Sanhedrin 93a — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yohanan said: ![](pamud.bmp "

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The righteous are greater than the ministering angels,

for Scripture mentioned them before the angel.

As it is stated: “He answered and said [

Nebuchadnezzar]:

‘Behold, I see four men, unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and no harm is in them, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.’”

[I saw four men released from their bonds, walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no injury in them, and the appearance of the fourth is like an angel of God].

Rabbi Tanhum bar Hanilai said: When Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah emerged from the fiery furnace, all

the nations of the world—

and they slapped the enemies of Israel

[this is an appellation for Israel]

on their faces. They said to them: “You have such a God,

who saves you from the fire,

and you bow down to an image?!”

Immediately

Israel

began and said: “To You, Lord, is righteousness, and to us is the shame of face, as at this day” .

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: What is the meaning of that which is written: “I said, I will ascend in the palm tree; I will grasp its branches”?

“I said, I will ascend in the palm tree”—

these are Israel,

who were compared to a palm tree . For at first I thought that there would be many righteous among them.

And now I have succeeded only with one branch, that of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Rabbi Yohanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “I saw by night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among

the myrtles that were in the ravine, etc.”?

What is “I saw by night”?

The Holy One, blessed is He, sought to turn the entire world into night,

because they had bowed down to the image of Nebuchadnezzar.

“And behold, a man riding”—there is no man—

but the Holy One, blessed is He. As it is stated: “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His Name.” “Upon a red horse”—the Holy One, blessed is He, sought to turn the entire world into blood.

When

the Holy One, blessed is He, looked

at Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

who gave over their souls and did not bow down to the image—

His mind was calmed.

As it is stated: “And he stood among the myrtles that were in the ravine.” And “myrtles”—

these are the righteous

. As it is stated: “And he raised [

Mordecai]

Hadassah”

[and Hadassah is the righteous Esther] .

And “the ravine”—

this is Babylonia, as it is stated: “Who says to the deep: Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers” .

That is, the Holy One, blessed is He, restrained Himself from His anger, by virtue of the myrtles, which are the righteous, who were in the ravine, in Babylonia.

Immediately, filled with anger—

they become reddish

[colored ],

and

afterward

red—

they became white ,

when the Holy One, blessed is He, looked at the righteous and rested from His anger.

Rav Pappa said:

From this that Scripture said that a red horse is a sign of curse,

infer from it

that

a white horse—

is favorable for a dream

[one who sees a white horse in his dream, it is a favorable sign for him ].

And now the Gemara returns and discusses the matter of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

And the Rabbis,

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

where did they go

[where did they go] after they emerged from the furnace? [For they are not mentioned again in Scripture ].

Rav said: Through the evil eye,

for people were looking at them in astonishment because they emerged safely from the furnace—

they died.

And Shmuel said: In the

same

spittle

that the nations of the world spat when they said: “You have such a God, and you bow down to an image?!”—in that spittle they

drowned .

And Rabbi Yohanan said:

In truth they did not die afterward, but

they went up to the Land of Israel, married women, and fathered sons and daughters.

And this matter—what happened concerning Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah afterward—

is a dispute among the tannaim

[it is a dispute among the tannaim], as we learned in a beraita:

Rabbi Eliezer says: They died through the evil eye.

Rabbi Yehoshua says: They drowned in spittle.

And the Sages say: They went up to the Land of Israel, married women, and fathered sons and daughters. As it is stated: “Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you, for they are men of wonder.”

Who are the men for whom a wonder was performed?

You must say: These are Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah .

It is demonstrated that afterward they returned to the Land of Israel and were with Joshua the high priest.

And Daniel,

whom we do not find was thrown with them into the fiery furnace,

where did he go

[where did he go, where was he] at the time when his companions were thrown in?

Rav said: To dig

[to dig]

a great river in Tiberias .

And Shmuel said:

Nebuchadnezzar sent him

to bring

from the Land of Israel to Babylonia

alfalfa seed

[to bring seed of grass that is animal fodder] .

And Rabbi Yohanan said:

Nebuchadnezzar sent him

to bring pigs

[to bring pigs]

from Egyptian Alexandria,

which were large and excellent, in order to raise them in Babylonia and produce offspring. And we object:

Is that so?

Was it possible to bring pigs fit for reproduction from Egypt?

But it was taught

concerning what Rabbi Tarfon said, that an animal whose mother [womb] was removed is a tereifa, for it cannot live: an incident came before the Sages and they permitted it, because

Theodosius the physician said: “There is no cow or sow that leaves Egyptian Alexandria whose womb they do not cut out, so that it will not give birth

and become plentiful in other places. Yet despite this they live afterward, and it is demonstrated that the animal does not become a tereifa because it lacks a womb!

In any event, no sow leaves Egypt before they cut out its womb; and how did Daniel take pigs from there in order to produce offspring?

And we answer: Daniel

brought small ones, without their knowledge

[he took small pigs out of there, and therefore the Egyptians did not realize that his intention was to produce offspring, and they permitted him to take them out without cutting out the womb ].

The Sages taught: Three were involved in that counsel

that Daniel should not be there:

the Holy One, blessed is He, Daniel, and Nebuchadnezzar.

The Holy One, blessed is He, said: Let Daniel go away from here,

so that they should not say: Through his merit they were saved

[so that they should not say that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were saved through his merit].

And Daniel said: Let me go away from here, so that “the graven images of their gods you shall burn in fire” should not be fulfilled through me.

Because Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel into a god and bowed down to him, Daniel was concerned that this verse would be fulfilled through him, the verse that commands the gods of the nations to be burned in fire.

And Nebuchadnezzar said: Let Daniel go away from here, so that they should not say: He burned his god in the fire.

Since he had worshiped Daniel and bowed down to him, he was concerned lest he be burned in the fire, and they would say about him that he had burned his god.

And from where

do we know

that he bowed down to him

[that he bowed down to him]?

For it is written: “Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and bowed down to Daniel, etc.”

It is written:

“So says the Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy to you in My Name falsely, etc.” And

again

it is written: “And he shall take from them a curse for all the exile of Judah that is in Babylonia, saying: May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylonia burned in fire.”

“Whom he burned

the king of Babylonia”—

it does not say, but rather: “whom he roasted.”

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai: This teaches that he made them like roasted ears of grain

[ears scorched in fire ].

It is further written there that the reason they were burned in fire was:

“Because they committed disgrace in Israel and committed adultery with the wives of their companions.”

What did they do

[what did Ahab and Zedekiah do]?

They went to the daughter

[they went to the daughter]

of Nebuchadnezzar.

Ahab said to her: So says the Lord, make Zedekiah hear

[to commit adultery]!

And Zedekiah said: So says the Lord, make Ahab hear!

She went

[she went]

and told her father

Nebuchadnezzar the matter.

He said to her:

It is impossible that they truly prophesied this from Heaven, for

their God hates licentiousness!

Rather,

when they come to you—

send them to me

[when they come to you again, send them to me].

When they came to her, she sent them to her father

[when they came to her, she sent them to her father].

He said to them

Nebuchadnezzar:

Who told you

[who told you] the things that you said to my daughter?

They said

to him:

The Holy One, blessed is He,

told us.

He said to them:

But I asked Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah

whether it was permitted to do such a thing,

and they said to me: It is forbidden!

They said to him: We too are prophets like them

[we too are prophets like them].

For them

[for them]—

He did not say

to them

the Holy One, blessed is He.

For us

[for us]—

He told us.

He said to them: I want to test you

[I want to test you],

just as I tested Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

whom I threw into the fiery furnace and they were saved.

They said to him: Those were three, but we are two

[they were three righteous men, whereas we are only two].

He said to them: Choose for yourselves whoever you want with you

[choose for yourselves another one to be thrown with you into the furnace].

They said

to him: Let

Joshua the high priest be thrown with us.

Because

they thought: Let Joshua come, whose merits are numerous, and let him protect us

[let Joshua come, who has many merits, and protect us].

They brought him and threw him in

[they brought him and threw them into the furnace].

They were burned

[they, Ahab and Zedekiah, were burned]. But

Joshua the high priest—

his garments were singed

[his garments were scorched].

As it is stated: “And he showed me Joshua

the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, etc.” And it is written

afterward:

“And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke you, etc.

Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” This indicates that Joshua was like a brand that had been singed in the fire.

He said to him

Nebuchadnezzar to Joshua:

I know that you are righteous

[I know that you are righteous].

But why did a little fire benefit you

[why did the fire benefit you slightly, so that your garments were singed], whereas

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—

it did not benefit them

the fire

at all?

He said to him

Joshua:

They were three,

and their merits were numerous,

but I was one

[they were three righteous men when they were thrown in, whereas I was only one], for Ahab and Zedekiah, who were with me, were wicked.

He said to him

Nebuchadnezzar:

But Abraham was alone

when Nimrod threw him into the fiery furnace, and he was not harmed at all!

Joshua said to him:

There, there were no wicked men with him, and permission was not given to the fire

[there were no wicked men with him, and permission was not given to the fire to cause harm]. But here

here,

for

there were wicked men with me—

and permission was given to the fire

[there were wicked men with me, and permission was given to the fire] .

This is what people say

[this is what people say]:

Two dry brands and one moist one—

the dry ones burn the moist one

[two dry brands and one moist one: the dry ones burn the moist one].

However, the reason Joshua told Nebuchadnezzar concerning the singeing of his garments was merely a rejection with which he put him off, and this is not the true reason.

And therefore the Gemara asks:

For what reason was he punished

Joshua, so that his garments were singed?

Rav Pappa said:

because

his sons were marrying women who were unfit for the priesthood, and he did not protest against them.

As it is said: “And Joshua was wearing filthy garments.”

And it is astonishing:

Was it Joshua’s practice to wear filthy garments?

Rather, this teaches that his sons were marrying women who were unfit for the priesthood, and he did not protest against them .

Rabbi Tanhum said: Bar Kappara expounded in Sepphoris: What is written

concerning Ruth, who said to her mother-in-law after she had gleaned in the field of Boaz:

“These six measures of barley he gave me.” What are “the six measures”?

If you say

barley kernels

in the literal sense, and was it Boaz’s practice to give a gift

only

of six barley kernels?

Did we not learn in tractate Peah that one may not give a poor person at the threshing floor less than half a kav of barley!