7 And the Lord saw all the creation that it was very beautiful,

and as He moved along His course, the Lord made nothing ugly,

and six evenings and mornings came and elapsed, departed,

and there arrived a sabbath of seven days, full of mysteries,

5 laden with rest and full of serenity, representing (many) symbols

of the serene universe when the completion of the universe arrived.

On Day Seven the Lord took rest from his activities;

He had run his course, and having completed His works, He entered rest.

In seven days He ran the full circle, a long stretch of time

10 composed of six days for racing and one day for resting.

Seven days, as (many) pillars, held up the universe,

and it is set on them and it has been so standing ever since.

The wisdom of the Most High built the house full of beauties,

and with the seven pillars it supported it so that it would be beautiful.

15 Its Master put seven seals on the crown of the universe,

and behold, the seven of them are beautiful and full of marvels.

The course for the universe is set to last seventy parasangs:

six for running and one for resting, absolutely serene.

In the course of seven (days) the whole universe is steered:

20 on sabbaths, and on full-moon (nights), and on the first days of months and months that elapsed,

the disc of seven (days) which rotates on its courses,

producing years and all the periods found in it,

assembling one day after another and producing seven days,

and these go and come, each numbered

25 and these bring about months which alternate

and inserted and put together a year (consisting of) months under the zodiacal circle.

And it began to pull away other years with itself,

and the course of the entire universe was ready in seven days – 

in days, in weeks or in months.

30 A year running and with it many years.

Behold days and nights passing,

they carried and brought forth the universe so that it would be self-sufficient in seven days.

Mornings and evenings assembled and there emerged a (complete) day

and during the operation of the Artisan six (days) elapsed,

35 and on the seventh the disc was ready in all its parts,

and behold it was now revolving on its own all days

and all the periods of it were counted as they were

and an evening appeared and a morning appeared, Day Seven,

and the Lord rested on Day Seven, so wrote Moses.

40 It is evident that fatigue had not affected the Lord.

Noble prophet, take off a veil spread for you.

On your words we shall see the beauty of your prophecy.

If you say that the Lord became weary, who would believe you?

But if He was not tired, why did He rest, as you say?

45 But if you call respite from the activities rest,

behold, He had no respite since he sat at the wheel of the universe He had created,

making the sun rise and the moon run and producing lightnings

and sounding thunders and bringing rain down and making seeds sprout

and making winds blow and putting fruits on trees

50 and fashioning grapes in bunches on grapevines

and from a spring making (water) gush forth, laying rivers

and through wives forming babies in their bellies,

doing every day these things which were (always) done,

as it is said, “My father is at work still at this time.”

55 If He is working, He did not rest even if He were tired,

but why did Moses say then “He rested on the seventh (day)”?

Moses is concealed and as he concealed himself, his words are (as) concealed.

Unless his veil is removed, his beauty is not there.

Reveal your face to me, O scribe who announces truths

60 and take the veil off your book and let me see its beauty.

When He is not tired, the Lord your Master is not fainting,

Then He is not resting, but wants to record mysteries and symbolic meanings.

To God a thousand years are counted as one day,

for a thousand years are, in the eyes of the Lord, but one day,

65 and these six days in which all was produced and came into being

are six thousand years when the universe has been moving on constantly,

and in the seventh millennium the universe becomes idle and the races are suspended,

and rest comes in in the seventh millennium as has been suggested.

This universe, which runs over six (days), is as a carriage;

70 when the seventh (day) comes, it releases it and calls a halt to it,

and there arrives rest in the seventh millennium for human beings,

and the creation stops working as on the sabbath;

for the six (days) the work went on and on the seventh it came to a halt,

and it directed to the universe how much it should run and where it should take respite.

75 When He was making the universe, He taught it how long it would exist 

and how long it was to run and when the race it started on was to finish.

The Lord rested on the seventh (day), as He was indicating,

but six days He does not let the universe slacken the race.

He created creatures, but restrained Himself from seeking to rest

80 However, He taught the universe that also for it there is a time to take respite.

On Day Six the works of the entire creation were completed

so that the universe could notice that it came into being in six (days) and it was complete in six (days).

On Day Seven the universe, after (the completion of) this universe,

was relaxed and relieved from works and there was no labour on that (day):

85 no quick people nor skilled ones nor busy ones,

no builders nor artisans at work.

The universe was on holiday, enjoying respite; an era was over, 

for the sabbath had set in and all the races came to a halt with a day off.

The charioteer untied the chariot, which was yoked six (days),

90 not allowing it to run and move round on the seventh (day),

and the moment it finished its work on all the six (days), it is unyoked,

held back idle, standing and not going round.

It is written that God rested on the sabbath from His activities.

Then who is it that dares do any work on the seventh (day)?

95 Even God entered rest when He was not tired out

and instructed the universe that it also might take rest because of fatigue.

Seven days were being registered in seven thousand (years).

A temporary rest symbolizes an eternal rest.

O Artisan, how beautiful is all that is yours!

100 It is full of marvels and might and wisdom:

that the universe (made) from nothing (signifies) might

and again its completion (signifies) wisdom.

It was splendid for you when it was being adorned by you in six days,

that it should reach the end of all its construction works.

105 Again it was splendid for you when you brought it to its completion

so that there would be rest for those which had run faithfully.

O Artisan full of marvels, who could be equal to you?

Or who is capable of measuring the heights of your might?

Your wisdom (visible) in all your creatures is praised in market places

110 and raises its voice in all corners all over.

O Artisan, the heavens are recounting your praise

and the works of your hands the firmament is telling to the whole universe,

mornings and evenings, also days and nights

tell your story in their domains and in their circuits.

115 These beauties that are spread out for you on the entire earth!

These orbits of the heavenly hosts that are in the firmament!

These heights that hang and stay on nothing!

These depths that are built and set without any foundation!

These risings of the sun and the moon – how fast they are!

120 These canals of rivers – how (smoothly) they flow!

These sources of all the springs – how abundant they are!

These fruits of all trees – how beneficial they are!

These colours of all flowers – how pretty they are!

These species in the water – how numerous they are!

125 These stars in the firmament – how bright they are!

And the flashing watchers who are in the highest – how holy they are!

Your beauties came over me from all sides, from all quarters,

from all heights, from all depths, from everywhere.

In the height I gazed and the path of the hero filled me with amazement.

130 To the depth I descended and amazement seized me with the vast sea.

In the east I gaze. I am inundated by the (sun’s) rays.

To the south I rush, but I cannot overtake the celestial hosts.

To the west I go for rest. The evening moves me to arise and praise.

In the north I see the night there. It frightens me.

135 Between the breaks of nights, also of days

my Maker put me and how much I marvel and how much I fail to do justice!

As long as I gaze at the beauties, I notice them in the creation.

Even if I do not gaze, amazement moves me over the Creator.

It is very well that men should marvel at the works of

140 creation and be moved by them to praise,

as Isaiah, who saw and was astonished and seized by amazement

at the power of creation and its adornments

and gazed with astonishment at the works of the Artisan,

and by way of questioning attempted to move people on the earth,

145 and this visionary began to say: Who measured

the sea with the hollow of his hand or measured the sky with his span

and put in his fist and grasped all the dust of the earth

and weighed the mountains and placed the hills on the scales?

You, now, hear the profound truths of the prophecy,

150 and marvel likewise at the hero who established the universe.

The prophet recognised his Master, who measured the sea with the hollow of His hand,

and hence he said “Who measured but He?”

He had sensed that He measured the heaven also with His span,

and weighed the mountains and measured the dust of the whole earth,

155 and these are what his Master made with might.

He intervened – “Who is indeed capable of making them?”

When the Lord was spreading the heaven, He measured it with His span,

and when He was filling up the seas, He measured them with the hollow of His hand

and the dust of the earth put in His fist when He was making it

160 and placed the mountains on the scales and weights.

Also the hills, when He was establishing it on nothing,

He levelled them, putting them at various places,

and He weighed, balancing the weight of its flanks,

and it was not tilting when weight was put on the scale.

165 His signal was bearing it and it was being weighed as in the palms, placed

on nothing and it was not tilting though being weighed.

At this work of might Isaiah marvelled

and hence he asked who was it that made these beauties

so that he could move men and make them marvel.

170 He cast (before them) the hills which his Master presented, in order to challenge them:

one who does not measure the sea with the hollow of his hand should be quiet

and again unless he measured the heaven with his span he should keep his mouth shut

from investigation and from argument and from quarrel

and from questioning, for he is trying to investigate the Hero.

175 One who desires to examine his Lord shall gaze at the heaven,

and unless he measured it, he shall remain still and shall not challenge again

the Hero who weighed the mountains and measured the seas

and measured the heights and roofed the depths and filled up the abyss,

and kindled the sun and replaced it with the moon in the mid air,

180 and established the universe and whose might is inscrutable.

When he was creating it, He created the whole universe with a signal

and in six days He arranged in it beauties, also various parts formed.

On the seventh (day) He composed an allegory on its completion,

and on the sabbath full of serenity He fashioned an image of the end.

185 O sabbath, why are you not engaged in any work?

Who took a day off on your (day) when he was not tired nor stressed out?

At the completion of the universe indolence is born which takes advantage of you.

Therefore your leisure is a death for him who gazes at it.

He ought to call you quietness, not that the Lord your Master rested on your day,

190 but He calls a halt to the race of the universe when it falls on you.

The universe is shy of you to slow down when you arrive at its door,

for but for you the universe would not wish to slow down.

The great, enthusiastic endeavour of six (days) you brought to a halt

and the intensity which the Artisan imposed will go slack with you around.

195 The Lord provides quietness at the end for the entire universe,

granting it (i.e. quietness) to it (i.e. the universe), and said that He rested from His operations,

and he knows how to read Moses spiritually

comprehends the mystery of the sabbath clearly.

The Lord did not need to rest as He was not tired,

200 but He composed a clear allegory on the completion (of the task).

The moment the wheel of the universe completed (a cycle of) 6,000 (years),

in the seventh (millennium) it is discharged and does not revolve (any more),

and because of this He equipped it for six days and set it to work,

and gave it a target of racing six (days) and then it is discharged.

205 However, Jews do not comprehend (this) spiritually,

but say that the Lord rested, and that was it, nothing more.

When He had no body, they made Him tired against His nature,

but when the Only one became incarnate and tired, they despised Him.

The scripture declares that the Lord rested, but they fail to comprehend.

210 When there is no body, there is no fatigue nor exhaustion.

The Son, who took body, became tired on the cross because of the air,

and from that fatigue He entered rest on the seventh (day).

About the Father it is not said that He ever became tired.

Also He rested only in a symbolical and figurative sense.

215 The great universe, having seven days in number,

runs altogether six (days) for labour and one for rest.

The Artisan built the house in six days

and braided, engraved, carved, adorned all its beauties

and when the house was completed in six days, He called the day,

220 and Day Seven became a day of rest from activities,

and this total of seven (days) is splendid when they rotate,

and each one of them has its beauty with it as one discovers,

and if there is love that opens the door to (my) word to let in,

I would also say how beautiful these seven (days) are.