Concerning that which is written in the Shi‘ur Qomah, “I [i.e., R. Ishmael] and R. Aqiva guarantee that the one who knows the measure of the Creator is certain to be in the world-to-come.” The Creator has no limit. And that which was said in the Midrash Mah Rabu on the verse regarding the measure of the Creator, “Great is our Lord and full of power” (Ps. 147-5), this [expression “and full of power” we-rav koah] numerically equals 236,000 myriad [parasangs], “[Who measured the waters with the hollow of His hand] and gauged the skies with a span” (Isa. 40-12). For the sake of prophetic vision this measure had to be shown to the prophet… Those who fear God see the appearance of the glory in the intellect of their hearts. But the Creator has no limit. [The subject of the Shi‘ur Qomah] should have been the vision of the glory for the Creator has no limit. But [the measure is explicitly attributed to the Creator] in order to make the point that the measure [of the glory] cleaves [to the Creator].

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.