Overview#

Raziel (Hebrew: רזיאל) is an angel associated with the disclosure of divine secrets in Jewish interpretive, mystical, and magical literature. His name is commonly rendered “secret of God,” and his characteristic role is to communicate knowledge otherwise concealed from human beings.[1]

He is especially associated with Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, the Book of Raziel the Angel, whose teachings are traditionally said to have been revealed to Adam. The surviving book is a compilation of magical and mystical material transmitted in different manuscript versions; its attribution to an angel belongs to the work’s religious account of its authority.[2]

Name and textual setting#

The meaning of Raziel’s name connects the angel with his office as a transmitter of secrets. The Jewish Encyclopedia records an explanation in the printed Book of Raziel according to which angels receive names corresponding to their functions, with Raziel named for transmitting a book of secret knowledge.[1]

A specific appearance occurs in the Aramaic Targum to Ecclesiastes 10:20. The biblical verse warns against cursing a king even in thought or a wealthy person in private, because a bird may carry the report. The Targum expands this warning by introducing Raziel, who makes a daily proclamation from heaven upon Mount Horeb, and Elijah, who announces matters done in secret. Raziel is thus part of the interpretive expansion of the verse, rather than a name in its Hebrew wording.[3]

This passage places him within an account of the disclosure of human secrets. The magical book traditions develop a different aspect of revelation: the communication of heavenly knowledge to human recipients.[2][3]

The revelation to Adam#

In the Adam narrative collected by Louis Ginzberg in The Legends of the Jews, Raziel appears after Adam has been expelled from Paradise and has prayed for mercy and understanding. The angel approaches him beside the river flowing from Paradise, carrying a book. He explains that it will enable Adam and worthy descendants to understand future events and the workings of the world.[4]

Adam is frightened when Raziel reads from the volume, but the angel encourages him to receive and preserve it. Raziel then ascends in a flame. The book promises knowledge of coming calamities and instruction in calling angels to appear and answer questions. Its proper use requires wisdom, reverence, and holiness.[4]

Within this telling, Raziel acts as a messenger of divine compassion: the recovery of knowledge follows Adam’s repentance. Ginzberg’s compilation appeared in 1909 and brings together Jewish legends concerning the biblical past.[4]

Noah and the transmission of the book#

Ginzberg’s Noah cycle preserves a further account of the volume’s journey. Angels jealous of Adam’s wisdom steal the book and throw it into the sea. God orders Rahab, the angel of the sea, to retrieve it. After Adam’s death, Enoch finds the hidden book and learns the secrets of nature and the heavens from it.[5]

When the Flood approaches, Raphael brings the book to Noah so that he can learn how to construct the ark. It is described as made of sapphires and kept in a golden casket. Its transmission eventually reaches Solomon, whose wisdom, healing knowledge, and authority over demons are attributed to it.[5]

These episodes give several angels distinct roles: Raziel is associated with the revelation to Adam, Rahab with recovery from the sea, and Raphael with delivery to Noah. The succession of recipients establishes a legendary genealogy for sacred knowledge across generations.[5]

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh#

The book associated with Raziel includes angelic names and hierarchies, amulets, spells, divine names, gematria, and magical uses of the zodiac. The Posen Library describes it as a work of practical Kabbalah that may have been composed in the thirteenth century, while incorporating earlier material. It survives in multiple manuscript versions, and its first printed edition appeared in Amsterdam in 1701.[2][6]

Its composite character is visible in its differing accounts of revelation: one section presents Adam as the recipient, while another names Noah. The Jewish Encyclopedia also records a scholarly debate over its relationship to Eleazar of Worms and the possibility that a redactor combined older material with writings associated with him. A simple attribution of the entire collection to one historical author therefore obscures its textual development.[6]

The physical volume also acquired a protective reputation. The same encyclopedia records the belief that keeping it in a house protected that house from fire. This is evidence of a belief about the book’s protective power, rather than evidence that such protection occurred.[6]

Latin magical literature#

Raziel’s authority also appears in the Latin Liber Razielis, a seven-part magical compilation. Its preface associates its production with the court of Alfonso X of Castile, but that account is disputed. Michael Barbezat, discussing research by Damaris Gehr, notes the argument that the royal attribution is fictitious and that the compilation took shape in the fourteenth century.[7]

The Latin work draws on material from several linguistic and cultural settings, including Hebrew and Greek traditions, with possible Arabic mediation. Its surviving form reflects the choices of Latin editors, and its relationship to Hebrew writings attributed to Raziel cannot be reduced to the translation of one fixed text. Raziel’s name gives the resulting compilation the authority of purportedly ancient revelation.[7]

Raziel and Chokmah#

In Book III, chapter 10 of the Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa associates “Raziell” with Chokmah, or Wisdom. Raziel is the particular intelligence connected with the starry heaven in this passage, and Agrippa also describes him as Adam’s ruler.[8]

Agrippa interprets Kabbalistic material through Christian theology: he associates Chokmah with the Son. His account joins Raziel’s relationship with Adam to a scheme of divine emanation and celestial influence. It documents a specific correspondence relevant to Hermetic Qabalah and ceremonial magic, rather than a classification shared by every tradition.[8]

See also#

References

  1. Crawford Howell Toy and Ludwig Blau, “Raziel,” The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 10 (1905), p. 335 · Historical reference for the name’s meaning and revelatory office. Its older dating claims about Slavonic Enoch are not adopted. (accessed 2026-10-17) ↩
  2. Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, “Sefer Raziel (The Book of Raziel),” entry for the Amsterdam edition of 1701 · Curated description of the book’s contents, traditional attribution, medieval setting, and manuscript versions; the composition date is tentative. (accessed 2026-10-17) ↩
  3. Ecclesiastes 10:20 and Aramaic Targum to Ecclesiastes 10:20, Hebrew Bible Study · Primary passages displayed together, distinguishing the Hebrew verse from the Targum’s expansion involving Raziel, Mount Horeb, and Elijah. (accessed 2026-10-17) ↩
  4. Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, vol. I, translated by Henrietta Szold (Jewish Publication Society of America, 1909), chapter II, “The Book of Raziel” · Modern compilation of Jewish legends; source for the particular Adam narrative, attributed as a religious story. (accessed 2026-10-17) ↩
  5. Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, vol. I, translated by Henrietta Szold (Jewish Publication Society of America, 1909), chapter IV, “The Holy Book” · Modern compilation of Jewish legends; source for the particular transmission narrative and the distinct roles of Rahab and Raphael. (accessed 2026-10-17) ↩
  6. Crawford Howell Toy and Ludwig Blau, “Raziel, Book of,” The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 10 (1905), p. 335 · Historical reference for composite structure, attribution debates, first printing, and the recorded protective belief. (accessed 2026-10-17) ↩
  7. Michael Barbezat, “An Herb for Speaking to The Dead: The Liturgical and Magical Life of Hyssop in The Latin Middle Ages,” Church History 91, no. 3 (2022), pp. 492–512, section IV · Peer-reviewed research, section IV: the Latin compilation’s mixed sources and disputed attribution to Alfonso X. (accessed 2026-10-17) ↩
  8. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, translated by J. F. (London, 1651), Book III, chapter 10; Wikisource transcription, scan leaf 392 · Primary passage on Chokmah and Raziell. Wikisource’s unproofread transcription was compared with the indexed Esoteric Archives transcription. (accessed 2026-10-17) ↩
RazielangelsJewish mysticismSefer RazielgrimoiresKabbalahceremonial magic

This encyclopedia covers traditions beyond the High Satanic Church. Church doctrine is identified as such when it appears.