Avodah Zarah 4a — the Talmud in English

And Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish explains:

the wicked are judged ![](pamud.bmp "

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in it, as it is written [

Malachi 3]

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every perpetrator of wickedness shall be straw, and the coming day shall burn them, said the Lord of Hosts, which shall not leave them root or branch”—

And we expound: “the coming day”—the sun that comes shall burn them, and it shall not leave them

either a root in this world or a branch in the World to Come.

And this is what Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: Such are human beings, the wicked: once the sun has become hot upon them, they die, [and do not live] in the World to Come.

But

the righteous—

are healed by it. As it is written [

there, further on]

“And the sun of righteousness shall shine for you who fear My Name, with healing in its wings.”

And not only that—

not only does the sun heal them,

but they are delighted by it,

in the sun.

As it is stated [

there, further on]: “

And you shall go forth and grow fat

[you shall increase and become fat]

like calves of the stall

[like calves that are in the place where calves are fattened].”

Alternatively:

Why were human beings compared to the fish of the sea? To tell you:

Just as with the fish of the sea, every one that is greater than his fellow swallows his fellow, so too with human beings, were it not for

if not for

the fear of the government, every one that is greater than his fellow would swallow his fellow.

And this is

like

as we learned

in tractate Avot:

Rabbi Hanina, deputy of the priests, says: Be praying for the welfare of the government,

even for the welfare of the government of the nations of the world, as the prophet Jeremiah said [29]: “And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you,”

for were it not for the fear of the government, a person would swallow his fellow alive.

And in this they were compared to the fish of the sea.

And now the Gemara brings a statement of Rabbi Hinena bar Pappa concerning the Day of Judgment.

Rav Hinena bar Pappa raises a contradiction,

he raised an apparent contradiction in the words of the verses—

It is written [

Job 37]:

“We have not found Shaddai to be great in power.”

We have not found Him to bring His judgments upon creatures with the greatness of His power, but rather with mercy.

Thus, the Holy One, blessed is He, does not display to us His power—

But

elsewhere

it is written [

Psalms 147]:

“Great is our Lord and abundant in power,” and

further

it is written [

Exodus 15]: “

Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power.”

Thus, the Holy One, blessed is He, does display to us His great and majestic power?

And he answers:

It is not difficult:

Here,

what was said, “We have not found Him to be great in power,” is speaking

at the time of judgment,

when He does not display His great power, for if He were to magnify His power, all would be liable for destruction.

Here,

what was said—that the Holy One, blessed is He, displays His power to us—is speaking

at the time of war.

Rabbi Hama bar Hanina raises a contradiction

and apparently raised a contradiction between the verses—

It is written [

Isaiah 27], that the Holy One, blessed is He, says:

“I have no wrath.”

But

elsewhere

it is written [

Nahum 1]:

“The Lord is vengeful and a Master of wrath.”

Thus, He does have wrath!

And he answers:

It is not difficult:

Here,

where it is said, “I have no wrath,” the verse is speaking

of Israel—

Here,

where it is said, “The Lord is vengeful and a Master of wrath,” it is speaking

of the idolaters,

from whom the Holy One, blessed is He, Himself exacts retribution.

And the Gemara brings another answer to the contradiction between the verses in the name of Rav Hinena bar Pappa.

Rav Hinena bar Pappa said:

The verses do not contradict one another, and both speak of Israel, and their meaning is: Indeed, the Holy One, blessed is He, is vengeful and a Master of wrath, but

“I have no wrath,”

because

already

I have sworn

not to become angry with the Children of Israel [the wording of the verse is: “I have no wrath; who will make Me briers and thorns”].

“Who will make Me,” because I have not sworn,

for were it not for the oath not to become angry,

I would be “briers and thorns,”

I would make their land a land of decree and desolation.

And now the Gemara returns to the statement of the amoraim concerning the future Day of Judgment, where they said that the Holy One, blessed is He, does not deal tyrannically with His creatures, and gives them the possibility of fulfilling the mitzva of sukkah.

And this is,

this accords with what

Rabbi Alexandri said:

What

is the explanation of this

as it is written [

Zechariah 12], that the Holy One, blessed is He, said:

“And it shall be on that day

[on the Day of Judgment]

I will seek to destroy all the nations”?

For one must ask:

“I will seek”—

from whom?!

Who prevents the Holy One, blessed is He?

Rather,

the Holy One, blessed is He, said: I will seek in their records,

I will search in the book of the record of their deeds,

, whether they have merit, I will redeem them. And if not,

if they rebel against the mitzva of sukkah that I will give them—

I will destroy them.

And then the destruction will be according to דין, for the Holy One, blessed is He, is exacting with them.

And this is what Rava said,

that the Holy One, blessed is He, is exacting with the nations of the world, from another verse:

What

is the explanation of this

as it is written [

Job 30]

“Yet He will not send forth His hand in destruction, if in His breaking there is a cry for help for them

.”

And Rava explains that “destruction” is total destruction, and “breaking” is the pecking of chickens. It is a metaphor: just as chickens peck little by little, so the Holy One, blessed is He, exacts retribution little by little.

The Holy One, blessed is He, said to Israel: When I judge Israel, I do not judge them like the idolaters, as it is written

of the idolaters [Ezekiel 21]:

“I will make it crooked, crooked, crooked,”

that is, they have made it exceedingly crooked [they committed sins], and therefore I will make them “crooked”—total destruction; and this is the meaning of “Yet He will not send forth His hand in destruction”—

Rather, I exact retribution from them [

another version]:

but from Israel I exact retribution little by little]]

, like the pecking of a chicken.

And this is the meaning of “If in His breaking there is a cry for help for them.”

Alternatively,

the Holy One, blessed is He, said:

Even

if

Israel perform no mitzva

before Me except a little, like the pecking of chickens that peck in refuse, I combine it into a great account, as it is stated: “If in His breaking there is a cry for help for them.”

And we expound: “cry for help” is in the language of “salvation,” and this is that the Holy One, blessed is He, gives them redemption.

Alternatively:

the Holy One, blessed is He, said:

In the merit of their crying out [

in the language of prayer]

before Me—

I save them.

And

what Rava said—that the Holy One, blessed is He, in His great kindness exacts retribution from Israel little by little—

this is what Rav Abba said:

What

is the explanation of this

as it is written [

Hosea 7]:

“And I—I would redeem them, but they spoke lies about Me”?

The Holy One, blessed is He, said:

I said that I would redeem them through their property in this world,

I would punish Israel through their property, and it would be the redemption of their souls, little by little,

so that they would merit the World to Come. And

even though I had mercy upon them through this kindness,

they spoke lies about Me.

They denied the kindness of the Lord and said that the Lord punished them for no reason.

And

these expositions,

this is what Rav Pappi said in the name

in the name of

Rava:

What

is the explanation of this

as it is written [

there]:

“And I chastised them, I strengthened their arms, yet they thought evil of Me”?

The Holy One, blessed is He, said: I said that I would chastise them

through sufferings in this world,

so that they would strengthen their arms for the World to Come. And

they

thought evil of Me.

They do not understand that the sufferings are from the kindnesses of the Lord, but think that His will is to do evil to them.

And in continuation of the statements of the amoraim and the expositions of the verses, the Gemara brings an incident.

Rabbi Abahu was praising Rav Safra to the minim,

Rabbi Abahu [who was an intermediary with the Roman government that ruled in the Land of Israel, was close to the government, and conducted debates with the minim—the Christians] boasted before the minim

about Rav Safra, that he is a great man,

telling them of the stature of Rav Safra, that he was an important man.

They exempted him from the tax

the authorities exempted Rav Safra from paying taxes

for thirteen years,

for thirteen years, because of his importance, at Rabbi Abahu’s recommendation.

One day they found him,

once, when the minim met Rav Safra, they began arguing with him.

They said to him: It is written [

Amos 3], that the Holy One, blessed is He, said:

“You alone have I known

[loved]

of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.”

And they asked him, for the words apparently contradict one another: If the Holy One, blessed is He, loves them more than all the nations, is it “therefore” that He visits upon them all their iniquities?! And they spoke by way of a parable:

One who has a grudge,

one who is angry with a particular person—can it be said that

in his love he raises him,

that he elevates him [regards him] among those he loves?! [

Another version]:

One who has a bad horse,

one who has a horse that runs wild—

does he raise him in his love?!

Does he put his beloved upon it so that he will die?!

He was silent,

only Rav Safra was silent,

and he did not say anything to them,

he did not answer them anything.

They threw a scarf around his neck,

the minim placed a scarf around his neck, as though strangling him,

and were tormenting him,

and tormented him because they had exempted him from the taxes for no reason, and he did not know how to answer them.

Rabbi Abahu came,

he arrived,

and found them

and found them tormenting Rav Safra.

He said to them,

Rabbi Abahu asked them:

Why are you tormenting him,

why are you tormenting him?

They said to him: Did you not tell us,

did you not tell us

that he is a great man?!

[And he does not know how to say

and he does not know how to say

the explanation of this verse,

the explanation of this verse].

He said to them,

Rabbi Abahu said to them:

I said to you,

in what respect did I say to you that he is an important man?

On condition,

in matters of conditions in the Mishnayot and the beraitot, in which he is a sage, but

in Scripture,

in the interpretations of the verses—

who said to you,

that I said this to you?!

They said to him,

the minim said to Rabbi Abahu:

Why are you different, that you know?

Why do you know the interpretations of the verses?

He said to them,

Rabbi Abahu answered them:

We,

we,

who are frequently with you,

since I am among you,

exert ourselves,

we impose this upon ourselves,

and investigate,

and investigate the verses in order to know them well for the sake of the debates that you conduct with us—

but

they,

the other sages,

do not investigate

so much, but rather [investigate] the Mishnayot and the beraitot.

They said to him,

the minim said to Rabbi Abahu:

Tell us, you!

Tell us an answer to our difficulty.

He said to them,

Rabbi Abahu:

I will give you a parable,

I will answer you with a “parable”—

To what may this be compared? To a person who is a creditor

who claims his debt

from two people, one his beloved and one his enemy.

From

his beloved,

he

exacts retribution from him little by little,

because of his great love for him, and he knows that it is difficult for him to pay all at once. But from

his enemy he exacts retribution all at once.

The lesson of the parable: From Israel, His beloved, the Holy One, blessed is He, exacts all their iniquities little by little in this world, so that they will merit the Day of Judgment. But from the idolaters, He does not exact retribution from them at all in this world—in order to make them liable and drive them from the World to Come; and there He exacts retribution from them all at once for everything.

And this is the meaning of the verse: “You alone have I known [loved] of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit [little by little, like one who visits his fellow from time to time] upon you all your iniquities.”

And this is his answer to the minim, who do not believe in reward and punishment in the World to Come.

And from one matter to another, the Gemara expounds concerning the measure of recompense of the Holy One, blessed is He, who rewards those who do His will with good and punishes those who transgress His will.

Rav Abba bar Kahana said: What

is the explanation of this

as it is written [

Genesis 18], in the prayer of Abraham our father concerning the people of Sodom:

“Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked”? “

“Far be it” is an expression of profaneness. And so

Abraham said before the Holy One, blessed is He: Master of the Universe! It is profane for You to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked.

And we object:

Is that not so?!

Does the Holy One, blessed is He, not punish the righteous together with the wicked?!

But it is written,

and it is stated [Ezekiel 21], that the Holy One, blessed is He, said:

“And I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.”

And we answer: What is stated, “And I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked,” is speaking

of an incomplete righteous person. But with a completely righteous person—

no.

The Holy One, blessed is He, does not punish him together with the wicked.

And we object: Does the Holy One, blessed is He, not punish a completely righteous person together with the wicked?!

But it is written

in the Book of Ezekiel [9]: “

Begin from My Sanctuary”

[In Ezekiel’s prophecy, six destroyers who come to destroy Jerusalem are described, and they are told: “Pass through the city after him [after the man clothed in linen] and strike; let your eye not spare and do not pity. Old man, young man, virgin, child, and women you shall kill to destruction... and begin from My Sanctuary,” that is, begin from the Temple].

And Rav Yosef taught: Do not read “from My Sanctuary,”

which is the Temple,

but

read

“from My sanctified ones,”

and these are the righteous,

these are people who fulfilled the Torah

in its entirety

from alef to tav. [

For it is stated there that the Holy One, blessed is He, said to the man clothed in linen: “And you shall mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men.” And Rav Yosef expounded that these are the righteous, and upon them he marked a tav, to say that they observed the Torah from alef to tav].

Thus, even a completely righteous person the Holy One, blessed is He, punishes together with the wicked?

And we answer: Indeed, there is a distinction between a completely righteous person and an incomplete righteous person. But

there too,

the righteous of Jerusalem,

since it was within their power to protest

against the abominations of Jerusalem

and they did not protest, they became

that is, they are

like incomplete righteous people.

Rav Pappa raises a contradiction

and raised an apparent contradiction between two verses:

It is written [

Psalms 7]

“God is angry every day,”

whereas elsewhere [Nahum 1]

it is written, “Before His anger who

can stand.”

And if so, this is difficult: If He is angry every day, how does the world continue to exist?

And he answers:

It is not difficult.

The verses do not contradict one another. For

here,

where it is stated that the Holy One, blessed is He, is angry, it is speaking

of an individual,

who has no standing when the Holy One, blessed is He, is angry with him.

And

whereas

here

it is speaking

of the community,

which continues to exist even though the Holy One, blessed is He, is angry every day.

And since they expounded the verse “God is angry every day,” the Gemara brings another exposition on this verse.

The Sages taught:

It is stated

“God is angry every day.”

And how long

is

His anger? —

A moment.

And how long

is

a moment? —

One of fifty-three thousand eight hundred and forty-eight

parts of

an hour —

this is a moment.

And no creature is able to pinpoint that moment. Except for the wicked Balaam,

who knew how to pinpoint the time when the Almighty is angry,