The Physiognomy of R. Ishmael

R. Ishmael said: Suriyah, the Prince of the Presence [sar ha-panim, i.e., Metatron], told me a secret, which I am now revealing to you. Anyone who reveals this secret to someone unworthy will be banished from this world and from the world to come, and is destined to dwell in the lowest level of hell.

This is the book of the generations of Adam (Genesis 5:1)—to be able to tell the difference between the righteous and the evil. A man who is tall and has a deep voice, or whose voice resembles the sound of a thin horn, and whose eyes are clear and white or moist, and whose beard rests parallel to his nose, will be made a leader or prince or king or judge or high priest. All his servants will be wicked, and he will listen to their words and anticipate their deeds. He is a man of thoughts and is one who ponders in his heart. After him, all evil is told, and though his opinion is intended for the sake of heaven, he incites and instigates creatures.

One who looks like a lion—his beard sits parallel to his nose, and his eyebrows are wide, and the lines on his face are whole. However, if one of them is cut off, it has the shape of one of twelve letters. He is one who avenges and guards his fellows, and of him it is said: [he] listens to falsehoods (Proverbs 29:12).

Anyone who has a heh inscribed in his forehead or between his eyebrows, above the nose—ḥet on the left, ḥet on the right—it is known that he is a person who is worthy of both worlds. But if he has a ḥet on the right and a ḥet on the left, it’s too bad for him, for he will have no rest among the dead.

And look at his forehead: the most important thing is if he has one or two of these that move upward and touch the lines of the face. Anyone who has lines on their face that are whole from one side [of their face] to the other, and you know that for each line—one stands for twelve or twenty-three or thirty-four or forty—if it touches one or two, he is worthy of a crown. But if it touches the second while no longer touching the first, he is worthy of two crowns. And if it touches both [lines]: three crowns. If it touches four: four crowns. However, if it touches the lines of the face, and four of the lines are wide, he has a wide body of knowledge, and his words are heard [see Ecclesiastes 9:16]. He is in accord with all creation, and his prayers are answered. His curses hit with a fist.

If there is a form between his eyebrows, and it touches the first broken one above his eyebrows, it is known that he is hungry for judgment.

If he has one on the right and one on the left, and they touch one another, there are no less than two . . .

And if they have one of the twelve on their forehead, and two horns on the side, they are despised among creation but esteemed by the Creator of souls, and they are made the head of the Sanhedrin.

And anyone who has many lines on their forehead, and some of them are cut off, his soul is high and reaches in prayer; and he will intend to sin and will reach the gates of hell but will be saved. Thanks to him, his generation is saved from evil decrees.

And all those who have deep grooves in their forehead are set in these characteristics. And anyone who has the form of an acacia leaf or myrtle is an innocent.