Sanhedrin 97a — the Talmud in English

He said to him: Yes.

Indeed, this is so.

As it is written: “On that day I will raise up ![](pamud.bmp "

exact column location")

the fallen booth of David.”

“The booth of David” is an appellation for the kingdom of David that fell. And the Messiah is the one who will raise up the booth of David; therefore he is called “son of the fallen”.

Rabbi Isaac said to him:

Rabbi Isaac

said as follows in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: In the generation in which the son of David comes,

the following signs will be present:

Torah scholars will diminish,

and the rest will have their eyes consumed with grief and sighing,

and many troubles and harsh decrees will be renewed,

until the first has been attended to —

the second hastens to come.

“Attended to” is from the expression “not a man was missing from us,” that is, not a man was diminished from us. In other words, before the first trouble has ended, the second already hastens to come.

The Sages taught:

In a

seven-year period

([the seven years of the Sabbatical cycle])

in which the son of David comes,

the following signs will occur:

In the first year this verse will be fulfilled: “And I will cause rain to fall upon one city, and upon one city I will not cause rain to fall.”

That is, there will be little rain. Then there will be famine in one place and abundance in another.

In

the second year —

arrows of famine will be dispatched.

That is, there will be a little famine, and there will be abundance nowhere.

In

the third year —

a great famine, and men, women, and children, pious people and men of deeds, will die, and Torah will be forgotten by its students,

because they will have nothing to eat.

In the fourth —

abundance, but it is not abundance.

In the fifth —

great abundance, and they will eat and drink

and rejoice, and Torah will return to its students.

In the sixth —

there will go forth

voices

that the son of David is coming.

In the seventh —

wars

between the gentiles and Israel.

At the conclusion of the seventh —

the son of David comes.

Rav Yosef said: There have been several Sabbatical cycles that were thus,

one year famine and one year abundance,

and he did not come

([and the son of David did not come])!

Abaye said:

Indeed, there were years in which there was famine and abundance, but were there

in

a

sixth

year of the Sabbatical cycle —

voices that the son of David is coming? And in the

year

of the seventh —

wars, was there

([was there such a thing])?

And furthermore:

Indeed, there were famine and abundance, but

in their order

([as the order taught in the beraita: the first year of the Sabbatical cycle is thus, the second thus]),

was there

([was there such a thing])?

It was taught: Rabbi Yehuda says: In the generation in which the son of David comes —

the assembly hall

([the place where Torah scholars assemble there to study Torah])

will be a

place

of prostitution. For the scholars will have perished, and there will be no Torah students; consequently, the assembly halls will be empty of people. And since the study halls are outside the city, men of lewdness will come and gather there.

For the scholars will have perished, and there will be no students of Torah; consequently, the assembly halls will be empty of people. And since the study halls are outside the city, lewd men will come and gather there .

And the Galilee will be destroyed,

and the Golan

([the place whose name is “Golan”])

will be condemned,

it will be desolate,

and the men of the border

of the Land of Israel

will go around from city to city —

and no one will show them grace,

and the wisdom of the scribes will become loathsome

([it will be despised, like a rotten thing]),

and those who fear sin will be despised,

and the faces

of the people of that

generation

will be

like the face of a dog,

and the truth

will be

absent.

As it is stated: “And the truth will be absent.”

What is the meaning of “And the truth will be absent”?

The scholars of the house of Rav said: This teaches that it will become

the truth

flocks upon flocks —

and it will go away.

What is

the meaning of that which is written in the continuation of the same verse:

“And whoever turns away from evil is considered mad”?

The scholars of the house of Rabbi Shila said:

In that generation,

whoever turns away from evil —

will be considered mad by the people

([the people will say about him that he is a fool. “Considered mad” is an expression of foolishness]).

Since the Gemara brought the verse “And the truth will be absent,” the Gemara brings further matters concerning speaking the truth.

Rava said: At first I thought

([at first I was of the opinion]) that

there is no truth in the world

([that there is no person in the world who always speaks only the truth]).

A certain one of the Sages said to me—and his name was Rav Tavot, and some say his name was Rav Tavyumi—that if they were to give him all the empty spaces of the world

he would not alter his word

to falsehood, and this is what he said to me:

Once I happened to come to a certain place, whose name was Truth

([once I happened upon a certain place called Truth]),

and the people

of that place

would not alter their words

([alter their words to falsehood]),

and no person would die from there before his time

([and no person from there would die outside his appointed time]).

I took a wife from among them, and I had two sons from her

([I married one of them, and I had two sons from her]).

One day his wife was sitting, and she was washing her hair

([one day the wife of Rav Tavot was sitting and washing her hair]).

Her neighbor came and knocked on the door

([she came, and she knocked on the door]).

Rav Tavot thought

Rav Tavot:

It is not proper conduct

([it is not proper conduct]) to say where she is, since she was washing her hair.

Therefore

he said to her

to that neighbor:

She is not here

([my wife is not here]).

His two sons died

([his two sons died]).

The people of the place came before him

([the people of the place came before him]),

and they said to him: What is this?

How did this happen, that your sons died before their time?

He said to them: This is what happened

([this is what happened, that I did not speak the truth]).

They said to him: Please, leave our place, and do not provoke death against us through these people

([please, leave our place, and do not provoke death against us]).

It was taught: Rabbi Nehorai says: In the generation in which the son of David comes —

young men will whiten the faces of elders

([that is, they will shame them]),

and elders will stand before young men

to honor them [and this is what we say in tractate Sotah: In the footsteps of the Messiah, brazenness will increase],

and a daughter will rise up against her mother

to disgrace and shame her,

and a bride

will rise

against her mother-in-law,

and the faces of the generation will be like the face of a dog,

and a son will not be ashamed before his father.

It was taught: Rabbi Nehemiah says: In the generation in which the son of David comes —

brazenness will increase,

and honor will be perverted

([they will not honor one another]). “Honor” is from the language of honor, as in “and all the women will give honor to their husbands,”

and the vine will give its fruit —

and

even so it will be

the wine will be expensive,

because there will be no blessing in the fruit itself.

and the entire kingdom will turn to heresy,

and there will be no rebuke.

And the words of this beraita

support Rabbi Isaac. For Rabbi Isaac said: The son of David will not come —

until the entire kingdom turns to heresy.

Rava said: What is the verse? —

“It has all turned white; it is pure.”

For just as when the affliction spreads over the entire skin it is pure, so too, when the entire kingdom turns to heresy, the redemption will come.

The Sages taught: “For the Lord will judge His people, etc.; for He will see that the power has vanished, and none is confined or left.” The son of David will not come —

until the informers increase

([the betrayers, the slanderers]).

And thus the verse is expounded: “For the Lord will judge His people” — to bring them the redemption; “for He will see that the power has vanished” — when He sees that the hand of the informers has grown strong, and they succeed in their slander.

Alternatively:

The son of David will not come —

until the students diminish

who strengthen the hands of Israel to return them to the proper path [and this is “the hand has vanished”].

Alternatively: Until the smallest coin disappears from the purse.

That is “the hand has vanished,” meaning that their hands will be empty.

Alternatively: Until they despair

Israel

of the redemption. As it is stated: “And none is confined or left,” as if

([as though it were possible to say such a thing concerning the One Above])

there is no one who supports or assists Israel.

For Israel will be exceedingly lowly, and they will despair of the redemption.

As with that of Rabbi Zeira: When he would encounter Sages who were occupied with it

([when he would see Torah scholars occupied with matters concerning the time of the redemption]),

he would say to them: Please

I ask

of you, do not distance it

([please, I ask you not to distance the redemption]).

For I have learned: Three

things

come without awareness

([suddenly, without a person preparing himself for it]),

these are they:

A.

The Messiah,

B.

a found object,

C.

and a scorpion

([which bites a person suddenly]).

Rav Katina said: The world will exist for six thousand years

([this world will exist for six thousand years]),

and one will be desolate

([and one thousand, the seventh, will be desolate]).

As it is stated: “And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.”

That is, the Lord alone will remain on that day. And the day of the Holy One, blessed be He, is one thousand years, as it is stated: “For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday, which has passed, etc.”

Abaye said: Two will be desolate

([the world will be desolate for two thousand years]),

as it is stated: “He will revive us after two days; on the third day He will raise us up, and we will live before Him.”

“He will revive us after two days” means two days of the Holy One, blessed be He, which are two thousand years. During those years the world will be desolate, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will renew His world. And He will make wings for the righteous like eagles, and this is “He will revive us.” And “on the third day,” at the beginning of the third millennium, “He will raise us up, and we will live before Him” in a new world.

It was taught in support of Rav Katina,

who said that the world would be desolate for one thousand:

Just as the seventh year releases one year out of every seven years,

and in that year the land becomes desolate, for it is not worked,

so the world releases

([becomes desolate])

one thousand years out of every seven thousand years, as it is stated: “And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.” And it says: “A psalm, a song for the day of Shabbat” —

a day

that is entirely Shabbat

([the world will be like one day of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is one thousand years; that is, it will be desolate, like the Sabbatical year, which is the rest of the land]).

And it says: “For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday, when it passes.”

Thus, the day of the Holy One, blessed be He, is one thousand years.

The tanna of the school of Elijah taught: The world exists for six thousand years.

And these six thousand years are divided as follows:

Two thousand

during which they had not yet learned Torah, the world was

chaos.

That is, from the creation of the first man until Abraham was fifty-two years old. And when Abraham reached this age, he engaged in Torah, as it is stated: “the souls whom they made in Haran,” and Onkelos translated: “whom they brought under the yoke of Torah in Haran" .

Afterward —

two thousand years of Torah [

See Rashi, who brought the reckoning of the years. And the intention is not that Torah, Heaven forbid, should come to an end after those two thousand years; rather, since concerning chaos we said that it lasted two thousand years, it stated this way as well concerning Torah ],

And afterward, according to the reckoning, there should have come

two thousand years of the days of the Messiah,

during which the Messiah would come, the kingdom of wickedness would come to an end, and the servitude of Israel would be abolished.