; for this same spelling, see b. Sanh. 65b. See Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 34:10 and Gen. Rab.

6
women will be slain from among them. On the twenty-fifth (day) of the eighth month (sic; i.e.,

Marheshvan), the third group of exiles will depart. They will weep and cry out on behalf of their brethren

who were slain, and they will cry out in the desert for twenty-five days 31 and not taste 32 any (food), living

instead ‘on what issues from the mouth of the Lord’ (Deut 8:3). The first group of exiles will not leave

Babylon until the second group arrives there, as scripture affirms: ‘Writhe and push out, O daughter of

Zion, like a woman giving birth. For you will now go out of the city and dwell in the countryside, and you

shall come to Babylon. There you will be rescued; there will the Lord redeem you from the hand of your

enemies’ (Mic 4:10). 33

On the twentieth (day) of Nisan, a king shall come up from the west, ravaging and horrifying the

world. He shall encroach upon ‘the holy beautiful mountain’ (Dan 11:45) and burn it. 34 Most cursed

among women is the woman who gave birth to him: that is ‘the horn’ which Daniel foresaw, 35 and that day

will be one of torment and battle against Israel.

Demetrius son of Pōryphōs and Anfōlīpōs son of Panfōs will wage a second battle. 36

Accompanying them will be ten myriads of cavalry, ten myriads of foot soldiers, and (another) ten myriads

of troops concealed on ships. On the twentieth (day) of Ellul, the Messiah will come: his name is Yinnōn

(ïåðé). 37 On that same day Gabriel will descend (and) from the ninth to the tenth hour will destroy from the

11.5 (Theodor-Albeck, 92-93). Ramban ad Deut 32:26 identifies the Sambatyon with the river Gozan of
Media (cf. 2 Kgs 17:6). For a comprehensive listing of sources, see Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the
Jews (7 vols.; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1909-38), 6:407-409 n.56; note especially the
discussion of Israel Friedlaender, “The Jews of Arabia and the Rechabites,” JQR n.s. 1 (1910-11): 252-57.
31
Even-Shmuel’s text reads here: íåé íéòáøàå äùîç øáãîá íéîöå ‘and they will fast in the desert for
forty-five days,’ a detail which makes excellent sense but which does not figure in the editions of either
Buttenwieser or Jellinek.
32
Jellinek: ïéðòåè ‘carry.’
33
This paragraph is dependent upon the notion first attested in the Palestinian Talmud that the ‘ten tribes’
(Israel) experienced a three-fold exile. See y. Sanh. 10.6, 29c; Lam. Rab. 2.9(13); Pesiq. Rab. §31 (Ish-
Shalom, 146b-147a); and the other references cited by Theodor-Albeck in their note to Gen. Rab. 73.6 (p.
850). Also presupposed here is the regionally privileged idea that redemption will first take place in
Babylon. See ’Aggadat ha-Mashiaḥ (Jellinek, BHM 3:142); Midr. Tanḥ., Noaḥ §3: úìçúî íùîù êãîìì
äìåàâä ‘this (i.e., Mic 4:10) teaches you that the (final) redemption will begin there (i.e., Babylonia).’
34
A reference to Jerusalem. Cf. Otot ha-Mašiaḥ (apud Jellinek, BHM 2:61): äáéøçäì íìùåøéì åéðô øåæçéå
... ùã÷ éáö øäì íéîé ïéá åðãôà éìäà òèéå øîàðù äéðù íòô (Dan 11:45).
35
Dan 7:8: äøéòæ éøçà ïø÷ åìàå ... . See also Ibn Ezra ad Dan 11:44.
36
These names do not occur in any other source.
37
Based on an ancient midrash to Ps 72:17. See b. Pesaḥ. 54a; Ned. 39a; Sanh. 98b; Pirqe R. El. §32
(Luria, 72b).

7
world ninety-two thousand people. 38 On the twentieth (day) of Tebet, Mekketz, Qīrtalos, and all the cities

allied with them will wage a third battle: a very large nation (extending) from the great plain 39 unto Jaffa

and Ashkelon. On the twentieth (day) of Shebat, the Messiah will come: angels of destruction will descend

and destroy the whole of that multitude, and they will not leave (alive) 40 a single soul.

(It was) regarding this time that God spoke about to Abraham: ‘Your progeny are destined to sink to

the lowest level, as scripture states: “And you shall be low, and you will speak from the ground” (Isa 29:4),

but afterwards they will be exalted higher than all the nations, as scripture affirms: “and the Lord your God

will set you high above all the nations of the earth” (Deut 28:1).’ After this all the Gentile nations will

come and prostrate themselves before every Israelite and lick off the dust from their feet, as scripture says:

‘kings will serve as your tutors, [while their princesses will be your nursemaids; they will prostrate

themselves facedown on the ground to you and lick off the dust from your feet]’ (Isa 49:23). 41

On the twentieth (day) of Adar, the Messiah will come, and with him will be thirty thousand

righteous ones, as scripture attests: ‘Righteousness will be the wrap girdling his loins’ (Isa 11:5). When the

nations of the world behold this happening, immediately each one of them will putrefy, both it and its

cavalry, as scripture says: ‘and this will be the affliction with which the Lord will strike all the nations, 42

38
According to Theophanes, ‘some say’ (©ò öáóß ôéíåò) ninety thousand inhabitants of Jerusalem were
killed ‘by the Jews’ (äéN ÷åéñ’ò ô§í EÉïõäáßùí) when Khusrau II captured Jerusalem in 614. See
Heinrich Graetz, Geschichte der Juden von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart (3d ed.; 11 vols. in
13; Leipzig: Oskar Leiner, 1890-1908), 5:362; Harry Turtledove, The Chronicle of Theophanes
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), 11. Buttenwieser cites two parallel traditions, one
Jewish and one Christian. The former is featured in ’Otiyyot de-Rabbi ‘Aqiva (Jellinek, BHM 3:48): ïåéëå
ùìùî íéòùø íò äîçìî ïéùåòå íéøéãàå 'éùåã÷ éøùå úåàáö éøù ìàéøáâå ìàëéî åîò ïéãøåé ìàøùéì çéùî àáù
'åâå õøàä ïî íéàèç åîúé 'îàðù úåîåàáù íéòùøî úåááø íéôìà øùò òùú íéâøåäå úåòù òùú ãò úåòù ‘When
the messiah comes to Israel, Michael and Gabriel, the princes of the hosts and princes of the holy and noble
ones, will descend with him. They will do battle with the wicked from the third to the ninth hours, and will
slay nineteen thousand myriads of the wicked among the Gentile nations, as scripture affirms: “the sinners
will be destroyed from the earth, etc.” (Ps 104:35).’ Even-Shmuel (Midreshey Ge’ullah, 300) suggests
emending úåááø íéôìà øùò òùú ‘nineteen thousand myriads’ to úåááø òùú ‘nine myriads’; i.e., ninety
thousand.
The latter stems from Lactantius, Div. Inst. 7.19.5: … ducem sanctae militiae descensurum, et descendet
comitantibus angelis in medium terrae et antecedet eum flamma inextinguibilis et uirtus angelorum tradet
in manus instorum multitudinem illam quae montem circumsederit et concidetur ab hora tertia usque in
uesperum. Text cited from Lactantius, L. Caeli Firmiani Lactanti Opera omnia (CSEL 19; ed. Samuel
Brandt; Prague: F. Tempsky, 1890), 645; also in Buttenwieser, Elias-Apokalypse, 18-19 n.10.
39
Buttenwieser (Elias-Apokalypse, 30) connects this designation with that used for the Valley of Jezreel
in 1 Macc 12:49 (ô’ ðåäßïí ô’ ìÝãá).
40
Jellinek: ïéøúåð.
41
Wilken points out that this passage was already identified by Jerome as one which the Jewish
community of his day applied to the future reconstruction of Jerusalem (Land Called Holy, 208).
42
Buttenwieser’s text reads íéåâä (cf. 14:18), whereas the biblical text for verse 12 has íéîòä.

8
etc.’ (Zech 14:12, 15). At that time the Holy One, blessed be He, will address the nations of the world:

‘Woe to you, o wicked ones, who are (alive) at the cessation of the four world empires! All of you are to

be expelled from the world, one wherein one kor of wheat 43 will yield about nine hundred kors, and there

will be analogous (fantastic yields) for wine and oil. Every tree will bear choice produce and fruits, as

scripture states: “and you, o mountains of Israel, will make your branches yield, etc.” (Ezek 36:8).’ And

Israel will eat (these fruits) and rejoice for forty years. 44

After this the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring up Gog and Magog ‘and all their associates,’ 45

and then all the peoples of the earth will assemble together and surround Jerusalem in order to make war.

The Holy One, blessed be He, will come up and do battle with them. The Messiah will arrive, and with his

help the Holy One, blessed be He, will wage war on them, as scripture forecasts: ‘then the Lord will go

forth and fight with those nations as when He did battle on the day of war’ (Zech 14:3). On that day

mountains will quake and hills will shake and walls and towers will collapse. The Holy One, blessed be

He, will gather all the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to feast on their flesh and to drink their

blood, as scripture says: ‘the vultures will spend summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth will

spend winter upon them’ (Isa 18:6). Israel will spend seven years burning their weaponry, as scripture

states: ‘then the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go out 46 and set fire to the weaponry and burn (it) …

for seven years’ (Ezek 39:9). It (also) says: ‘The house of Israel will spend seven months burying them in

order to purify the land’ (Ezek 39:12).

These are the cities which will experience devastation: 47 Jericho, Be’erot, Beth Hōrōn, Sīserīn, 48

Milkah, Arad, Shallūm, 49 Samaria, Beth Migdōl 50 , Tyre, Beth Ḥalsawet, 51 Lod, Būz, Beth ‘Aynam,

43
Read with Jellinek íéèç in place of Buttenwieser’s íéèì. 1 kor is equivalent to 395.5 liters; cf.
Avraham Even-Shoshan, Millon ḥadash (5 vols.; Jerusalem: Qiryat Sefer, 1964), s.v. øåë.
44
Perhaps an echo of the tradition attributed to both R. Eliezer and R. Aqiba which asserted that the
messianic era (çéùîä úåîé) would last forty years. See b. Sanh. 99a; Midr. Tanḥ., ‘Eqev §7; Pesiq. Rab. §1
(Ish-Shalom, 4a); Midr. Teh. 90.17.
45
Ezek 12:14.
46
Read with Buttenwieser åàöéå in place of the scribal error åáùéå.
47
Apparently as a consequence of their largely ‘pagan’ culture?
48
Jellinek: ïéñåñ. Presumably a corruption of àúéñåñ, the Semitic name for the Decapolis town of
Hippos, and identified in rabbinic sources as having a predominantly gentile population. See Buttenwieser,
Elias-Apokalypse, 43.
49
Buttenwieser (Elias-Apokalypse, 46) suggests an identification with ×áöáñóáëáìá (1 Macc 7:31);
i.e., íìù øôë, identified in rabbinic sources as having a predominantly gentile population.
50
Jellinek: ìàéãâî úéá.
51
Jellinek: úåôìç úéá.

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Hamath, Sefar, Ḥadashah, 52 Antioch, Alexandria, and ‘Edom.’ But as for all of the cities of Israel, fire and

fiery angels 53 will surround them, as scripture affirms: ‘and I will be a wall of fire encompassing it—

utterance of the Lord’ (Zech 2:9). Afterwards the final day will come: its duration will be that of forty

days. The mountains and hills will shudder and quake, and the earth will cry out against the wicked,

saying: ‘In such-and-such a place did so-and-so kill so-and-so,’ as scripture states: ‘the earth will reveal her

blood-guilt, etc.’ (Isa 26:21).

Elijah said: I beheld the dead taking form 54 and their ‘dust’ being reshaped and made 55 like (the

forms they had) when they were formerly alive so that they might render praise to God, as scripture states:

‘See now that I indeed am He [and there is no deity other than Me; I put to death and I resurrect, I sicken

and I heal: none can escape from My power]’ (Deut 32:39). Also in Ezekiel it says: ‘and I looked, and

behold, sinews were upon them’ (Ezek 37:8). The ministering angels opened their tombs and injected them

with their ‘animating breaths,’ 56 and they revivified. They (the angels) stood them up on their feet. 57 They

shoved everyone who merited punishment into a large hollow place two hundred cubits long and fifty

cubits wide. The eyes of the righteous will witness the downfall of all those who did not take pleasure in

(observing) the Torah of the Holy One, blessed be He, as scripture states: ‘they will go out and see the

corpses of those people who rebelled against Me …’ (Isa 66:24).

Elijah said: I beheld fire and brimstone coming down upon the wicked from heaven, as scripture

says: ‘the Lord will rain coals of fire and brimstone upon the wicked’ (Ps 11:6). The Holy One, blessed be

He, will move the Temple a great distance from the place of eternal torment so that the righteous will not

52
Jellinek: äùøä. Cf. Josh 15:37; 1 Macc 7:40, 45.
53
Jellinek: úøùä éëàìî ‘ministering angels.’
54
Jellinek: øäðá íéòåáè ‘sinking in a river,’ a reading which Buttenwieser rightly notes cannot be correct
in this context.
55
As Buttenwieser notes (Elias-Apokalypse, 22-23 n.11), the language used here echoes that of the
description of Adam’s initial creation provided in b. Sanh. 38b; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 23.1 (Mandelbaum,
2:334).
56
Cf. Gen 2:7.
57
Buttenwieser (Elias-Apokalypse, 23 n.5) calls attention to a parallel episode in the ’Otiyyot de-Rabbi
‘Aqiva (apud Jellinek, BHM 3:31): ïäéìâø ìò ïãéîòîå ïúåà äéçîå åîöòá ä''áä ãîåòå ‘The Holy One, blessed
be He, will Himself arise and resurrect them, and He will stand them up on their feet.’ The ministering
angels are also present in this latter version of the story, where they are responsible for overseeing the
return of all those who died outside of Eretz Israel to the Holy Land.

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hear the sound of the cry of the wicked (suffering) and seek to obtain mercy for them. ‘They will be as if

they never were.’ 58

Elijah said: I saw Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the righteous ones in sitting postures, and the land

before them was sown with every sort of delightful vegetation. That tree which the Holy One, blessed be

He, had prepared was standing in the middle of the garden, as scripture says: ‘and there will grow by the

stream on its bank on both sides every kind of fruit tree; their foliage will never wither, nor will their fruit

ever fail’ (Ezek 47:12). 59 Boats will come ‘from En-gedi as far as’ Eglayim 60 bearing wealth and riches 61

for the righteous ones.

Elijah (may his memory be for a blessing) said: I beheld a great city, both beautiful and glorious,

descending from heaven wherein it had been built, as scripture states: ‘The already built Jerusalem, like the

city associated to it’ (Ps 122:3), 62 perfectly constructed and with its people dwelling within it. It is situated

by three thousand towers, with 20,000 ris 63 separating each tower. Within the span of every ris are 25,000

cubits of emeralds, pearls, and (other) jewels, as scripture says: ‘I will inlay your battlements with

gemstones’ (Isa 54:12).

Elijah said: I saw the houses and the gates of the righteous with their thresholds and door-frames

constructed of precious stones. (I saw) the treasuries of the Temple opened up to their doorways (sic), and

among them were Torah and peace, as scripture states: ‘all your children will be instructed by the Lord;

58
A quotation of the final clause of Obad 1:16. Cf. CD 2:20-21.
59
Buttenwieser (p. 38) calls attention to Rev 22:2; 1 En. 24:2-25:7.
60
Both Buttenwieser and Jellinek have íéìâà. Cf. Ezek 47:10: íéìâò ïéò ãòå éãâ ïéòî.
61
Jellinek: ãåáë.
62
åãçé äì äøáçù øéòë äéåðáä íìùåøé. A translation along these lines is required, for the verse was read as
confirming the existence of a heavenly prototype to the city of Jerusalem. See 4 Ezra 10:27, where the
adjective in the phrase ‘established city’ (aedificabatur) echoes äéåðáä; 2 Bar. 4:2-6 (‘the one already
prepared’ [4:3]); Heb 11:16; Tg. Ps 122:3; b. Ta‘an. 5a and Rashi ad loc.; Midr. Tanḥ., Pequdey §1. Note
especially the discussion of the motifs of the ‘Heavenly Temple’ and the ‘Heavenly Jerusalem’ by
Avraham Grossman, “Jerusalem in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature,” in The History of Jerusalem: The Early
Muslim Period, 638-1099 (ed. Joshua Prawer and Haggai Ben-Shammai; Jerusalem and New York: Yad
Izhak Ben-Zvi and New York University Press, 1996), 302-303. For an intriguing argument that the notion
of a ‘heavenly Jerusalem’ was of Christian origin, see Rivka Nir, The Destruction of Jerusalem and the
Idea of Redemption in the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (SBLEJL 20; Atlanta: Society of Biblical
Literature, 2003), 21-41. The earliest traditions surrounding Q 17:1 and Muḥammad’s ‘night journey’
(isrā’) view it as an ascent to a ‘heavenly Jerusalem’; see Heribert Busse, “Jerusalem in the Story of
Muhammad’s Night Journey and Ascension,” JSAI 14 (1991): 1-40; Izhak Hasson, “The Muslim View of
Jerusalem: The Qur’ān and Ḥadīth,” in Prawer and Ben-Shammai, History of Jerusalem, 355-59.
63
According to m. Yoma 6.4, one mile consists of seven and one-half ris (ñéø). For further discussion of
this unit of linear measurement, see especially Yigael Yadin, The Temple Scroll (3 vols.; Jerusalem: Israel
Exploration Society, 1983), 1:317-18.

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[your children will have great peace]’ (Isa 54:13), and it says: ‘those who love Your Torah have great

peace’ (Ps 119:165), and it says: ‘How great is Your beneficence which You have stored up for those who

revere You’ (Ps 31:20).

End of Sefer Elijah, may his memory be for a blessing.

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