The Book of the Great Name

Blessed be the great name of the one who, in the beginning of His wisdom, created heaven and earth, and who did not reveal His wisdom to human beings, but gave it to the ministering angels, and the ministering angels revealed the secret to human beings. Anyone who finds this book and to whom it reveals all that is written in it must not lie on his bed for forty upon forty days. He must not see the face of a male or female twin, nor may he see the face of a male or female leper, {or a man or a woman who has a flux; nor may he see a woman in menstrual impurity}. He must not eat bread [baked by] a woman or may he drink water of a woman, but must knead with his own hands and mill it with his own hands, and bake one loaf a day and eat it. He shall not eat meat, nor may he eat any kind of fish, nor drink wine or intoxicating drink; nor may he eat onion and garlic, or garden vegetables. If a seminal emission occurs, even on the last day, all the previous days are rendered invalid, and he must return to the beginning. He shall wear white garments and immerse in a river every day for those eighty days, in the evening and the morning, and purify [himself]. On the last day, he shall take this book in his hands and go down to the river in a place that is hidden from human beings, and open it and read from it. And when he finds two incantations [that appear together], he shall say, “Powerful {YH}” and strike his heart. {And if he raises his eyes to heaven and sees the face of the Shekhinah he will die.} And if he lowers his eyes to the ground he will live. And when it is revealed to him, he shall hurry twenty paces back. And when {he says his blessings}, he shall study it.

He must not exchange it for gold or silver, nor for precious stones or for a gleaming pearl. Anyone who does exchange it will not live out his life in his [allotted] days. He will beg for his death and not die; he will beg for his life and not live. He will eat his own flesh in his hunger and drink his own blood in thirst. His days will turn to nights and his nights will become like days to him. Then he will die in an earthquake and his body will not be buried, an evil spirit will strangle him, and a lion will eat him. But anyone who does not reveal this great name will be blessed before his Master. It will be well for him in his death and well for him in his life. Kings will praise him and chiefs will exult and rehearse honor to him. He will be saved from all trouble. They will place a powerful crown on him and he will seem to them like an angel of God. They will scatter at his feet and all the words that come out of his mouth will be proper. Satan will have no power to harm him. No man will be able to rise against him in anger and he shall succeed in everything he puts his hand to do.

Now, obey all that I command you: Love God every day; act honestly and justly with human beings, and feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and gather the exiles and homeless to your house. And honor the great name by uttering it in holiness. Anyone who knows this great name will [be able to] take a lion by the ears and a serpent by the skull of its head. If he rages at the sea, it will dry, and if he rages at a fire, it will be extinguished. If he wants to kill, he can kill, and if he wants to revive, he can revive with it.

Before Him the earth quakes, and mountains and heights tremble. Before Him the earth and the [angelic] creatures raise up song and melody, and say: Holy, holy, holy {is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory} (Isaiah 6:3). And they honor His great name {in the world and} in each and every dwelling. Whoever wants to be wise should read this book every day, but should not pronounce the name every day and bless His name. He should not be afraid. Three hundred chariots [merkavot] of His glory, His seventy-two names, 1,200 appellations, sixty-six letters, ninety-six characters, twenty-four sanctifications of his glory, forty-two [rays of] splendor of His dignity. He spoke and the world came to being, and his name endures forever and ever. Nothing precedes him in goodness and nothing follows him in evil,¹ to the end of all generations.

{And this is the great, mighty, awesome, and powerful name:} YH, thirty-seven [times].² Holy God, Holy God, Holy God, Holy God, Holy God, Holy God, Holy God, seven [times]. YH, twenty-eight [times]. You are He who has compassion on human beings and on the spirits that go forth from the earth: ’YṬPS HYH, the name, YH sixteen [times]. ’BL MTHBT RB QRB K‘PP KNGPṢ ’NMT YṢB TSYMK QMBG L‘QWS HYH. You are one in heaven and you are one on earth. You are ’BRWMSN; You are ’GRSMY; You are ’BRH HM HW YH YHW ’HYH ’H ’W HH ’H HWH WH HW ḤYDYH and YH, twenty-five [times]. Holy God, six [times]. YH fifteen [times]. This is his name, which he spoke to Moses at Mt. Sinai: QYYM HW’ ’W BṢṢ ṢMṢṢ ŠMṢṢ SQS SṬṬ’L MMS ṢṢ NZ. YH fifty-one [times]. These are the words that a man says when he walks along with his adversary; he should call out: [given to him, by this, His great name], which is enduring: YWY, which was revealed to Moses at the [burning] bush. This is My name forever (Exodus 3:15): SBWR HSNWR SM QM QWPQS, which endures until the end of all generations. [ . . . ]

Any man who reads this book must go by himself to the river to a place that is concealed from human beings and from the spirits that go out into the world. There he will see a man, and he will survive by His mercy, and by his prayer he will be saved. [ . . . ] No fire will occur in a house in which this book is placed, nor will be lack, nor destruction, nor burden in it.

Source: Florence Plut. MS 44.13, supplemented by MSS Oxford 1531 and NY JTSA 8128.