And each river turns round in a bow in the four directions of ‘Araboth Ragia, and (from there) it falls down to Maà'ón and is stayed (?), and from Ma'ón to Zebul, from Zebul to Shechagim, trom Shechagim to Ragia, from Ragia‘ to Shamayim and from Shamayım upon the heads of the wicked who are in Gehenna, as it is written (Jer. xxiii. 19): ‘‘ Behold a whirlwind of the Lord, even his fury, is gone, yea, a whirling tempest; it shall burst upon the head of the wicked ". stayed (?), etc. The heavens are enumerated with the omission of Makon and the substitution of the Hebrew name Shamayim for the Latin Wilon (velum or Greek Bov). In ch. xvii. 3 both these names are given for the first heaven. In Seder Rabba di Ber. Rabba the Wilon and Shamayim appear as two different heavens, Viz. the first and second respectively. A parallel to the present conception of the fiery river(s) going through all the heavens and eventually falling down upon the heads of the wicked in Gehenna is found in Mass. Simi- larly in the fragment, translated by Gaster, RAS’s Journal, 1893, pp. 599-605, called Description of Hell: “the river Di-nur floweth from beneath the Throne of Glory and falleth over the heads of the sinners. Cf. 2 En. x. 2: “in Gehenna there is a fiery river coming forth and it floweth from one end of the world to the other". In T'B. Chag. 13 b, the fiery river from the perspiration of the Chayyoth is said to ‘fall down upon the heads of the wicked in Gehenna”’ with reference to Jer. xxiii. 19, the scriptural passage adduced also by our verse. Cf. further Apoc. Petri, 8, Apoc. Pauli, 57. Hek. R. xiii (Rigyon surrounds His Throne...and covers all the chambers of the Hall of ‘Araboth Ragqia‘ with fire-smoke). In the vss. 4. and 5 of the present chapter we meet with a conception of fiery rivers that is brought about through an amalgamation of various views concerning . the Nehar di-Nur. (1) Founding upon Dan. vii. 10 the Nehar di-Nur became a constituent part of the picture of the splendours by the Throne. Flowing from underneath the Throne its origin was explained from the perspiration of the Chayyoth, heavily burdened by the weight of the Throne. In this aspect it serves no definite purpose other than to add to the glory of ‘the Holy One, blessed be He, who sitteth on the Throne of Glory. (2) Brought into connection with the ‘thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand’ angels ministering before the Throne acc. to the same passage, Dan, vii. 10, from which the conception of the Nehar di-Nur was deduced—especially in their function of performers of the Qédushsha or ‘the Song’ the fiery river became the bath of purification, by which the song-uttering angels were thought to prepare themselves for the saying of the Thrice Holy: see ch. xxxvi. (3) Once connected with the ministering angels even other functions than the last named were assigned to the Nehar di-Nur. In the fiery river the angels were " renewed every morning" (in accordance with Lam. iii. 23). To the tradition holding the view that the song-uttering angels live only so long as to perform the Qédushsha and then perish, the fiery river was the substance from which they were formed and whither they were sent back again: TB. Chag. 14 a, Gen. R. lxxviii, Lam. R. iii. 21. From this conception there is only a short step to that of the fiery river as the place of punishment for those of the ministering angels who uttered the Song untimely or improperly: ch. xlvii. 2. (4) Lastly the Nehar di-Nur, as derived from Dan. vii. 10, is brought to bear upon the “judgement and the books" mentioned ib. Already serving the purpose of sanctification, purification and punishment of the ministering angels, it was easily made an integral part of the Divine Judgement.