(26) If we rightly consider how God separated the water under the firmament, from the water above the firmament, then great things will be found therein.

(9) And for Arpachshad came forth the third portion, all the land of the region of the Chaldees io the east of the Euphrates, bordering on lV the Red Sea, and all the waters of the desert close to r ' the tongue of the sea which looketh towards! Egypt, all the land of Lebanon and Sanfr and 'Amana to the border of the Euphrates.

(86) In those places where there are great lakes and seas, there the water was chief or predominant over that place in that zenith or elevation of the pole; and there not being much Salitter in that place, there came to be as it were a dale or valley, wherein the water remained standing.

(77) I saw seven rivers on the earth larger than all the rivers: one of them coming from the west pours its waters into the Great Sea.

(89) And that sea was divided, and the water stood on this side and on that before their face, and their Lord led them and placed Himself between them and the wolves.

(82) For in those places where the sweet water in the standing wheel of God was chief or predominant, there much earthly, comprehensible or palpable water came to be.

(4) "God seeth all things, and in Him, blest spirit, Thy sight is," said I, "so that never will Of his can possibly from thee be hidden; Thy voice, then, that for ever makes the heavens Glad, with the singing of those holy fires Which of their six wings make themselves a cowl, Wherefore does it not satisfy my longings? Indeed, I would not wait thy questioning If I in thee were as thou art in me." "The greatest of the valleys where the water Expands itself," forthwith its words began, "That sea excepted which the earth engarlands, Between discordant shores against the sun Extends so far, that it meridian makes Where it was wont before to make the horizon. I was a dweller on that valley's shore 'Twixt Ebro and Magra that with journey short Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese. With the same sunset and same sunrise nearly Sit Buggia and the city whence I was, That with its blood once made the harbour hot. Folco that people called me unto whom My name was known; and now with me this heaven Imprints itself, as I did once with it;

(69) And through it the earth was founded upon the water, And from the secret recesses of the mountains come beautiful waters, From the creation of the world and unto eternity.

(8) And. there came forth on the writing as Shem's lot * the middle of the earth which he should take as an inheritance for himself and for his sons for the genera-V tions of eternity, from the middle of the mountain! range of Rafa, from the mouth of the water from the\ river Tina, and his portion goeth towards the west through the midst of this river, and it extendeth till it reacheth the water of the abysses, out of which this river goeth forth and poureth its waters into the sea M£'at, and this river rfoweth into the great sea. And all that is towards the north is Japheth's, and all that is towards the south belongeth to Shem.

(42) For the outermost birth of the water cannot comprehend the innermost birth of the water which is called heaven, and which is made out of the midst or centre of the water. ["Heaven is the firmament, viz. the fire-sea, or sea of fire, out of the seven spirits of nature, out of which the stars, as a quintessence, were concreted, incorporated or created by the Word FIAT: It has or containeth both fire and water, and hangeth in itself inwardly on the first Principle, and will bring its wonders, with or as to the figure of them, into the eternal; but its birth or geniture fadeth or passeth away."]

(46) This lake is often mentioned in the texts of the pyramids. It is one of the celestial lakes not very distant from the Elysian fields

(108) For it is written, And it was dark on the deep, and the spirit of God moved on the water. The deep signifieth the innermost birth or geniture; and the darkness signifieth the outermost corrupt birth or geniture, in which the wrath burned. The water signifieth the allaying or mitigation of the spirit.

(30) Behold the water in the deep above the earth, which qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the elementary air and fire, that is the water of the astral birth or geniture, wherein stands the astral life, and wherein especially the Holy Ghost moveth, and through which the third and innermost birth does generate incomprehensibly as to the wrath of God therein: That water to our eyes seemeth like the air.

(22) Then out of the imprisoned Light a mysterious and Holy Word came forth and took its stand upon the smoking waters. This Word--the Voice of the Light--rose out of the darkness as a great pillar, and the fire and the air followed after it, but the earth and the water remained unmoved below. Thus the waters of Light were divided from the waters of darkness, and from the waters of Light were formed the worlds above and from the waters of darkness were formed the worlds below. The earth and the water next mingled, becoming inseparable, and the Spiritual Word which is called Reason moved upon their surface, causing endless turmoil.

(5) And the ark went and rested on the top of Lubar, one of the mountains of Ararat. 2Q. And Ibn the new mooiilin the foujlh month TFe fountain^ pi the great deep were closed and the flood-gates oi heaven were restrained; and on the new moon of the seventh mon^ all the mouths of the abysses of the earth were opened, and the water began to descend into the deep

(102) Are not the entire sea and all its waters, and all its movements, the work of the Most High, and has He not set limits to its doings, and confined it throughout by the sand?

(77) And the remaining four come forth on the side of the north to their own sea, 〈two of them〉 to the Erythraean Sea, and two into the Great Sea and discharge themselves there [and some say: into the desert].

(36) But seeing the wrath also is in that water in the deep above the earth, therefore constantly, through the kindling of the stars, and of the water in the wrath, such palpable water generateth itself, which, with its outermost birth, stands in death.

(4) Now follow me, and mind thou do not place As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, But always keep them close unto the wood." Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes Forth from the wood a little rivulet, Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, The sinful women later share among them, So downward through the sand it went its way. The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; Whence I perceived that there the passage was. "In all the rest which I have shown to thee Since we have entered in within the gate Whose threshold unto no one is denied, Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes So notable as is the present river, Which all the little flames above it quenches." These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him That he would give me largess of the food, For which he had given me largess of desire. "In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land," Said he thereafterward, "whose name is Crete, Under whose king the world of old was chaste.

(32) For thou seest that often the whole deep is very clear and pure, and then, in a quarter of an hour, is covered with watery clouds; that is, when the stars from above, and the water upon the earth from beneath, kindle themselves, and so water is suddenly there also generated; which would not be, if the wrath did not also stand in the astral birth or geniture.