238. The abyss was sinking in four stones, and they were sunken below on one stone, which is the pillar, and the world stands on this, as it is written, “On what were its bases sunken, or who laid its cornerstone?” It is a stone from which the world was founded, and on which the world stands. It is the Holy of Holies, and it is the navel of the world. The stones that were sunken in the abyss emerged from it, and from them emerge water.
The abyss is the Sium [end] and the boundary of the connection of Malchut with Bina. Malchut that is associated with Bina is called “a stone,” and the four Sefirot KHB and Tifferet clothe in it. The abyss, the boundary, and the Sium, sink in four stones that the four Sefirot KHB and Tifferet clothe in. They were sunken below on one stone, meaning they stand on the Malchut that is sweetened in Bina, who is below them, at the end of the abyss.
She is the pillar, and on this the world stands, since before Malchut was sweetened in Bina, the world could not stand and exist. This Malchut that is sweetened in Bina is a stone from which the world was founded, and on which the world stands. This is why it is called the cornerstone.
It is the Holy of Holies, Yesod of Malchut. It is the navel of the world, which is referred to everywhere as “the middle point.” From it emerged stones that are sunken in the abyss. After Malchut was sweetened in Bina, the upper Sefirot could clothe in the abyss, and from them, the water comes out, the lights.
239. The abyss sank in three letters, three lines, and was divided into three parts: right, left, and middle. These are the pillars of the earth, since the lights that shine on the earth emerge only by way of three lines. Once every three hundred years, they become loose from their place, as it is written, “who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.”
Three hundred years also imply three lines that emerge and shine one after the other. It is known that the left line shines in harsh judgments in order to repel the wicked so they do not draw the light of the left from above downward. Therefore, whenever the left line begins to shine, the judgments appear on the earth, as it is written, “who sakes the earth out of its place.” Similarly, the two lines right and middle become loose through these judgments, and once every three hundred years, in the emergence of one line from the three lines, which are called three hundred years, which is the left line, they become loose from their place due to the judgments in the left.