Rabbinic JudaismSefer Yetzirah 1HOLYMAP · SACRED TEXTS
Sefer YetzirahSefer Yetzirah 1

Sefer Yetzirah

Sefer Yetzirah 1

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

YAH, ADONAI of Hosts, God of Israel, Living God and King of the World, EL SHADDAI, Merciful and Gracious, High and Exalted, Dwelling Ever Above, Holy Is His Name—He carved and created His World in Thirty-Two Wondrous Ways of Wisdom , with three linguistic tools: with Counting, with Writing, and with Speech.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH and Twenty-Two Letters of Foundation: Three Mothers, Seven Pairs, and Twelve Simple Letters.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—The count of ten fingers, five against five, with the Covenant of the Unique One established in the center, like a word of the tongue and circumcision of the genitals.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—Ten and not nine, ten and not eleven. Understand with Wisdom and become wise with Understanding; test with them and probe of them. Make a thing stand in assembly before its Creators; return the Maker to His Site.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—Their measure is ten; they have no edge. Depth of Beginning, Depth of End; Depth of Good, Depth of Evil; Depth of Above, Depth of Below; Depth of East, Depth of West; Depth of North, Depth of South. The Unique Lord EL, the faithful king, governs them all from His Holy Abode, forever and ever and ever.

6
English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—Their visage is as the look of lightning, and their limit has no edge. His Word is in them, running and returning. By His word they pursue like a whirlwind; before His throne they bow.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—Their end is attached to their start, like the flame-tongue is bound to the coal. For the Lord is unique, He has no second—before one, what can you count?

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—Keep your mouth from speaking and your heart from conceiving. If your heart should run, return to the place of which is said, “running and returning”. Upon this matter the covenant was cut.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—One—The Wind of the Living GOD, Blessed and Happy is His Name, He Who Lives Forever. Voice and Wind and Speech—this is the Holy Wind.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Two—He carved Wind from Wind, and with it He hewed Twenty-Two Letters of Foundation: Three Mothers, Seven Pairs, and Twelve Simple Letters. And Wind is the first of them.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Three—He carved Water from Wind and with them He hewed tohu and bohu, mud and clay. He carved them like a garden bed, erected them like a wall, screened them like ceiling plaster.

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

Four—He carved Fire from Water, and with it He hewed the Throne of the Glory, and the Wheels, and the Fiery Serpents, and the Holy Creatures, and the Ministering Angels. And from the three of them He founded His Abode, as is said, “He makes the winds His angels and burning fire His ministers”.

13
English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

([According to the 1562 Mantua print, the edition as written in the Otzer Hashem and in Rambam:] Five—Three of the Simple Letters—He sealed Wind by means of three and fixed them within His Great Name, Yod-Heh-Waw.) [The correct version:] He chose 3 of the simple letters with the secret of the 3 Mothers, Alef-Mem-Shin, and He fixed them within His Great Name. With them He sealed 6 Edges. Five—He sealed Above and faced upwards and sealed it with Yod-Heh-Waw. Six—He sealed Below and faced downwards and sealed it with Yod-Waw-Heh. Seven—He sealed East and faced forwards and sealed it with Heh-Yod-Waw. Eight—He sealed West and faced backwards and sealed it with Heh-Waw-Yod. Nine—He sealed South and faced to His right and sealed it with Waw-Yod-Heh. Ten—He sealed North and faced to His left and sealed it with Waw-Heh-Yod.]

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English · Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria Community Translation

These are the Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH: One, the Wind of the Living God; and Wind from Wind, and Water from Air, and Fire from Water; and Up Above and Below, and East and West, and North and South.

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Public-domain Hebrew editions, digitized by Sefaria (sefaria.org). · Source ↗

Sefaria Community Translation, dedicated to the public domain (CC0). · Source ↗

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