Sanhedrin 43b (מג:) — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Anyone who sacrifices his inclination

who, after his inclination incited him to sin, kills it and repents

and confesses concerning it—the verse regards him as though he had honored the Holy One, blessed be He, in both worlds: this world and the World-to-Come.

As it is written: "

One who sacrifices a thanksgiving-offering honors Me"

[We derive two honors from the two instances of the letter nun: two acts of honoring].

And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: When the Temple is standing, a person offers a burnt-offering, and the reward for a burnt-offering

alone

is his.

If he offers

a meal-offering, the reward for a meal-offering

alone

is his.

But one whose mind is humble, the verse regards him as though he had offered

the

entirety of all the offerings!

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

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit"

["Sacrifices" is in the plural].

Moreover, 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

being taken out to be stoned

and was about ten cubits from the place of stoning,

they would say to him: Confess!

concerning this transgression and your other sins as well,

for this is the way of all those sentenced to death

to confess.

For everyone who confesses has a portion 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 thus and thus

I have done."

And from where is it known that his confession atoned for him?

As it is stated [Joshua 7:25]: "

"

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

and we derive: 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.

And if

the person sentenced to be stoned

does not know how to confess

because he does not remember his other sins,

they say to him: Say

simply: "

May my death be an atonement for all my sins."

Rabbi Yehuda says: If he knows that he was falsely accused

that false testimony was given against him and that he did not commit the transgression for which he was sentenced to death,

he says: "

May my death be an atonement for all my sins, except for this sin."

The Sages said to him

to Rabbi Yehuda:

If so,

if we permit him to say this,

let everyone say so

even one who did sin,

in order to clear

him

self

in the eyes of the public, thereby casting aspersion on 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 supplication.

When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Joshua

in the incident of Achan [there, verse 11]: "

Israel has sinned"

by misappropriating the spoils placed under the ban at Jericho,

he said

Joshua

before Him: Master of the Universe, who sinned?

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him

:

Am I an informer

[a talebearer]

?!

Go and cast lots!

in order to determine who misappropriated the property placed under the ban.

Joshua went

and

cast lots, and the lot fell upon

Achan.

He said to him

Achan said to Joshua:

Joshua! Are you coming against me by means of a lot

to kill me without witnesses?!

You and Eleazar the kohein are the two great men of the generation

and nevertheless,

if I cast a lot upon you

between the two of you, it necessarily follows that

it will fall upon one of you!

[That is, in the same way, by chance the lot fell upon me from among all Israel].

Joshua said to him

:

Please!

[That is why he used the expression "please"].

Do not cast aspersion on lots

because

the Land of Israel is destined to be apportioned by lot, as it is stated [Numbers 26:55]: "

"

Only by lot shall the land be apportioned"

and therefore

give thanks!

Ravina said: He bribed him with words

Joshua bribed Achan with verbal inducements in order to make him confess. He outwitted him and said to him:

Are we asking anything of you other than a confession

alone?

Give thanks to Him and be exempt

and Achan understood that by doing so he would be exempt and would not be killed.

Immediately: "

And Achan answered Joshua and said: Indeed, I

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

Rav Asi said that Rabbi Hanina said:

This verse

teaches that Achan misappropriated from three Sages.

Two in the days of Moses

when the Canaanite king of Arad 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 place their cities under the ban," meaning that they prohibited themselves from deriving benefit from their spoils. 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

thus and thus I have done,"

which implies two additional instances.

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon:

Achan misappropriated from

five

bans.

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

As it is stated: "

I have sinned, and thus and thus

I have done."

[See the note].

The Gemara raises the following question:

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?

The Gemara answers:

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

the righteous

for

the

hidden

sins of those who committed them

until Israel crossed the Jordan

and heard and accepted upon themselves the blessings and the curses on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, thereby becoming guarantors for one another, to be punished even for the hidden sins of others. Until then, they were punished only for the revealed sins of others.

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

The very matter of whether there is punishment for hidden sins committed by others

as a condition,

is subject to a dispute between tannaim:

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

The hidden things are for the Lord our God, and the revealed things are for us and for our children forever."

Why are dots placed over "

for us and for our children"

and over the ayin in "

forever"

[In a Torah scroll, there is a dot over each of those letters]?

It teaches that

what

He did not punish for hidden sins

was only

until Israel crossed the Jordan.

From then onward, they were punished also for hidden sins.

The exposition is therefore as follows: Without the dots, we would say that this would always be the case: the hidden things are for the Lord our God, meaning that He alone must demand redress for a hidden transgression and punish only those who committed it, whereas only revealed transgressions are for us and for our children, so that all of us are punished for them.

The dots come to teach that this measure applied only until they crossed the Jordan, but not afterward; from that point onward, they were punished also for hidden sins.

The dots should properly have been placed over “for the Lord our God,” to limit the meaning that the hidden things would forever remain only for the Lord our God [for every dot serves to limit]. However, it is not respectful toward Heaven to place dots over the Name; therefore, dots were placed instead over “for us and for our children,” indicating that these words do not belong here but before “and the revealed things,” as though it were written: “The hidden things are for the Lord our God and for us and for our children,” meaning that we too are punished for hidden sins.

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

The dot over the ayin in “forever” also serves to divide the periods: this measure of punishment for hidden sins did not apply from time immemorial, but began only now and will continue in this manner forever,

these are the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Nehemiah said to him: Does the verse punish

for hidden sins forever?

Surely, in general, there is no punishment for hidden sins committed by others

! But it is already stated: "

forever,"

and it necessarily follows that the verse cannot mean that they will be punished for revealed sins forever, since it is obvious that the punishment applying now will also apply in the future—why should it cease?

Rather, certainly, the verse comes to say that the exemption from punishment for hidden matters will continue henceforth as well, even after they cross the Jordan and accept responsibility for one another.

Rather,

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

just as He did not punish for hidden matters

ever],

so too He did not impose punishment for overt offenses

committed by others

until Israel crossed the Jordan

and became guarantors for one another.