And it came to pass when the sun went down, and lo! a smoke as of a furnace. 6 And the angels who had the portions of the sacrifice7 ascended from the top of the smoking furnace. And the Angel took me with the 8 right hand and set me on the right wing of the pigeon, and set himself on th e left9 wing of the turtle dove, which (birds) had neither been slaughtered nor divided. And he bore me to the borders of the flaming fire [and we ascended as with m any winds to the heaven wh ich was fixed upon th e surf ace. 1 0 And I saw on the air ]11 on the height, to which we ascended a strong light, which it was impossible to describe,12 and lo! in this light a fiercely burning fire for people, many people of male appearance,13 all (constantly) changing in aspect and form, running and being transformed, and worshipping and crying with a sound of words which I knew not.14

Th e bracketed clause is attested by A K, but i s abs en t from S. It may be a later interpolation (but see Introduction). A fine psychological touch. The text may be corrupt. It might mean an over-powering will. The bracketed clause is attested by A K, but is absent f r o m S. It i s obviously a parallel and alternative text to the preceding clause. Accordin g to Sreznevsky’s reading (no se ni ti, lit. “not th is nor th at”). Cf. Gen. xv. 17 (also xv. 12). Cf. chap. xii. above. A, his. A omits. i. e.? the heaven above the firmament. Omitted accidentally in S by h omoiotelen ton (“ascended... ascended”). i. e. the uncr eated light, which origin ally illumin ated the earth, but was with drawn when Adam sin ned. See furth er notes on xvii. below. K, sex. Th e description refers to the host of angels who are born daily, sing their song of praise befor e G od, and then disappear; cf. Genesis rabba lxxviii. 1: Rabbi Helbo in the name of R. Samuel bar Nahman said: “One angel-host never r ep eat s the song of praise, but every morning God creates a new angel-host and these cantillate a new song before H im an d then disappear.” They are created daily out of the stream of fire th at proceeds from th e holy hayyoth (ibid.); cf. Ps. c i v. 4. C f. also 2 Enoch xxix. 3: “And from the fire I made the ranks of the spiritual hosts, ten thousand angels, and their weapons ar e f i er y, a nd their garment is a burnin g flame”; see further Weber, p. 166 f.