Sefer ha-Bahir §§ 49-50 -- the ten utterances and the glory of concealment
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · מט-נ
canonical late 12th c., Provence (ascribed to the 1st c. tanna) Hebrew Anonymous (attributed to R. Neḥunya ben ha-Kanah) tr. Hekhal Targum Project (machine-assisted, provisional)
The ten utterances mapped onto the divine structure. Lest the Decalogue be taken as ten independent “kings,” “Anokhi” includes all ten: seven voices and three “sayings,” the three being Ḥokhmah and Binah (Proverbs 4:7; Job 32:8) and a hidden third, guarded by the elder’s warning to the child not to expound “the hidden things” (§ 49). And Proverbs 25:2 read as two glories — to conceal a matter, and to search one out — with “a word spoken al ofnav” heard as “al afnav,” on its facets (§ 50).
This is a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor. The Hebrew is reproduced verbatim from the Hebrew Wikisource transcription; the standard modern English translation (Kaplan, 1979) is under copyright.
ד”א שלא יאמרו העולם הואיל והם עשרה מאמרות לעשרה מלכים. שמא לא יוכלו לדבר ע”פ אחד כתב ביה אנכי וכלל כל העשרה, ומאי עשרה מלכים שבע קולות ושלשה אמרים, ומאי אמרים וה’ האמירך היום (דברים כ”ו יח), ומאי נינהו שלשה דכתיב (משלי ד’ ז) ראשית חכמה קנה חכמה ובכל קנינך קנה בינה, כד”א (איוב ל”ב ח) ונשמת שדי תבינם, נשמתו של שדי היא תבינם, שלישי מאי היא כדאמר ליה ההוא סבא לההוא ינוקא במופלא ממך אל תדרוש ובמכוסה ממך אל תחקור, במה שהורשת התבונן אין לך עסק בנסתרות:
Another interpretation: so that the world would not say, ‘since they are ten utterances (asarah ma’amarot), [they are] for ten kings — perhaps they cannot speak by the mouth of one,’ he wrote in it ‘Anokhi (I am)’ and included all ten. And what are the ten kings? Seven voices and three sayings (amarim). And what are the sayings? ‘And the LORD has affirmed you (he’emirkha) this day’ (Deuteronomy 26:18). And what are the three? As it is written (Proverbs 4:7), ‘the beginning of wisdom: acquire wisdom, and with all your acquiring acquire understanding’; as it is said (Job 32:8), ‘and the breath of Shaddai gives them understanding (tevinem)’ — the breath (neshamah) of Shaddai, it gives them understanding. What is the third? As that elder said to that child: ‘into what is beyond you (mufla mimkha) do not expound, and into what is concealed from you (mekhuseh mimkha) do not inquire; in what you have been permitted, contemplate — you have no business with the hidden things (nistarot).’
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
תנא כבוד אלקים הסתר דבר (משלי כ”ה ב), מאי דבר, כדאמר (תהלים קי”ט קס) ראש דברך אמת, וכבוד מלכים חקור דבר (משלי שם), מאי דבר, דכתיב (שם כ”ה יא) דבר דבור על אופניו, אל תקרי אופניו אלא אפניו:
It was taught: ‘the glory of God is to conceal a matter (kevod Elohim haster davar)’ (Proverbs 25:2). What is ‘davar’ (a matter)? As it is said (Psalm 119:160), ‘the head of your word is truth (rosh devarkha emet).’ ‘And the glory of kings is to search out a matter (ḥaqor davar)’ (Proverbs, ibid.). What is ‘davar’? As it is written (Proverbs 25:11), ‘a word fitly spoken (davar davur al ofnav)’ — do not read ‘ofnav (its occasions)’ but ‘afnav (its facets).’
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.
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the ten as seven voices and three sayings
Another reading of why the ten utterances were gathered into one (continuing § 48): lest the world take ‘ten utterances (ma’amarot)’ as ten kings — independent powers unable to speak as one — ‘Anokhi (I am)’ includes all ten (the anti-two-powers point again, §§ 22, 32, 48). The ten = seven voices + three ‘sayings’ (amarim, drawn from Deuteronomy 26:18’s he’emirkha). The three are named from Proverbs 4:7 and Job 32:8: Ḥokhmah (wisdom), Binah (understanding, ‘the breath of Shaddai gives them understanding’), and a hidden third — given only by the elder’s warning to the child, ‘into what is beyond you do not expound… you have no business with the hidden things (nistarot).’ Sod: the ten sefirot are the seven lower grades (the voices) plus the three upper — Ḥokhmah, Binah, and the concealed Keter, the ‘hidden’ one must not investigate. The 7 + 3 structure of the tree.
the glory of concealment and the glory of searching
Proverbs 25:2 read as two glories: ‘the glory of God is to conceal a matter (davar)’ and ‘the glory of kings is to search out a matter.’ The ‘davar’ (word/matter) whose ‘head is truth’ (Psalm 119:160) both hides and invites search: ‘a word spoken al ofnav’ (fitly, ‘on its occasions’) is re-read ‘al afnav’ (‘on its facets, its aspects’) — the word has many facets to be searched out. Sod: the tension of esoteric knowledge — the divine word is concealed (the hidden third of § 49, the nistarot) yet has facets the worthy may explore. Concealment and searching are two glories, not opposites, echoing the elder’s warning and its permission, ‘in what you have been permitted, contemplate.‘
chokhmah
Selected sense: wisdom
Active senses: wisdom, the-supernal-point
Rationale: Chokhmah appears in Proverbs 4:7 (‘acquire wisdom’), rendered plainly ‘wisdom.’ The pardes frame counts it as the first of the three upper grades (the-supernal-point) that, with Binah and the concealed third, complete the ten as seven voices + three; kept to the apparatus.
Lexicon: lexicon/chokhmah
binah
Selected sense: understanding
Active senses: understanding, imma
Rationale: Binah appears in Proverbs 4:7 (‘acquire understanding’) and Job 32:8 (‘the breath of Shaddai gives them understanding’), rendered plainly ‘understanding.’ The frame hears the second upper grade (Imma, the supernal Mother, the source of the neshamah); kept to the apparatus, not substituted into the body.
Lexicon: lexicon/binah
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