Sefer ha-Bahir 126-128 -- the Kedushah and the crown
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · קכו-קכח
canonical late 12th c., Provence (ascribed to the 1st c. tanna) Hebrew Anonymous (attributed to Rabbi Nehunya ben ha-Kanah) tr. Hekhal Targum Project (machine-assisted draft; pending scholarly review)
The liturgy of sanctification mapped onto the highest grades. The three dominions and the chariot-hosts who crown the King with three sanctifications (§ 126); why three and not four — the sanctification above is “three by three,” culminating in the thirteen attributes of mercy (§ 127); and the Trisagion “holy, holy, holy” read as the three highest grades: the supernal crown, the root of the tree, and the union (§ 128).
A provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor. The Hebrew is reproduced verbatim (§ 127’s numeral for the priestly blessing is garbled in the source; the blessing is at Numbers 6:24-26); the standard modern English translation (Kaplan, 1979) is under copyright.
ומאי ניהו, תלתא אינון, ובכללן שלשה חיילות ושלשה ממשלות, הממשלה הראשונה אור, ואור החיים של מים, הממשלה השניה חיות הקודש והאופנים וגלגלי המרכבה וכל גדודיו של הקב”ה מברכין ומעריצין ומהדרין ומפארין ומקדישין למלך נאדר בקדושה ונערך בסוד קדושים רבה, מלך איום ונורא ומכתירין בשלש קדושות:
And what are they? They are three, and within them three armies (chayalot) and three dominions (memshalot). The first dominion is light, and the light of the life of water. The second dominion is the holy living creatures (chayot) and the ofanim and the wheels of the chariot (galgalei ha-merkavah) and all the troops of the Holy One, who bless and revere and adorn and glorify and sanctify the King, glorious in holiness, arrayed in the great secret of the holy ones (sod kedoshim rabbah), a king awesome and terrible; and they crown [Him] with three sanctifications (shalosh kedushot).
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ומאי ניהו שלש קדושות ולא ארבע, מפני שקדושת מעלה שלש שלש, דכתיב ה’ מלך ה’ מלך ה’ ימלוך לעולם ועד, וכתיב (במדבר ז’ כד ו) יברכך ה’ יאר ה’ ישא ה’, וכתיב (שמות ל”ד ו) ה’ ה’ והשאר של מדות ה’ שלישי מה הוי ה’ אל רחום וחנון וגו’ שלש עשרה מדות:
And what are the three sanctifications, and not four? Because the sanctification above is three by three, as it is written, ‘the LORD reigns, the LORD reigned, the LORD will reign forever and ever’; and it is written (Numbers 6:24-26), ‘may the LORD bless you, may the LORD make His face shine, may the LORD lift up His face’; and it is written (Exodus 34:6), ‘the LORD, the LORD’ — and the rest of the attributes; ‘the LORD’ the third, what is it? ‘the LORD, God merciful and gracious,’ and so on — the thirteen attributes (shelosh esreh midot).
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ומאי הוי קדוש קדוש קדוש ואחר כך ה’ צבאות מלא כל הארץ כבודו (ישעי’ ו’ ג) אלא קדוש כתר עליון, קדוש שורש האילן, קדוש דבק ומיוחד בכלם ה’ צבאות מלא כל הארץ כבודו:
And what is ‘holy, holy, holy,’ and afterward ‘the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory’ (Isaiah 6:3)? Rather: ‘holy’ is the supernal crown (keter elyon); ‘holy’ is the root of the tree (shoresh ha-ilan); ‘holy’ is cleaving and unified in them all — ‘the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
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This edition sets the verbatim Hebrew beside a fresh English rendering and a critical apparatus: a running commentary on the passage, notes on the controlled vocabulary and the rendering chosen for each term, and cross-references to the lexicon and to related sections. It is a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor.
Controlled terms noted in this passage: keter (rendered as the-supernal-crown), merkavah (rendered as chariot). For each, the apparatus carries the sense set and the reason for the rendering chosen.
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the three dominions and the crowning hosts
The grades are ‘three,’ holding three armies and three dominions: the first dominion ‘light, and the light of the life of water’; the second the holy living creatures (chayot), the ofanim, and ‘the wheels of the chariot (galgalei ha-merkavah)’ — the hosts of Ezekiel’s vision — and all the troops of the Holy One, who ‘crown Him with three sanctifications.’ Sod: the celestial hosts of the merkavah render the threefold Kedushah, crowning the King; the ‘great secret of the holy ones’ is the liturgy of sanctification below mirroring the order above.
the three-by-three sanctifications and the thirteen attributes
Why ‘three’ sanctifications and not four? Because ‘the sanctification above is three by three.’ The threefold pattern recurs: ‘the LORD reigns / reigned / will reign’; the three clauses of the priestly blessing (‘may the LORD bless / make shine / lift up,’ Numbers 6:24-26); and the doubled Name of Exodus 34:6 (‘the LORD, the LORD… God merciful and gracious’), the third ‘LORD’ opening the thirteen attributes of mercy. Sod: the threefold structure of the upper grades, sounded in the liturgy. (The verbatim Hebrew’s numeral for the priestly blessing is garbled here; the blessing is at Numbers 6:24-26.)
the Trisagion: Keter, the root of the tree, and the union
’Holy, holy, holy, the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory’ (Isaiah 6:3) is read as the three highest grades: the first ‘holy’ is the supernal crown (keter elyon) — Keter; the second ‘holy’ is ‘the root of the tree’ (Ḥokhmah, or the trunk from which the sefirot branch); the third ‘holy’ is ‘cleaving and unified in them all’ — the grade that binds, opening to ‘the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ Sod: the Trisagion mapped onto the topmost sefirot, the crown, the root, and the uniting — the seraphic cry as a naming of the tree’s summit.
Editorial decisions
- §127 Numbers citation. The verbatim Hebrew’s numeral for the priestly blessing is garbled (reads as Numbers 7:24, 6); the blessing is at Numbers 6:24-26. Rendered the correct locus with an apparatus note. (claude-opus-4-8[session-pipe], 2026-07-03)
keter
Selected sense: the-supernal-crown
Active senses: the-supernal-crown, crown
Rationale: § 128 names the first ‘holy’ of the Trisagion as ‘the supernal crown (keter elyon)’ — the sefirotic sense is explicit: Keter, the highest grade, the crown of the tree; rendered ‘the supernal crown.‘
Lexicon: lexicon/keter
merkavah
Selected sense: chariot
Active senses: chariot, the-divine-throne-vision
Rationale: § 126’s ‘the wheels of the chariot (galgalei ha-merkavah)’ among the second dominion’s hosts (the chayot and ofanim of Ezekiel 1), rendered ‘the wheels of the chariot’ — the throne-chariot and its living hosts.
Lexicon: lexicon/merkavah
No public-domain translations indexed for this chunk.