Sanhedrin 97b — the Talmud in English

And because our sins have multiplied,

the Messiah did not come at the end of the four thousand years, and already

what has gone out from them has gone out

[several years have passed from those last two thousand years], and still the Messiah has not come.

Elijah said to Rav Yehuda, the brother of Rav Sala the pious: The world

endures

no fewer than eighty-five jubilees

[each jubilee is fifty years. If so, that is four thousand two hundred and fifty years].

And in the last jubilee—

the son of David will come.

He said to him:

Rav Yehuda said to Elijah:

At its beginning

of the jubilee, at the beginning of fifty years, will the son of David come,

or at its end

of the jubilee?

He said to him:

Elijah:

I do not know.

Rav Yehuda further asked Elijah: Will the jubilee

end

before the Messiah comes, so that the Messiah will come only after it,

or

that he

will not end,

and the Messiah will come within the jubilee?

He said to him: I do not know.

Rav Ashi said: This is what he said to him:

Elijah to Rav Yehuda:

Until here,

until that last jubilee—

do not await him

[do not await him, because he will certainly not come before then].

From here onward—

await him

[await him] until he comes.

Rav Hanan bar Taḥlifa sent to Rav Yosef: I found one man, and in his hand was a scroll written in the Assyrian script

[this is our script, and it is called “Assyrian” because it came from the land of Assyria]

and in the holy tongue .

I said to him:

This scroll,

from where do you have it?

He said to me: I was hired for the Roman armies, and among the treasures of Rome I found it, and it was written in it

as follows:

After four thousand two hundred and ninety

and one years from the creation of the world—

the world will be desolate.

Some of them will be wars of dragons

[fish] ,

Some of them will be the wars of Gog and Magog,

and

the

rest—

the days of the Messiah.

When the servitude will end, and the Messiah will come.

And the Holy One, blessed be He, will not renew His world

to create a new world—

except after seven thousand years.

Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, said: It was stated after five thousand years .

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Natan says: This verse

below

pierces and descends to the abyss

[just as the abyss has no end or limit, so a person cannot reach the end of this verse ]:

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hastens to the end and will not lie; though it tarry, await it, for it will surely come, it will not be delayed.”

Not like our Rabbis

[do not expect the end that our Rabbis expounded],

who expounded, “Until a time, times, and half a time.”

That is, “a time”—like the time of the exile of our ancestors in Egypt, four hundred years. “Times” means twice that time, eight hundred years, and in addition “half a time,” which is two hundred years; altogether, one thousand four hundred years.

And not like Rabbi Shamlai, who expounded, “You fed them the bread of tears and gave them to drink tears by the third measure,”

meaning, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Israel to drink in the exile of Egypt and the exile of Babylonia one third of the exile of Edom, which is this final exile. That is, the end of this exile will be at the end of three times four hundred years [corresponding to the exile of Egypt], and three times seventy years [corresponding to the exile of Babylonia], namely, at the end of one thousand four hundred and ten years.

And not like Rabbi Akiva, who expounded

this verse, which was said in the prophecy of Haggai:

“Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth.”

Haggai was prophesying that Israel would leave the exile of Babylonia and the Temple would be built. That is, “Yet once, it is a little while”—I will give Israel a little honor—“and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and I will bring all the desirable things of the nations to Jerusalem.”

And Rabbi Akiva expounded this verse with regard to the days of the Messiah, and this is how he expounded the verse: “Yet once, it is a little while”—I will give Israel a little honor, and afterward the Messiah will come.

It is not so, as Rabbi Akiva expounded,

but

this verse speaks about the time before the Temple. And this is its explanation: “Yet once, it is a little while”—I will give Israel a little honor, and again I will not give them honor throughout all the days of the last Temple.

And so it was, for

the first kingdom

of the Hasmonean kingdom existed

seventy years ,

and

the second kingdom

of Herod lasted

fifty-two

years,

and the kingdom of Bar Koziba

lasted

two and a half years,

and from then onward they again had no king, and they had no honor .

What

is this that is written:

“And it hastens to the end and will not lie”?

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: May the bones

of those who calculate the ends rot

[those who make calculations of when the Messiah will come]. Since

they would say: Once the end has arrived

that we calculated,

and he did not come,

the Messiah—

he will no longer come,

and they thereby cause Israel to despair of awaiting the Messiah.

Rather,

always

await him

the Messiah.

As it is stated: “Though it tarry—

await it.”

Lest you say

that

we await

the Messiah,

but he,

the Holy One, blessed be He,

does not await,

the verse says: “Therefore the Lord will wait to be gracious to you, and therefore He will exalt Himself to have mercy upon you.”

It is evident that even the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself waits and longs for the Messiah to come.

And since we wait, and

also

He,

the Holy One, blessed be He,

waits, who prevents

the Messiah from coming?

The attribute of judgment prevents him

and says before the Holy One, blessed be He, that Israel is not yet worthy of this .

And we wonder:

And since the attribute of judgment prevents it, why do we wait?

For the attribute of judgment prevents it, and it will not come now!?

And we say: Our waiting is in order

to receive reward

for this, that we wait and anticipate him.

As it is stated: “Fortunate is everyone who waits for him.”

Abaye said: The world has no fewer than thirty-six

righteous people who receive the face of the Divine Presence in every generation

[in every generation there are at least thirty-six righteous people who receive the face of the Divine Presence] .

As it is stated: “Fortunate is everyone who waits for him.”

And “who waits for him”—that is, those who anticipate and wait to see the face of the Divine Presence. And the word

“for him” has the numerical value—

there are thirty-six.

That is, in every generation there are thirty-six righteous people who wait for him.

And we wonder:

Is that so?

Are there only thirty-six righteous people who receive the face of the Divine Presence?

But Rava said: The row before the Holy One, blessed be He

[the row of righteous people before the Holy One, blessed be He]

was eighteen thousand parasangs,

[it is eighteen thousand parasangs],

as it is stated: “Around eighteen thousand”!

And we say:

It is not difficult.

This—that we said they are thirty-six—refers to those

who gaze through an illuminating crystal

[at the strength of the radiance of the Holy One, blessed be He].

But

that which we said

that there are more refers to those

who gaze through a non-illuminating crystal

[at the faintness of the radiance to the sides, from a distance ].

And we still wonder:

Are there so many

who see the face of the Divine Presence,

all this much,

that there are thirty-six?

But Hezekiah said in the name of Rabbi

Shimon ben Yoḥai: I have seen

the exalted ones -

and they are few.

If

the exalted ones

are one thousand—

I and my son are among them

[we are among those one thousand exalted ones ].

If there are one hundred—

even then

I and my son are among them.

If there are two—

then

I and my son are

those two .

It follows that it is possible that there are only two who are exalted ones! And we explain:

It is not difficult. This

that we said they are thirty-six refers to those

who enter with permission

[who must request permission] when they come to gaze through an illuminating crystal.

But

this

that we said that it is possible that there are only two refers to those

who enter without permission

[who can enter without permission ].

Rav said:

Already

all the ends have passed

[all those times in which the Messiah was supposed to come have passed],

and

from now on

the matter depends only on repentance and good deeds .

For only if all Israel repent will the Messiah come.

And Shmuel said:

Even if they do not repent, in the end the Messiah will come, because

it is enough for a mourner that he stand in his mourning

[it is enough that the Holy One, blessed be He, has turned His right hand backward, like a mourner]. Certainly he will not remain in his mourning all the days; rather, there will be an end to the matter .

And we say that this dispute, whether Israel will be redeemed specifically through repentance or not,

is a dispute between tannaim

[a dispute between tannaim]:

Rabbi Eliezer says: If Israel repent —

they will be redeemed, and if not—

they will not be redeemed.

Rabbi Yehoshua said to him:

For is it possible to say that

if they do not repent—

they will not be redeemed

forever?

Rather,

if Israel does not repent on their own,

the Holy One, blessed be He, will appoint over them a king whose decrees are harsh, like

the one He appointed over them,

Haman

the wicked, in the days of Mordecai and Esther, so that they would repent,

and

then

Israel will repent

against their will,

and He will bring them back to the good.

It was taught in another beraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: If Israel repent—

they will be redeemed, as it is stated: “Return, backsliding children,

I will heal your backslidings.”

It follows that only if you return will I heal you and bring the redemption.

Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: But it has already been stated: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money”!

And this is the explanation of the verse:

“You were sold for nothing”—

you sold yourselves

to idolatry,

which is worth nothing; it has no value.

“And you shall be redeemed without money”—

not

will you be redeemed specifically

through repentance and good deeds .

Rather, even if Israel does not repent, they will be redeemed.

Rabbi Eliezer said to Rabbi Yehoshua: But it has already been said: “Return to Me -

and I shall return to you.”

It follows that only through repentance will the Holy One, blessed is He, draw near to Israel!

Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: But it has already been said: “For I have ruled over you, and I shall take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I shall bring you to Zion.”

And the wording “I have ruled over you” implies against your will; “one from a city and two from a family” means that I shall select the righteous; “and I shall bring you to Zion”—I shall bring them to Zion. And it follows that this is even without all Israel repenting!

Rabbi Eliezer said to him: But it has already been said: “Through repentance and tranquility you shall be saved,”

it follows that they will be saved only through repentance!