Sanhedrin 43b — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: Whoever sacrifices his inclination

after his inclination incited him to sin, he kills it, returns in repentance,

and confesses concerning it, Scripture considers it for him as though he had honored the Almighty in two worlds, this world and the World to Come.

As it is written: "

He who sacrifices a thanksgiving offering honors Me" [

We derive from the two nuns: two honors].

And Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: When the Temple is standing, a person brings an olah offering; the reward of an olah offering

alone

is in his hand.

If he brings

a meal-offering, the reward of a meal-offering

alone

is in his hand.

But one whose mind is humble, Scripture considers it for him as though he had brought

the

entirety of all the offerings!

As it is stated [Psalms 51:19]: "

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit" ["

sacrifices" implies a plural expression].

And furthermore, his prayer is not rejected, as it is stated [

there]: "

A broken and crushed heart, O God, You will not despise"

for it is not Your way to despise it.

Mishna:

When he was

the one going out to be stoned

about ten cubits distant from the place of stoning,

they say to him: Confess!

for this transgression and also for your other sins,

for such is the way of all those put to death

to confess.

For everyone who confesses has a share in the World to Come! For so we find concerning Achan, to whom Joshua said [

Joshua 7:19]: "

My son, please give honor to the Lord, God of Israel, and give Him thanks

and tell me now what you have done; do not conceal it from me.

And Achan answered Joshua and said: Indeed, I have sinned

against the Lord, God of Israel,

and such and such

I have done."

And from where

is it derived that his confession atoned for him? As it is stated [

there, 25]: "

And Joshua said: How you have troubled us, the Lord will trouble you on this day"

and we expound: only

on this day are you troubled, but you are not troubled in the World to Come

because through his confession his sin was atoned for him.

And if

the one sentenced to be stoned

does not know how to confess

because he does not remember his other sins,

they say to him: Say

simply: "

Let my death be an atonement for all my iniquities."

Rabbi Judah says: If he knew that he was the victim of a plot

that false testimony had been given against him, and he had not sinned in this transgression for which he was liable to death,

he says: "

Let my death be an atonement for all my iniquities, except for this sin."

The Sages said to him

the Sages to Rabbi Judah:

If so,

that we permit him to say this,

let every person say this

even one who sinned,

in order to cleanse

his

self

in the eyes of the people, and it will emerge that he casts aspersion upon the witnesses and the judges?!

Therefore, no person may be permitted to say this.

Gemara:

The Sages taught:

It is stated: "My son,

please

give honor to the Lord, God of Israel, and give Him thanks";

"please" is only an expression of request.

When the Almighty said to Joshua

concerning the incident of Achan [there, 11]: "

Israel has sinned"

for they had misappropriated what had been placed under the ban of Jericho,

he said

Joshua

before Him: Master of the world, who sinned?

The Almighty said to him:

:

Am I an informer

[a denouncer]

?!

Go, cast lots!

in order to know who misappropriated what had been placed under the ban.

Joshua went

Joshua

and cast lots, and the lot fell upon

Achan.

He said to him

Achan to Joshua:

Joshua! Do you come against me by means of a lot

to kill me without witnesses?!

You and Eleazar the priest are the two greatest men of the generation,

and nevertheless

if I cast a lot upon you

between the two of you, it is necessarily the case that

it will fall upon one of you! [

That is, so too, by chance the lot fell upon me from among all Israel].

Joshua said to him

Joshua:

Please of you! [

And therefore he said to him the expression "please"]

Do not cast aspersion upon the lots,

because

the Land of Israel is destined to be divided by lot, as it is stated [

Numbers 26:55]: "

Only by lot shall the land be divided";

and therefore

give thanks!

Ravina said: He bribed him with words

Joshua bribed Achan with a verbal bribe so that he would confess, for he outwitted him and said to him:

Are we asking anything of you except a confession

alone?

Give Him thanks and be released

and he understood that he would be released through this and they would not kill him.

Immediately "

And Achan answered Joshua and said: Indeed, I

have sinned against the Lord, God of Israel, and such and such I have done."

Rav Asi said in the name of Rabbi Hanina:

This verse

teaches that Achan had misappropriated in the presence of three Sages.

Two in the days of Moses,

when Arad the Canaanite king came against them, as it is stated there: “And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said: If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, I shall ban their cities,” for they prohibited their spoils to themselves from deriving benefit, and they did the same with other towns against which they fought, but this was not written in the Torah,

and one in the days of Joshua.

As it is stated: "

I have sinned [in this misappropriation], and

such and such I have done"

which implies two more.

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Eleazar son of Rabbi Shimon:

With

five

bans Achan misappropriated.

Four in the days of Moses and one in the days of Joshua.

As it is stated: "

I have sinned, and such and such

I have done." [

See the note ].

And we raise an objection:

And until now, what is the reason that they were not punished

why were Israel not punished for Achan’s misappropriation in the days of Moses as they were punished in the days of Joshua?

And the Gemara answers:

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Eleazar son of Rabbi Shimon: Because He did not punish

the Almighty the righteous

for

the transgressions

that are hidden

of those who committed the transgression

until Israel crossed the Jordan

and heard and accepted upon themselves the blessings and the curses on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and they became guarantors for one another, to be punished even for the hidden transgressions of others. And until then they were punished only for the revealed transgressions of others.

And therefore they were punished only for the misappropriation in the days of Joshua, which occurred after they had already crossed the Jordan.

And the very matter that there is punishment for hidden transgressions held by others

as a condition

is a dispute among the tannaim:

For it was taught: It is stated [Deuteronomy 29:28]: "

The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, and the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever."

Why are dots placed over "

us and to our children"

and over the ayin of "

forever" [

In the Torah scroll there is a dot over every letter there]?

It teaches,

that what

He did not punish for the hidden things

was only

until Israel crossed the Jordan.

And from then onward they were also punished for the hidden things.

And this is the exposition: Were it not for the dots, we would say that it would always be so: the hidden things belong to the Lord our God, who must seek redress for the transgression committed in secret and punish only those who transgressed, while only the revealed transgressions belong to us and to our children, for all of us are punished for them.

And the dots come to expound that this measure applies only until they crossed the Jordan, but not afterward, when they would also be punished for the hidden things.

It would have been proper for the dots to be over “to the Lord our God,” to exclude that the hidden things should forever belong only to the Lord our God [for the purpose of every dot is to exclude]; but this would not be honoring toward Heaven, to place dots over the Name, and therefore dots were placed in its place over “us and to our children,” to say that these words are not in their proper place here but before “and the revealed things,” as though it were written: the hidden things belong to the Lord our God and to us and to our children, for we too are punished for the hidden things.

Were it actually written in this manner, we would say that they would also be punished for hidden things forever. Therefore the Torah differentiated between them and wrote that only the revealed things belong to us and to our children, while on the other hand it placed dots over “us and to our children” [as though the hidden things too belong to us and to our children], in order to expound in both directions: until now, at the end of the forty years when this verse was said to them, the hidden things belonged only to the Lord our God; but from here onward the hidden things too belong to us and to our children.

And the dot over the ayin of “forever” also comes to distinguish, so that this measure of punishment for hidden things did not apply from all time, but only from now did this measure begin, and it would apply thus forever,

the words of Rabbi Judah.

Rabbi Nehemiah said to him: Does Scripture punish

the

hidden things forever?

After all, in general there is no punishment for hidden transgressions held by others

! But was it not already stated: "

forever,"

and it necessarily follows that Scripture did not come to say that they would be punished for revealed transgressions forever, for it is obvious that the punishment applying now will apply in the future as well—why would it cease?

Rather, certainly, the verse comes to say that the exemption from punishment for hidden matters will continue also henceforth, and even after they cross the Jordan and accept upon themselves mutual suretyship.

Rather,

for this reason dots were placed over “for us and for our children,” in order to exclude: even for the revealed matters they were not punished until now, because

just as He did not punish for the hidden matters

ever],

so He did not punish for overt punishments

that are in the hands of others

until Israel crossed the Jordan

and became sureties for one another.