(13) And) mankind beheld the Sun-god 1 in the gate of his going forth

(7) In the midst of heaven he beheld it come forth

(1) "It came to pass then, when the sun had risen in the east, that a great light-power came down, in which was my Vesture, which I had left behind in the four-and-twentieth mystery, as I have said unto you. And I found a mystery in my Vesture, written in five words of those from the height: zama zama ōzza rachama ōzai ,--whose solution is this:

(1) And I, Shem, awoke as if from a deep sleep. I marveled when I received the power of the light and his whole thought. And I proceeded with faith to shine with me. And the righteous one followed us with my invincible garment. And all that he had told me would happen upon the earth happened. Nature was handed over to faith, that faith might overturn her and that nature might stand in the darkness. She produced a turning motion while wandering night and day, not getting rest with the souls. These things completed her deeds.

(1) "The light was astonished, the one that was in the middle region and that was beginning and end. Therefore his thought gazed directly up at the exalted light. And he called out and said, 'Lord, have mercy on me, for my light and my effort went astray. For if your goodness does not establish me, I do not know where I am.' And when the majesty had heard him, he had mercy on him.

(9) Now the Lord, having come alone into the intellectual world, enters by His sufferings, introduced into the knowledge of the Ineffable, ascending above every name which is known by sound. The lamp, too, was placed to the south of the altar of incense; and by it were shown the motions of the seven planets, that perform their revolutions towards the south. For three branches rose on either side of the tamp, and lights on them; since also the sun, like the lamp, set in the midst of all the planets, dispenses with a kind of divine music the light to those above and to those below.

(3) But if thou wouldst "see" him, bethink thee of the sun, bethink thee of moon's course, bethink thee of the order of the stars. Who is the One who watcheth o'er that order? For every order hath its boundaries marked out by place and number. The sun's the greatest god of gods in heaven; to whom all of the heavenly gods give place as unto king and master. And he, this so-great one, he greater than the earth and sea, endures to have above him circling smaller stars than him. Out of respect to Whom, or out of fear of Whom, my son, [doth he do this]? Nor like nor equal is the course each of these stars describes in heaven. Who [then] is He who marketh out the manner of their course and its extent?

(141) He passed through the heavens, he surveyed the regions (thereof