Gittin 68a (סח.) — the Talmud in English

A silver cup has been stolen from us

a silver cup was stolen from us, and they began examining everyone, searching to see whether one of the diners had stolen it.

While they were examining and coming along

while they were conducting their examination and proceeding,

they found it

they found the piece of meat

wrapped in his garment.

They said to him

the servants said to the Exilarch:

Let my master see

my master will see

that he does not want to eat, but only to distress us

that he does not want to eat, but only to distress us, since after everything that was done for him, he did not eat.

He said to them

Rav Sheshet said:

I did eat, but I tasted in it the flavor of a diseased animal

I ate, but I tasted in it the flavor of meat from an animal afflicted with boils, and therefore I did not finish eating.

They said to him

the servants:

We did not slaughter a diseased animal today

we did not slaughter an animal afflicted with boils today!

He said to them

Rav Sheshet said:

Examine

the animal’s hide

in its place,

at the place of this bone on the thigh, and you will find that the hide is white.

For Rav Ḥisda said:

A mark that is

black on white

black on white skin,

and

a mark that is

white on black

white on black skin —

is a sign of disease,

as there had been an illness there and the skin had turned white.

They examined it and found

they examined it and found it to be as he had said.

When he was leaving

when Rav Sheshet was leaving the house,

they dug for him

the servants dug for him

a pit

a pit,

and threw a mat over it

and placed a mat over it so that the pit would not be visible.

And they said to him

the servants said to Rav Sheshet:

Let my master come and lie down

let my master come and lie down on his bed. They wanted him to walk over the mat and fall into the pit.

Rav Ḥisda snorted to him from behind.

He gave him a sign to be careful on his way.

Rav Sheshet said

Rav Sheshet said

to a child

to a child who was there:

Recite your verse for me

the verse that you learned today. This was a form of divination, asking God for advice through the verse that the child would recite.

He said to him

the child recited the verse:

“Turn to your right or to your left”

II Samuel 2:21.

He said to him

Rav Sheshet, who was blind, said

to his attendant

to his servant:

What do you see

what do you see on the road ahead of you?

He said to him: A mat has been thrown down

a mat has been laid on the ground.

He said to him

Rav Sheshet said to his servant:

Turn away from it

turn away from it, and we will go around.

After he left

after Rav Sheshet left the house of the Exilarch,

Rav Ḥisda said to him: How did my master know

how did my master know that there was an open pit in that place?

He said to him

Rav Sheshet said: One reason was

one

one reason

that my master snorted for me

that my master snorted and signaled to me.

And another, that the child recited a

the child

verse

that alluded to the matter.

And another, that the servants are suspected of not being good

the servants are suspected of not being decent people, and they do not intend their words for good; I suspected that they intended to harm me when they told me to go lie down and rest.

King Solomon said in the Book of Ecclesiastes [2:8]:

“I acquired for myself male singers and female singers and the delights of the sons of man, a demon and female demons.”

And the Gemara explains the verse:

“Male singers and female singers” —

these are various types of song.

“And the delights of the sons of man” —

these are pools

of cold water

and bathhouses

of hot water.

“A demon and female demons” —

here they translated

here, in Babylonia, they translated:

a male demon and female demons

a male demon and a female demon.

In the West

in Eretz Yisrael,

they said: A female demon

a female demon — a carriage for women and ministers.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: There were three hundred types of demons in

the place called

Shiḥin.

And as for the female demon itself, I do not know what it is,

what it looks like and what its nature is.

The Master said

we learned in the Gemara above:

here

here, in Babylonia,

they translated: a male demon and female demons

a male demon and female demons.

And we raise a difficulty:

A male demon and female demons —

for what purpose did he need them

King Solomon?

And we answer:

as it is written

concerning the construction of the Temple [I Kings 7:6]:

“And when the House was being built, it was built of complete stone brought from the quarry.

And neither hammer nor ax nor any iron tool was heard in the House while it was being built.”

He said to them

King Solomon

to the Sages: How shall I make

the stone smooth and complete, without any flaw, without using iron?

They said to him: There is a shamir

there is a shamir worm, before which the hardest material splits.

That

worm

bring

bring it;

Moses

cut with it the

stones

of the

ephod,

upon which the names of the Children of Israel had to be written. It was impossible to write them with ink, because it is stated, “Engraved like the engravings of a signet”; the letters had to be engraved in the stones. Yet it was forbidden to engrave them with iron, because the verse says, “In their full settings,” teaching that the stones must not be deficient, whereas engraving diminishes the stone where the letters are engraved. Rather, they wrote the letters on them in ink, placed the shamir opposite them on the outside, and the stones split of themselves according to the form of the ink upon them, without any of the stones being diminished.

He said to them

King Solomon said to the Sages:

Where can it be found

where shall I find that shamir worm?

They said to him: Bring

bring

a male demon and female demons, and subjugate them to one another

subject them to one another through affliction, so that they will reveal to you where the worm is, because

perhaps they know

that they know where it is,

and they will reveal

and they will reveal it

to you.

He brought

King Solomon brought

a male demon and female demons, and subjugated them to one another.

They said

they said to him:

We do not know

we do not know where the shamir worm is;

perhaps Ashmedai, king of the demons, knows

perhaps Ashmedai, king of the demons, knows.

He said to them: Where is he found

where is Ashmedai, king of the demons, found?

They said to him: He is in a certain mountain

he is in a certain mountain.

He dug a pit for him, filled it with water, covered it with rock, and sealed it with his signet

Ashmedai, the king, dug a pit there, filled it with water, covered it with a rock, and sealed it with his signet.

And every day he ascended to Heaven and studied in the heavenly academy

and every day he ascended to Heaven and studied in the academy above,

and descended to earth and studied in the earthly academy

and then descended to earth and studied in the academy below.

And when he returned and came to the well

when he came back to the well,

he inspected its seal

checking that it was intact and that no one had touched it or opened it,

and he uncovered it, drank, covered it, resealed it, and went on his way

uncovering the well and drinking its water, then covering and resealing it and departing.

Solomon sent him

Solomon sent him

to Benaiah son of Jehoiada,

to that mountain where the well of Ashmedai, king of the demons, was located.

He gave him

Solomon gave him

a chain upon which the ineffable Name was engraved, a ring upon which the ineffable Name was engraved, bundles of wool, and wineskins

a chain and a ring engraved with the ineffable Name, bundles of wool, and wineskins.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada went

Benaiah son of Jehoiada went,

and dug a well

on the slope of the mountain

below

below Ashmedai’s well,

and drained its water

emptying the upper well’s water into the lower well through a hole that he made in the rim separating the two wells. Since the bottom of the lower well was lower than the upper well, the water drained from the upper well by itself.

And he plugged them

sealing the holes between the two wells

with the bundles of wool

with the wool, so that he could fill Ashmedai’s upper well with wine without its flowing into the lower well.

And

Afterward

he dug a well

another

above

above Ashmedai’s well,

and poured the wine

from the upper well through a hole into Ashmedai’s well.

And

Afterward

he concealed them

filling the two wells that he had dug with earth, so that Ashmedai would not notice the change.

He climbed up and sat in a tree

Benaiah son of Jehoiada climbed up and sat in a tree.

When Ashmedai came

when Ashmedai came,

he inspected the seal

checking it and finding it intact,

he uncovered it

removing the stone covering the well,

and found wine

in the well.

Ashmedai

Ashmedai said:

It is written: “Wine is a scoffer, strong drink is tumultuous; whoever goes astray through it is not wise”

(Proverbs 20:1).

And it is written: “Whoredom, wine, and new wine take away the heart”

(Hosea 4:11); therefore, it is better to beware of it.

He did not drink

He did not drink.

When he became thirsty

when he became thirsty,

he could not restrain himself

he was unable to hold himself back,

so he drank, became drunk, and fell asleep

he drank, became intoxicated, and fell asleep.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada descended

from the tree,

came,

threw the chain over Ashmedai and fastened it

around his neck, so that he could not remove his head from it.

When Ashmedai awoke, he began to struggle violently

when Ashmedai awoke, he was “raging,” attempting to break the chains off himself.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada

Benaiah son of Jehoiada said to him:

The name of your Master is upon you!

The Name of your Master—the Holy One, blessed be He—is upon you.

The name of your Master is upon you!

The ineffable Name is engraved on the chain!

When Benaiah son of Jehoiada took hold of him and came

to bring him to Jerusalem, to the palace of King Solomon,

he reached a palm tree; Ashmedai rubbed himself against it and toppled it

he reached a palm tree, Ashmedai rubbed himself against it, and toppled it.

He reached a house and toppled it,

Ashmedai toppled it.

They reached a small hut belonging to a certain widow

a small hut in which she lived,