Sefer ha-Bahir § 96 -- the sea of wisdom and the throne

Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance · Anonymous (attributed to Rabbi Neḥunya ben ha-Kanah)

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About Sefer ha-Bahir § 96 -- the sea of wisdom and the throne

Sefer ha-Bahir § 96 names the source-grade behind the crown-stone and the blue thread. "The earth from which the heavens were hewn" (cf. § 91) is the throne of the Holy One -- "a precious stone," "the sea of wisdom (yam ha-chokhmah)" -- and the tekhelet of the fringe corresponds to it. Rabbi Meir's famous chain: why the tekhelet from all colors? Because it "resembles the sea, and the sea resembles the firmament, and the firmament resembles the Throne of Glory" -- "under His feet like a work of sapphire" (Exodus 24:10), "the likeness of a throne" of sapphire (Ezekiel 1:26).

The Throne, the "sea," is the supernal mother Binah, hewn from Ḥokhmah and the wellspring of the lower flow; the blue thread of the fringe draws the eye up the whole ladder -- sea, sky, throne -- to the sapphire seat of the Glory. This is a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction; the standard modern English translation (Kaplan, 1979) remains under copyright.

Sefer ha-Bahir 96 -- the sea of wisdom and the throne

Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance

ספר הבהיר · צו

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 source-grade behind the crown-stone. The earth from which heaven was hewn is the throne, the precious stone, the sea of wisdom — and the blue thread of the fringe corresponds to it. Rabbi Meir’s chain climbs from the tekhelet: it resembles the sea, the sea the firmament, the firmament the Throne of Glory, the sapphire under God’s feet. The Throne, the sea, is the supernal mother Binah.

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.

ומאי ניהו ארץ שנחצבה ממנו שמים והוא כסאו של הקב”ה, והוא אבן יקרה, והוא ים החכמה וכנגדה תכלת בציצית, דאמר ר’ מאיר מה נשתנה תכלת מכל מיני צבעונין מפני שהתכלת דומה לים וים דומה לרקיע ורקיע דומה לכסא הכבוד שנאמר (שמות כ”ד י) ויראו את אלהי ישראל ותחת רגליו כמעשה לבנת הספיר וכעצם השמים לטהר, ואומר (יחזקאל א’ כו) כמראה אבן הספיר דמות כסא:
And what is it? The earth from which the heavens were hewn, and it is the throne of the Holy One; and it is a precious stone (even yekara), and it is the sea of wisdom (yam ha-chokhmah); and corresponding to it is the tekhelet (blue) in the fringe (tzitzit). For Rabbi Meir said: why is tekhelet [singled out] from all the kinds of colors? Because tekhelet resembles the sea, and the sea resembles the firmament (raki’a), and the firmament resembles the Throne of Glory (kisei ha-kavod), as it is said (Exodus 24:10), ‘and they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet like a work of sapphire brickwork (livnat ha-sapir), and like the very heaven for purity’; and it says (Ezekiel 1:26), ‘like the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne.’
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
An orientation

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: chokhmah (rendered as wisdom). For each, the apparatus carries the sense set and the reason for the rendering chosen.

Apparatus
Tradition
jewish-mysticism
Language
Hebrew
Period
late 12th c., Provence (ascribed to the 1st c. tanna)
Attribution
Anonymous (attributed to Rabbi Neḥunya ben ha-Kanah)
Translator
Hekhal Targum Project (machine-assisted draft; pending scholarly review)
License
Underlying Bahir text public domain by age; digital Hebrew transcription from Hebrew Wikisource (CC-BY-SA) via Sefaria, credited; English rendering and apparatus CC-BY-SA-4.0
Provenance
The Sefer ha-Bahir is a late-12th-century work, in the public domain by age. The Hebrew is reproduced verbatim from the Hebrew Wikisource transcription (CC-BY-SA), retrieved via Sefaria and credited accordingly. This English rendering and its apparatus are a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor. The standard modern English translation (Kaplan, 1979) remains under copyright.

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Anonymous (attributed to Rabbi Neḥunya ben ha-Kanah). "Sefer ha-Bahir § 96 -- the sea of wisdom and the throne." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified May 2, 2026. https://hekhal.org/texts/sefer-ha-bahir-96-targum.