Sanhedrin 96b — the Talmud in English

And there is reason to wonder:

And did he ascend

—did

Nebuchadnezzar ascend to Jerusalem? But it is written

in that same matter: “And they seized the king [Zedekiah]]

and brought him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah,” and Rabbi Abbahu said:

Riblah

is Antioch.

But Antioch is not in the Land of Israel!

And this difficulty was resolved by

Rav Hisda and Rav Yitzhak bar Avdimi:

One said: The likeness of his image

of Nebuchadnezzar

was engraved for him

for Nebuzaradan

on his chariot,

and it appeared to him as though he were standing before him.

And one said: He had exceedingly great fear

Nebuzaradan had

of him

—of Nebuchadnezzar—,

and it seemed

to him

as though

he

were standing

always

before him.

And this was the honor that the servant, Nebuzaradan, accorded his master, Nebuchadnezzar.

Rava said: He loaded three hundred

mules with iron axes that prevail over iron; Nebuchadnezzar sent them to Nebuzaradan

—a load of three hundred mules bearing sharp iron hammers, which cut iron, Nebuchadnezzar sent to Nebuzaradan—in order to breach with them the gates of Jerusalem.

All of them were swallowed by one gate of Jerusalem

—all those hammers broke upon one gate of Jerusalem.

As it is stated: “Its openings together they hammered with axes and hatchets.”

It implies that all the axes and hatchets struck one entrance together, and accomplished nothing.

He wished to turn back

—Nebuzaradan wished to retrace his steps to Babylon.

He said: I fear

—I am afraid—

lest they do to me as they did to Sennacherib

—lest the Jews do to me as they did to Sennacherib, whose entire army was killed.

A voice went forth and said

—a heavenly voice went forth and said:

Leap, son of a leaper

—leaper, son of a leaper—,

Nebuzaradan, leap

—jump—

! For the time has arrived that the Temple be destroyed and the Sanctuary burned

—that the time has arrived for the Temple to be destroyed and the Sanctuary to be burned.

One axe remained

—one hammer from those hammers that Nebuchadnezzar had sent him remained.

He came and struck with its blunt end

—he came and struck the gate with the blunt side of the hammer—, and not with its sharp point—

and it opened

—and the gate opened.

As it is stated

in the Book of Psalms, where David prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He:

“He knows as one bringing upward among tangled branches of wood axes”.

That is, that tangled mass of wood and axes is known before You, with which Nebuzaradan broke the gates of Jerusalem, as though he had brought it upward, before the Throne of Glory.

He was killing and proceeding—

until he reached the Sanctuary

—Nebuzaradan was killing and proceeding until he reached the Sanctuary.

He kindled fire in it

—Nebuzaradan kindled a fire in the Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary rose

and sought to ascend to the heavens!

They trod upon it from Heaven

—they trod upon it from Heaven and humbled it.

As it is stated: “The winepress of the Lord He trod for the virgin daughter of Judah.”

His mind became haughty

—Nebuzaradan became arrogant—over his success.

A heavenly voice went forth

—a heavenly voice went forth—

and said to him: You have killed a slain people

—you have killed a people already destined to be killed.

And likewise,

you have burned a burned Sanctuary

—you have burned a Sanctuary already destined to be burned.

And this is as though

you ground ground flour

—you ground flour that had already been ground.

As it is stated: “Take millstones and grind flour; uncover your braid, strip off your skirt, uncover your leg, cross rivers.”

“Grind wheat”

was not stated, but rather

“grind

flour.”

And it is a punishment that the prophet spoke to Israel: although you have already been ground into flour, you will be ground again, and you will uncover the locks of your heads and your leg, and you will go into exile.

He saw

—Nebuzaradan saw—

the blood of Zechariah, which was boiling

—the blood of Zechariah, whom Israel had killed because he prophesied harsh prophecies to them about the destruction of the Temple. The blood was boiling on the floor of the Temple courtyard.

He said to them

Nebuzaradan said to the Jews:

What is this?

What is this blood that boils and does not rest?

They said to him: It is the blood of sacrifices that was spilled

—that was poured out.

He said to them: Bring [other blood] and I will test whether it resembles it

—bring sacrificial blood, and we shall examine whether it resembles this blood.

They slaughtered

sacrificial animals,

but they did not resemble it

—the blood did not resemble that blood.

He said to them: Reveal to me

what this blood is,

and if not—

I will rake your flesh with an iron rake

—I will rake your flesh with an iron comb!

They said to him: This is

the blood of a

priest and prophet, who prophesied

—who prophesied—

to Israel concerning the destruction of Jerusalem

—that Jerusalem would be destroyed—,

and they killed him.

He said to them

to Israel:

I will appease him

—I will appease Zechariah, and his blood will rest.

He brought Sages and killed them over it

—he brought Sages and killed them over that blood—

but it did not rest.

He brought children of the house of the teacher

—schoolchildren—,

killed them over it—

but it did not rest.

He brought young priests

—young members of the priesthood—,

killed them over it—

but it did not rest.

Until he killed over it

—until he had killed over it—

ninety-four myriads

of people—

but it did not rest.

Nebuzaradan drew near

Nebuzaradan

to it

—to that blood—, and

said: Zechariah, Zechariah! The best of them—

I have destroyed them; would it please you that I kill them all

—do you want me to kill all Israel?

Immediately it rested

the blood.

Nebuzaradan pondered

Nebuzaradan pondered thoughts of

repentance in his mind. He said: What are they,

Israel,

that they destroyed only one soul

of Zechariah—

and thus

were punished—,

that man,

Nebuzaradan, who killed so many people—

what will become of him

—what will become of him?

He fled

—he fled—,

sent a will-document to his home

—he sent a written testament to his home—,

and converted.

The Sages taught: Naaman,

who had been the army commander of Aram, and Elisha healed him of his leprosy, and he took upon himself not to worship idolatry [as recounted in the Second Book of Kings, chapter 5]—

was a resident convert.

He did not accept upon himself all the mitzvot, but only not to worship idolatry.

But

Nebuzaradan was a righteous convert.

For he accepted upon himself fully the yoke of Torah and mitzvot.

Descendants of the descendants of Sisera studied Torah in Jerusalem.

Descendants of the descendants of Sennacherib taught Torah publicly.

And who are they

—who are those descendants of his descendants—?

Shemaiah and Avtalion.

Descendants of the descendants of Haman studied Torah in Bnei Brak.

And even concerning descendants of the descendants of that wicked man,

Nebuchadnezzar,

the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to bring them beneath the wings of the Divine Presence.

The ministering angels said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe! Shall You bring beneath the wings of the Divine Presence the one who destroyed Your House and burned Your Sanctuary?

This is what is written: “We have healed Babylon, but she was not healed.” Ulla said: This is Nebuchadnezzar,

for the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to heal him and bring his sons beneath the wings of the Divine Presence, but in the end he was not healed.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani said: These are the rivers of Babylon,

which are bad to drink.

And he rendered it: the date palms of the Babylonians

—they are bitter palms, which stand beside the rivers.

And since we brought above the account of Nebuzaradan, how he conquered Jerusalem, the Gemara brings more concerning this matter.

Ulla said: Ammon and Moab were evil neighbors

—bad neighbors—

of Jerusalem.

Once they heard the prophets prophesying concerning the destruction of Jerusalem

—once Ammon and Moab heard the prophets who prophesied concerning the destruction of Jerusalem—

, they sent to Nebuchadnezzar: Go forth and come

—leave your place and come to conquer the Land of Israel.

He said

Nebuchadnezzar:

I fear lest they do to me as they did to my predecessors

—I am afraid lest they do to me as they did to those who came before me—for Sennacherib and his army all died at the hand of one angel.

They sent to him: “For the man is not in his house

he has gone on a distant journey ”

—this is a verse in the Book of Proverbs.

And “man”—

means only the Holy One, blessed be He. As it is stated: “The Lord is a man of war.”

That is, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, is not in His house, the Temple.

He sent to them: He is nearby, and he will come.

Perhaps He is indeed not in His house now, but He is in a nearby place, and He will come to save Israel! [Nebuchadnezzar’s response is not required by the verse itself; rather, from the order of the verses, through which we hear the claims of Ammon and Moab, we understand what Nebuchadnezzar answered them.]

They sent to him: “He has gone on a distant journey.”

That is, He is not near, and He will not come.

He sent to them: They have righteous people, who will seek mercy—

and bring Him

—they have righteous people who will seek mercy and bring the Holy One, blessed be He!

They sent to him: “He took the bundle of money in his hand.” And “money”—

means only righteous people,

as is demonstrated by the following verse. That is, the righteous among them had died.

And from where do we know that the righteous are called “money”?

As it is stated: “And I purchased her for myself for fifteen silver pieces, and a homer of barley and a lethekh of barley.”

And this is the meaning of the verse: “And I purchased her for myself for fifteen silver pieces”—that is, I redeemed them for myself from Egypt on the fifteenth of Nisan, in the merit of the righteous who are called “money.” “And a homer of barley and a lethekh of barley”—that is, a homer of barley is thirty seahs, and a lethekh is fifteen seahs; these are the forty-five righteous people upon whom the world is sustained [as stated in tractate Hullin 92a].

He sent to them: The wicked may repent, seek mercy, and bring Him

—the wicked will repent, seek mercy, and bring the Holy One, blessed be He!

They sent to him: He has already established a time for them,

that He will not come again until seventy years, for the Babylonian exile.

As it is stated: “On the day of the appointed time he will come to his house.” ‘Appointed time’

means only a time. As it is stated: “At the appointed time, on the day of our festival.”

He sent to them: It is winter

—winter—

now

it is,

and I cannot come because of

the

snow and rain

—the snow and the rain.

They sent to him: Come by the bottom of the mountain

—come by the route beneath the mountains—and they will protect you from the rain and snow.

As it is stated: “Send a lamb to the ruler of the land, from the rock of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.”

And this is the meaning of the verse: Send to the ruler, who is Nebuchadnezzar, that he should come to the mountain of the daughter of Zion by way of the rocks and mountains.

He sent to them:

It is now the rainy season, and

if I come—

I have no place in which to sit

—there will be no place around Jerusalem where I and my soldiers can sit protected from the rain.

They sent to him: Their graves,

those of Israel,

are superior to palaces

—to palaces—

of yours,

and you will be able to sit in their burial caves surrounding Jerusalem.

And from where do we know that this indeed happened, that Nebuchadnezzar and his army removed the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves in order to sit in those burial caves?

As it is written: “At that time, declares the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves, and they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which

they loved and which they served and after which they walked.”

And since we brought the verse, “He took the bundle of money in his hand,” indicating that the righteous had become few, the Gemara now speaks concerning the Messiah. For one of the signs of the days of the Messiah is that Torah scholars will become few.

Rav Nahman said to Rabbi Yitzhak: Have you heard when the fallen son will come

—do you know when the fallen son will come?

He said to him: Who is the fallen son

—who is that “fallen son” about whom you are asking?

He said to him:

The fallen son is the

Messiah.

Rabbi Yitzhak was astonished and asked him:

Messiah—

do you call him “the fallen son”?