Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 10
Seven Pillars, Seven Firmaments, Seven Stars, Seven Lands
53. It is written, “and its pillars will tremble.” What pillars does the world have? These pillars support the Yesod [foundation], and the existence of the world is on them. They are seven, ZAT, HGT NHYM, as it is written, “She has hewn out her seven pillars.” The foundation of these pillars is one righteous, Yesod of ZA, as it is written, “And a righteous is the foundation of the world.” It is not written “the pillar of the world,” but “the foundation of the world,” since he is the foundation upon which everything stands.
54. Opposite that there are seven firmaments, seven stars running and returning, seven lands, seven seas, seven deeps, and they are all dependent on that uttering where it is written, “Who builds in the heaven His ascents,” which are seven Sefirot, great ascents, pillars engraved with His great name, which are called HGT NHYM, and they are all dependent on one utterance, which is the upper heaven, ZA.
55. Seven holy lands, HGT NHYM of Malchut, copulate with the seven Sefirot HGT NHYM of ZA, and there is no separation in them, as it is written, “And there was evening, and there was morning, one day.” Evening is Malchut, morning is ZA, and when they unite, they are one day.
That verse is written in all six days of creation, which are HGT NHY of ZA, for it is written, “And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day,” as well as “the third day,” “the fourth day,” “the fifth day,” “the sixth day,” until the seventh day. It is also written, “For six days, the Lord made,” and it is not written “in six days,” implying HGT NHY of ZA, who are called “six days,” from whom there is all the work of creation.
56. Opposite them there are seven pillars engraved in Malchut, HGT NHYM, which are hanging in the sky, ZA. These are twelve tribes that are hanging on the quality of Jacob, ZA, who is called “heaven.” This is so because the twelve tribes in Malchut correspond to the twelve combinations of HaVaYaH in ZA, as it is written, “And You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,” and it is written, “Hear O Israel.” As Israel heard, meaning ZA, so heaven will hear, meaning ZA.
57. The upper seven, the seven Sefirot in ZA, are the names of the Creator. It is written, “and founds His bundle upon the earth.” “His bundle” is seven ascents below them, seven Sefirot of Malchut, which stand over the world and guide it. “On the earth” is the bottom earth, Malchut. “Founded” means the upper earth, Bina of Malchut, which is dependent on Hochma. The upper earth is called Tevel [the world, the universe], Bina, who receives from Hochma, as it is written, “Prepares the world with His wisdom.”
58. It is written, “Who calls for the waters of the sea.” It is one sea, and it is seven, seven Sefirot. One sea surrounds the whole world, and it is written, “And to the gathering together of the waters He called seas.” Thus, there are many seas.
59. All the seas enter the great sea. They are seven days, and everyone enters it one below the other down to the deep, until the great sea, which is seven one atop the other, and all are dependent on one utterance.
60. The world collapses when the Creator looks and sees it, as it is written, “The Lord looks from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there is one who understands, who seeks God.”
