154 passages, 16 traditions

The Texts: Every Strange Passage, by Tradition and Theme

Every passage we could find about beings who come down from the sky, giants, spirits made of fire, and things that act like machines. Each has its own page with the reference, the date, the words, and what scholars say.

Each passage has its own page with the reference, the date, the words from a public-domain translation, and what scholars say about it.

Hebrew Bible 41

The sons of God and the Nephilim · Genesis 6:1–4
Enoch is taken · Genesis 5:24
Cherubim and a turning sword at the gate · Genesis 3:24
Babel: 'let us go down' · Genesis 11:4–7
Three men who eat lunch · Genesis 18:1–8; 19:1–11
Jacob's ladder · Genesis 28:12
Jacob wrestles a man until dawn · Genesis 32:24–30
Pillar of cloud, pillar of fire · Exodus 13:21–22
Manna · Exodus 16:14, 31
Sinai: a mountain in smoke · Exodus 19:12–18
The sapphire pavement · Exodus 24:9–11
Moses' shining face · Exodus 34:29–35
The Ark kills Uzzah · 2 Samuel 6:6–7
The bronze serpent · Numbers 21:6–9
Giants in Canaan: 'we were as grasshoppers' · Numbers 13:32–33
Emim, Rephaim and Zamzummim · Deuteronomy 2:10–11, 20–21
Og's iron bed · Deuteronomy 3:11
The sun stands still · Joshua 10:11–13
The angel who rose in the flame · Judges 13:6, 18–20
Goliath · 1 Samuel 17:4
Six fingers, six toes · 2 Samuel 21:20
Elijah's chariot of fire · 2 Kings 2:11
A hidden army on the hills · 2 Kings 6:17
185,000 dead in one night · 2 Kings 19:35
Ezekiel's wheels · Ezekiel 1:4–28
Carried by the hair; the man of brass · Ezekiel 8:3; 40:3
Seraphim and the live coal · Isaiah 6:1–7
How art thou fallen, O Lucifer · Isaiah 14:12–15
The flying scroll · Zechariah 5:1–4, 9
The Watchers in Daniel · Daniel 4:13, 17
Throne on burning wheels · Daniel 7:9–10
The prince of Persia · Daniel 10:5–6, 13
The sons of God present themselves · Job 1:6; 38:7
'Ye are gods… ye shall die like men' · Psalm 82:1, 6–7
He rode upon a cherub · Psalm 18:9–10 (also 2 Samuel 22)
Without form, and void · Genesis 1:1–2
'Let us make man in our image' · Genesis 1:26; 2:7
'Lest he… live for ever' · Genesis 3:22
Lifespans cut to 120 years · Genesis 5; 6:3
Nimrod, the mighty one · Genesis 10:8–10
Nations divided among the sons of God · Deuteronomy 32:8–9

New Testament 12

The star that stopped · Matthew 2:9
The heavenly host · Luke 2:9, 13
Satan falling like lightning · Luke 10:18
Taken up in a cloud · Acts 1:9–11
Philip vanishes · Acts 8:39–40
The light that blinded Saul · Acts 9:3–9
Caught up to the third heaven · 2 Corinthians 12:2–4
Angels unawares · Hebrews 13:2
Angels who left their habitation · Jude 6, 14–15; 2 Peter 2:4
War in heaven · Revelation 12:3–9
Locusts like horses in armor · Revelation 9:7–9
The city that comes down · Revelation 21:2, 16

Apocrypha 4

Raphael: 'ye did see a vision' · Tobit 12:15, 19
Horsemen running in the air · 2 Maccabees 5:2–3
Heliodorus is beaten · 2 Maccabees 3:25–26
The giants famous from the beginning · Baruch 3:26–28; Wisdom 14:6; Sirach 16:7

Enoch, Jubilees and others 26

Two hundred descend on Mount Hermon · 1 Enoch 6:1–8
Giants 3,000 ells tall · 1 Enoch 7:1–5
What Azazel taught · 1 Enoch 8:1–3
Gadreel and the weapons of death · 1 Enoch 69:6
Azazel bound in the desert · 1 Enoch 10:4–12
The house of crystal · 1 Enoch 14:8–22
Dead giants become evil spirits · 1 Enoch 15:8–12
Journeys to the ends of the earth · 1 Enoch 17–36
Uriel's astronomy lessons · 1 Enoch 72–82
Noah's strange birth · 1 Enoch 106:1–6
Lamech's wife swears · Genesis Apocryphon, column 2 (1QapGen)
Two tall men with shining faces · 2 Enoch 1:3–5; 3:1
The Grigori in the fifth heaven · 2 Enoch 18:1–3
Enoch becomes one of them · 2 Enoch 22:8–10
Enoch becomes Metatron · 3 Enoch (Sefer Hekhalot) 4–15
Watchers came to teach · Jubilees 4:15; 5:1
Kainam finds the Watchers' inscription · Jubilees 8:1–4
Mastema keeps a tenth of the spirits · Jubilees 10:1–11
The Book of Giants · Qumran 4Q530–533, 1Q23, 6Q8; Manichaean fragments
Solomon's ring and the demons who build · Testament of Solomon 1–26
Demons who fly up and fall like stars · Testament of Solomon 20:12–17
Satan refuses to bow to Adam · Life of Adam and Eve 12–16
Abraham rides a bird into heaven · Apocalypse of Abraham 12–18
Solomon's flying wagon · Kebra Nagast, chapters on the Ark's journey
The Sethites come down the mountain · Cave of Treasures
The Book of Jasher: hybrids of animals · Book of Jasher 4:18

Quran 16

Jinn made of smokeless fire · Surah 55:14–15; 15:26–27
Iblis: 'I am better than him' · Surah 7:11–12; 18:50
Jinn listening at the sky · Surah 72:8–9
Stars as missiles · Surah 37:6–10; 67:5
Penetrate the regions of the heavens · Surah 55:33–35
A day of fifty thousand years · Surah 70:4; 32:5; 22:47
A hundred years asleep, food still fresh · Surah 2:259
The sleepers in the cave · Surah 18:9–25
Dhul-Qarnayn's iron and copper wall · Surah 18:83–98
Solomon's wind and his jinn workforce · Surah 34:12–14; 21:81–82
The throne moved in the blink of an eye · Surah 27:38–44
Harut and Marut at Babylon · Surah 2:102
Idris raised to a high place · Surah 19:56–57
'Ad and Iram of the pillars · Surah 89:6–8; 7:69
The Night Journey · Surah 17:1; 53:13–18
Birds with stones of baked clay · Surah 105

Sumer and Babylon 14

Kingship descended from heaven · Sumerian King List
Etana flies on an eagle · Etana epic; King List ('Etana, who ascended to heaven')
Adapa refuses the bread of life · Adapa myth
Oannes and the sages from the sea · Berossus, Babyloniaca, via Alexander Polyhistor
Enuma Elish: Marduk splits Tiamat · Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI
The Anunnaki split: three hundred above, three hundred below · Enuma Elish VI
Atrahasis: the gods go on strike · Atrahasis, tablet I
Atrahasis: the Flood to stop the noise · Atrahasis, tablets II–III
Gilgamesh, two-thirds god · Gilgamesh, Standard Babylonian tablet I
Humbaba and the seven auras · Gilgamesh, tablets II–V
Utnapishtim's boat and the torches of the Anunnaki · Gilgamesh, tablet XI
Inanna's Boat of Heaven · Inanna and Enki
Sharur, the weapon that talks · Lugal-e (The Exploits of Ninurta)
Xisuthrus buries the writings before the Flood · Berossus, Babyloniaca, via Alexander Polyhistor

Egypt and Hermes 6

The king climbs to the Imperishable Stars · Pyramid Texts (Unas, Teti)
Gods and demigods ruled Egypt first · Turin King List; Manetho
The serpent whose family was burned by a falling star · Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
Atum will return everything to the waters · Book of the Dead, chapter 175
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes · Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina)
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean · Doreal, 'The Emerald Tablets of Thoth-the-Atlantean'

India 7

Pushpaka, the flying car · Ramayana, Book VI (Yuddha Kanda)
Saubha, the flying city · Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Ganguli 15–22)
Arjuna's trip to Indra's heaven · Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Ganguli 42–43)
The Brahmashira burns the unborn · Mahabharata, Sauptika Parva
A king returns ages later · Bhagavata Purana 9.3 (Kakudmi and Revati)
Mechanical birds with mercury engines · Samarangana Sutradhara, chapter 31
Manu and the fish · Shatapatha Brahmana 1.8.1

Norse 4

Before the world: Ymir and the gap · Voluspa 3 (Poetic Edda)
Skidbladnir, the folding ship · Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 43
Bifrost and the falcon cloak · Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 13; Skaldskaparmal
The stars fall at Ragnarok · Voluspa 57 (Poetic Edda)

Greece and Rome 12

Titans locked beneath the earth · Hesiod, Theogony 717–725
Hephaestus' golden robots · Iliad 18.373–377, 417–420
Talos, the bronze giant · Apollonius, Argonautica 4.1638–1688
Ships gleaming in the sky · Livy, History of Rome 21.62
The burning shield · Pliny the Elder, Natural History 2.34
A silver jar falls between two armies · Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6
Chariots in the clouds over Judea · Josephus, Jewish War 6.5.3
The five races of men · Hesiod, Works and Days 109–201
'You Hellenes are never anything but children' · Plato, Timaeus 22b–d
Atlantis: gods who divided the earth · Plato, Critias 109b–121c
The world that ran backward · Plato, Statesman 269c–274d
The sun rose where it now sets · Herodotus, Histories 2.142

Persia 2

Yima's underground shelter · Vendidad, Fargard 2
Ahriman breaks through the sky · Bundahishn, chapters 3–4

China 2

The sky breaks and Nüwa repairs it · Huainanzi 6; 3
Nüwa shapes people from yellow earth · Fengsu Tongyi (Ying Shao)

The Americas 1

Four worlds destroyed, humans made from old bones · Legend of the Suns (Leyenda de los Soles)

Ireland 2

The Tuatha Dé Danann arrive in dark clouds · Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions)
Balor's killing eye · Second Battle of Mag Tuired

Gnostic texts 2

Archons build Adam's body · Apocryphon of John (Nag Hammadi Codex II)
Norea burns the Ark · Hypostasis of the Archons (Nag Hammadi Codex II)

Other traditions 3

The first people could see too far · Popol Vuh
The Qigong flying cart · Bowuzhi (Zhang Hua); Shan Hai Jing tradition
The hollow ship of Hitachi · Utsuro-bune (Toen Shosetsu, 1825)

By kind

From the sky

The sons of God and the Nephilim · Genesis 6:1–4
Enoch is taken · Genesis 5:24
Cherubim and a turning sword at the gate · Genesis 3:24
Babel: 'let us go down' · Genesis 11:4–7
Three men who eat lunch · Genesis 18:1–8; 19:1–11
Jacob's ladder · Genesis 28:12
Jacob wrestles a man until dawn · Genesis 32:24–30
Pillar of cloud, pillar of fire · Exodus 13:21–22
Sinai: a mountain in smoke · Exodus 19:12–18
The sapphire pavement · Exodus 24:9–11
The sun stands still · Joshua 10:11–13
The angel who rose in the flame · Judges 13:6, 18–20
Elijah's chariot of fire · 2 Kings 2:11
A hidden army on the hills · 2 Kings 6:17
185,000 dead in one night · 2 Kings 19:35
Ezekiel's wheels · Ezekiel 1:4–28
Seraphim and the live coal · Isaiah 6:1–7
How art thou fallen, O Lucifer · Isaiah 14:12–15
The flying scroll · Zechariah 5:1–4, 9
The Watchers in Daniel · Daniel 4:13, 17
Throne on burning wheels · Daniel 7:9–10
The prince of Persia · Daniel 10:5–6, 13
He rode upon a cherub · Psalm 18:9–10 (also 2 Samuel 22)
The star that stopped · Matthew 2:9
The heavenly host · Luke 2:9, 13
Satan falling like lightning · Luke 10:18
Taken up in a cloud · Acts 1:9–11
The light that blinded Saul · Acts 9:3–9
Angels unawares · Hebrews 13:2
Angels who left their habitation · Jude 6, 14–15; 2 Peter 2:4
War in heaven · Revelation 12:3–9
Locusts like horses in armor · Revelation 9:7–9
The city that comes down · Revelation 21:2, 16
Horsemen running in the air · 2 Maccabees 5:2–3
Heliodorus is beaten · 2 Maccabees 3:25–26
Two hundred descend on Mount Hermon · 1 Enoch 6:1–8
What Azazel taught · 1 Enoch 8:1–3
Azazel bound in the desert · 1 Enoch 10:4–12
The house of crystal · 1 Enoch 14:8–22
Journeys to the ends of the earth · 1 Enoch 17–36
Noah's strange birth · 1 Enoch 106:1–6
Two tall men with shining faces · 2 Enoch 1:3–5; 3:1
The Grigori in the fifth heaven · 2 Enoch 18:1–3
Watchers came to teach · Jubilees 4:15; 5:1
The Book of Giants · Qumran 4Q530–533, 1Q23, 6Q8; Manichaean fragments
Demons who fly up and fall like stars · Testament of Solomon 20:12–17
Solomon's flying wagon · Kebra Nagast, chapters on the Ark's journey
Jinn listening at the sky · Surah 72:8–9
Stars as missiles · Surah 37:6–10; 67:5
Penetrate the regions of the heavens · Surah 55:33–35
A day of fifty thousand years · Surah 70:4; 32:5; 22:47
Solomon's wind and his jinn workforce · Surah 34:12–14; 21:81–82
Harut and Marut at Babylon · Surah 2:102
The Night Journey · Surah 17:1; 53:13–18
Birds with stones of baked clay · Surah 105
Kingship descended from heaven · Sumerian King List
Etana flies on an eagle · Etana epic; King List ('Etana, who ascended to heaven')
Oannes and the sages from the sea · Berossus, Babyloniaca, via Alexander Polyhistor
Enuma Elish: Marduk splits Tiamat · Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI
The Anunnaki split: three hundred above, three hundred below · Enuma Elish VI
Inanna's Boat of Heaven · Inanna and Enki
Sharur, the weapon that talks · Lugal-e (The Exploits of Ninurta)
The king climbs to the Imperishable Stars · Pyramid Texts (Unas, Teti)
Gods and demigods ruled Egypt first · Turin King List; Manetho
The serpent whose family was burned by a falling star · Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
Pushpaka, the flying car · Ramayana, Book VI (Yuddha Kanda)
Saubha, the flying city · Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Ganguli 15–22)
Arjuna's trip to Indra's heaven · Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Ganguli 42–43)
Mechanical birds with mercury engines · Samarangana Sutradhara, chapter 31
Skidbladnir, the folding ship · Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 43
Bifrost and the falcon cloak · Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 13; Skaldskaparmal
The stars fall at Ragnarok · Voluspa 57 (Poetic Edda)
Titans locked beneath the earth · Hesiod, Theogony 717–725
Ships gleaming in the sky · Livy, History of Rome 21.62
The burning shield · Pliny the Elder, Natural History 2.34
A silver jar falls between two armies · Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6
Chariots in the clouds over Judea · Josephus, Jewish War 6.5.3
Ahriman breaks through the sky · Bundahishn, chapters 3–4
'You Hellenes are never anything but children' · Plato, Timaeus 22b–d
The sun rose where it now sets · Herodotus, Histories 2.142
Manu and the fish · Shatapatha Brahmana 1.8.1
The sky breaks and Nüwa repairs it · Huainanzi 6; 3
The Tuatha Dé Danann arrive in dark clouds · Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions)
The Qigong flying cart · Bowuzhi (Zhang Hua); Shan Hai Jing tradition
The hollow ship of Hitachi · Utsuro-bune (Toen Shosetsu, 1825)

Giants and hybrids

The sons of God and the Nephilim · Genesis 6:1–4
Giants in Canaan: 'we were as grasshoppers' · Numbers 13:32–33
Emim, Rephaim and Zamzummim · Deuteronomy 2:10–11, 20–21
Og's iron bed · Deuteronomy 3:11
The angel who rose in the flame · Judges 13:6, 18–20
Goliath · 1 Samuel 17:4
Six fingers, six toes · 2 Samuel 21:20
Angels who left their habitation · Jude 6, 14–15; 2 Peter 2:4
The giants famous from the beginning · Baruch 3:26–28; Wisdom 14:6; Sirach 16:7
Two hundred descend on Mount Hermon · 1 Enoch 6:1–8
Giants 3,000 ells tall · 1 Enoch 7:1–5
Azazel bound in the desert · 1 Enoch 10:4–12
Dead giants become evil spirits · 1 Enoch 15:8–12
Noah's strange birth · 1 Enoch 106:1–6
Lamech's wife swears · Genesis Apocryphon, column 2 (1QapGen)
The Grigori in the fifth heaven · 2 Enoch 18:1–3
Watchers came to teach · Jubilees 4:15; 5:1
The Book of Giants · Qumran 4Q530–533, 1Q23, 6Q8; Manichaean fragments
Dhul-Qarnayn's iron and copper wall · Surah 18:83–98
'Ad and Iram of the pillars · Surah 89:6–8; 7:69
Gilgamesh, two-thirds god · Gilgamesh, Standard Babylonian tablet I
Humbaba and the seven auras · Gilgamesh, tablets II–V
Gods and demigods ruled Egypt first · Turin King List; Manetho
The serpent whose family was burned by a falling star · Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
Before the world: Ymir and the gap · Voluspa 3 (Poetic Edda)
The stars fall at Ragnarok · Voluspa 57 (Poetic Edda)
Titans locked beneath the earth · Hesiod, Theogony 717–725
Talos, the bronze giant · Apollonius, Argonautica 4.1638–1688
Lifespans cut to 120 years · Genesis 5; 6:3
Nimrod, the mighty one · Genesis 10:8–10
The five races of men · Hesiod, Works and Days 109–201
Atlantis: gods who divided the earth · Plato, Critias 109b–121c
The Tuatha Dé Danann arrive in dark clouds · Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions)
Balor's killing eye · Second Battle of Mag Tuired
Archons build Adam's body · Apocryphon of John (Nag Hammadi Codex II)
The Sethites come down the mountain · Cave of Treasures
The Book of Jasher: hybrids of animals · Book of Jasher 4:18

Spirits and jinn

Raphael: 'ye did see a vision' · Tobit 12:15, 19
Dead giants become evil spirits · 1 Enoch 15:8–12
Mastema keeps a tenth of the spirits · Jubilees 10:1–11
Solomon's ring and the demons who build · Testament of Solomon 1–26
Demons who fly up and fall like stars · Testament of Solomon 20:12–17
Satan refuses to bow to Adam · Life of Adam and Eve 12–16
Jinn made of smokeless fire · Surah 55:14–15; 15:26–27
Iblis: 'I am better than him' · Surah 7:11–12; 18:50
Jinn listening at the sky · Surah 72:8–9
Solomon's wind and his jinn workforce · Surah 34:12–14; 21:81–82
The throne moved in the blink of an eye · Surah 27:38–44

Looks like technology

Cherubim and a turning sword at the gate · Genesis 3:24
Three men who eat lunch · Genesis 18:1–8; 19:1–11
Jacob's ladder · Genesis 28:12
Pillar of cloud, pillar of fire · Exodus 13:21–22
Manna · Exodus 16:14, 31
Sinai: a mountain in smoke · Exodus 19:12–18
The sapphire pavement · Exodus 24:9–11
Moses' shining face · Exodus 34:29–35
The Ark kills Uzzah · 2 Samuel 6:6–7
The bronze serpent · Numbers 21:6–9
Og's iron bed · Deuteronomy 3:11
Elijah's chariot of fire · 2 Kings 2:11
A hidden army on the hills · 2 Kings 6:17
185,000 dead in one night · 2 Kings 19:35
Ezekiel's wheels · Ezekiel 1:4–28
Carried by the hair; the man of brass · Ezekiel 8:3; 40:3
Seraphim and the live coal · Isaiah 6:1–7
The flying scroll · Zechariah 5:1–4, 9
Throne on burning wheels · Daniel 7:9–10
He rode upon a cherub · Psalm 18:9–10 (also 2 Samuel 22)
Philip vanishes · Acts 8:39–40
The light that blinded Saul · Acts 9:3–9
Locusts like horses in armor · Revelation 9:7–9
The city that comes down · Revelation 21:2, 16
Raphael: 'ye did see a vision' · Tobit 12:15, 19
What Azazel taught · 1 Enoch 8:1–3
Gadreel and the weapons of death · 1 Enoch 69:6
The house of crystal · 1 Enoch 14:8–22
Uriel's astronomy lessons · 1 Enoch 72–82
Enoch becomes one of them · 2 Enoch 22:8–10
Enoch becomes Metatron · 3 Enoch (Sefer Hekhalot) 4–15
Kainam finds the Watchers' inscription · Jubilees 8:1–4
Solomon's ring and the demons who build · Testament of Solomon 1–26
Abraham rides a bird into heaven · Apocalypse of Abraham 12–18
Solomon's flying wagon · Kebra Nagast, chapters on the Ark's journey
Jinn listening at the sky · Surah 72:8–9
Stars as missiles · Surah 37:6–10; 67:5
Penetrate the regions of the heavens · Surah 55:33–35
A hundred years asleep, food still fresh · Surah 2:259
Dhul-Qarnayn's iron and copper wall · Surah 18:83–98
Solomon's wind and his jinn workforce · Surah 34:12–14; 21:81–82
The throne moved in the blink of an eye · Surah 27:38–44
Harut and Marut at Babylon · Surah 2:102
'Ad and Iram of the pillars · Surah 89:6–8; 7:69
Birds with stones of baked clay · Surah 105
Etana flies on an eagle · Etana epic; King List ('Etana, who ascended to heaven')
Oannes and the sages from the sea · Berossus, Babyloniaca, via Alexander Polyhistor
Atrahasis: the gods go on strike · Atrahasis, tablet I
Humbaba and the seven auras · Gilgamesh, tablets II–V
Utnapishtim's boat and the torches of the Anunnaki · Gilgamesh, tablet XI
Inanna's Boat of Heaven · Inanna and Enki
Sharur, the weapon that talks · Lugal-e (The Exploits of Ninurta)
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes · Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina)
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean · Doreal, 'The Emerald Tablets of Thoth-the-Atlantean'
Pushpaka, the flying car · Ramayana, Book VI (Yuddha Kanda)
Saubha, the flying city · Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Ganguli 15–22)
Arjuna's trip to Indra's heaven · Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Ganguli 42–43)
The Brahmashira burns the unborn · Mahabharata, Sauptika Parva
Mechanical birds with mercury engines · Samarangana Sutradhara, chapter 31
Skidbladnir, the folding ship · Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 43
Bifrost and the falcon cloak · Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 13; Skaldskaparmal
Hephaestus' golden robots · Iliad 18.373–377, 417–420
Talos, the bronze giant · Apollonius, Argonautica 4.1638–1688
'Let us make man in our image' · Genesis 1:26; 2:7
'Lest he… live for ever' · Genesis 3:22
Xisuthrus buries the writings before the Flood · Berossus, Babyloniaca, via Alexander Polyhistor
Yima's underground shelter · Vendidad, Fargard 2
The world that ran backward · Plato, Statesman 269c–274d
The sky breaks and Nüwa repairs it · Huainanzi 6; 3
Nüwa shapes people from yellow earth · Fengsu Tongyi (Ying Shao)
Four worlds destroyed, humans made from old bones · Legend of the Suns (Leyenda de los Soles)
The Tuatha Dé Danann arrive in dark clouds · Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions)
Balor's killing eye · Second Battle of Mag Tuired
Archons build Adam's body · Apocryphon of John (Nag Hammadi Codex II)
The Book of Jasher: hybrids of animals · Book of Jasher 4:18
The first people could see too far · Popol Vuh
The Qigong flying cart · Bowuzhi (Zhang Hua); Shan Hai Jing tradition
The hollow ship of Hitachi · Utsuro-bune (Toen Shosetsu, 1825)

Strange time

The sun stands still · Joshua 10:11–13
A day of fifty thousand years · Surah 70:4; 32:5; 22:47
A hundred years asleep, food still fresh · Surah 2:259
The sleepers in the cave · Surah 18:9–25
The Night Journey · Surah 17:1; 53:13–18
Kingship descended from heaven · Sumerian King List
Adapa refuses the bread of life · Adapa myth
Atrahasis: the Flood to stop the noise · Atrahasis, tablets II–III
Gods and demigods ruled Egypt first · Turin King List; Manetho
Atum will return everything to the waters · Book of the Dead, chapter 175
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean · Doreal, 'The Emerald Tablets of Thoth-the-Atlantean'
A king returns ages later · Bhagavata Purana 9.3 (Kakudmi and Revati)
The stars fall at Ragnarok · Voluspa 57 (Poetic Edda)
Without form, and void · Genesis 1:1–2
'Lest he… live for ever' · Genesis 3:22
Lifespans cut to 120 years · Genesis 5; 6:3
Xisuthrus buries the writings before the Flood · Berossus, Babyloniaca, via Alexander Polyhistor
Yima's underground shelter · Vendidad, Fargard 2
The five races of men · Hesiod, Works and Days 109–201
'You Hellenes are never anything but children' · Plato, Timaeus 22b–d
Atlantis: gods who divided the earth · Plato, Critias 109b–121c
The world that ran backward · Plato, Statesman 269c–274d
The sun rose where it now sets · Herodotus, Histories 2.142
Manu and the fish · Shatapatha Brahmana 1.8.1
The sky breaks and Nüwa repairs it · Huainanzi 6; 3
Four worlds destroyed, humans made from old bones · Legend of the Suns (Leyenda de los Soles)
Norea burns the Ark · Hypostasis of the Archons (Nag Hammadi Codex II)

Council of gods

Babel: 'let us go down' · Genesis 11:4–7
How art thou fallen, O Lucifer · Isaiah 14:12–15
The Watchers in Daniel · Daniel 4:13, 17
The prince of Persia · Daniel 10:5–6, 13
The sons of God present themselves · Job 1:6; 38:7
'Ye are gods… ye shall die like men' · Psalm 82:1, 6–7
War in heaven · Revelation 12:3–9
Mastema keeps a tenth of the spirits · Jubilees 10:1–11
Satan refuses to bow to Adam · Life of Adam and Eve 12–16
Iblis: 'I am better than him' · Surah 7:11–12; 18:50
Stars as missiles · Surah 37:6–10; 67:5
Adapa refuses the bread of life · Adapa myth
Enuma Elish: Marduk splits Tiamat · Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI
The Anunnaki split: three hundred above, three hundred below · Enuma Elish VI
Atrahasis: the gods go on strike · Atrahasis, tablet I
Atrahasis: the Flood to stop the noise · Atrahasis, tablets II–III
Utnapishtim's boat and the torches of the Anunnaki · Gilgamesh, tablet XI
Atum will return everything to the waters · Book of the Dead, chapter 175
'Let us make man in our image' · Genesis 1:26; 2:7
'Lest he… live for ever' · Genesis 3:22
Nations divided among the sons of God · Deuteronomy 32:8–9
Ahriman breaks through the sky · Bundahishn, chapters 3–4
The five races of men · Hesiod, Works and Days 109–201
Atlantis: gods who divided the earth · Plato, Critias 109b–121c
The world that ran backward · Plato, Statesman 269c–274d
Nüwa shapes people from yellow earth · Fengsu Tongyi (Ying Shao)
Four worlds destroyed, humans made from old bones · Legend of the Suns (Leyenda de los Soles)
Archons build Adam's body · Apocryphon of John (Nag Hammadi Codex II)
Norea burns the Ark · Hypostasis of the Archons (Nag Hammadi Codex II)
The Sethites come down the mountain · Cave of Treasures
The first people could see too far · Popol Vuh

Taken up alive

Enoch is taken · Genesis 5:24
Elijah's chariot of fire · 2 Kings 2:11
Carried by the hair; the man of brass · Ezekiel 8:3; 40:3
Taken up in a cloud · Acts 1:9–11
Caught up to the third heaven · 2 Corinthians 12:2–4
The house of crystal · 1 Enoch 14:8–22
Journeys to the ends of the earth · 1 Enoch 17–36
Uriel's astronomy lessons · 1 Enoch 72–82
Two tall men with shining faces · 2 Enoch 1:3–5; 3:1
Enoch becomes one of them · 2 Enoch 22:8–10
Enoch becomes Metatron · 3 Enoch (Sefer Hekhalot) 4–15
Abraham rides a bird into heaven · Apocalypse of Abraham 12–18
Idris raised to a high place · Surah 19:56–57
The Night Journey · Surah 17:1; 53:13–18
Etana flies on an eagle · Etana epic; King List ('Etana, who ascended to heaven')
Adapa refuses the bread of life · Adapa myth
Utnapishtim's boat and the torches of the Anunnaki · Gilgamesh, tablet XI
The king climbs to the Imperishable Stars · Pyramid Texts (Unas, Teti)
Arjuna's trip to Indra's heaven · Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Ganguli 42–43)
A king returns ages later · Bhagavata Purana 9.3 (Kakudmi and Revati)

Questions people ask about these ancient texts

What does the Bible say about giants?

Several passages: the Nephilim of Genesis 6:1–4, the spies who felt 'as grasshoppers' in Numbers 13:32–33, the Emim, Rephaim and Zamzummim of Deuteronomy 2, Og's iron bed in Deuteronomy 3:11, Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:4, and a man with six fingers and six toes in 2 Samuel 21:20.

What does the Quran say about jinn?

The Quran says the jinn were created 'of smokeless fire' (Quran 55:15), as humans were made of clay. The passages here, from Pickthall's translation, also cover jinn who try to listen at the edge of heaven and find 'a flame in wait' (Quran 72:9).

Which translations are quoted?

Only translations in the public domain in the United States, such as the King James Version, R. H. Charles's Enoch and Jubilees, and Pickthall's Quran. Newer translations are cited and linked but not copied.

Updated October 2026