339. "If you do well, shall you not be accepted (also: 'raised')" (Beresheet 4:7). These words have already been explained. The word "raised" means, as Rabbi Aba explained, that you will ascend toward the upper rather than descend. THIS MEANS THAT YOU SHOULD RETURN THE LIGHTS FROM BELOW UPWARD AND STOP DRAWING THEM DOWNWARD FROM ABOVE, WHICH WAS HOW ABEL WAS KILLED. Rabbi Yosi said that this explanation, which had just been put forward, WAS NOVEL, but good. But I have heard that "raised" MEANS "REMOVAL" AND "PARDON," AS THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, SAID TO HIM, "IF YOU DO WELL, that cleavage to the unclean spirit will be undone, and you shall be forgiven."

340. Rabbi Yosi quoted, "and if you do not well, sin crouches at the door" (Ibid.). AND HE THEN ASKS: "which door?" It is the upper Judgment, THE JUDGMENT OF MALCHUT, which is the doorway open to all, as it is written: "open to me the gates of righteousness" (Tehilim 118:19). ACCORDING TO THE ARAMAIC TRANSLATION, the words "sin crouches" MEAN THAT THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, SAID TO ADAM, that the side to which you clung and which you have drawn upon yourself lies in wait for you and will exact punishment from you.