The secret of teki’ah, teru’ah, teki’ah is [to be explained] by [the rabbinic idiom] “a verse should not lose its literal sense.” That is, initially a person must study and comprehend the literal sense. Afterwards he should expand to [the comprehension of] the various lights and secrets of the Torah. And after that from the power of interpretation he should return and come [to an understanding of] the true literal sense (ha peshat ha ‘emet). This is [the significance] of teki’ah, teru’ah, teki’ah. At first there is the teki’ah which instructs about the literal sense (ha peshat), i.e., a straight sound (kol pashut) [Cf. b. Rosh Hashanah]. Afterwards there is a teru’ah, which contains the letters torah ayin, i.e., the [Torah] is interpreted in seventy [the numerical value of ‘ayin] ways. And afterwards a teki’ah, to return to the true literal sense.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in- “Beautiful Maiden Without Eyes- Peshat and Sod in Zoharic Hermeneutics.” In The Midrashic imagination – Jewish exegesis, thought, and history. Edited by Michael Fishbane, Albany – State University of New York Press, 1993, pp. 155-203.