Sanhedrin 99a — the Talmud in English

And this is what that sectarian said to Rabbi Abahu: “When will the Messiah come?”

He said to him: “When darkness covers those people”

[when the darkness covers you].

He said to him,

that sectarian:

“Are you cursing me”

are you cursing me?

He said to him:

I am not saying this thing on my own, but

a verse is written

thus:

“For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but upon you the Lord shall shine, and His glory shall appear upon you.”

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: The days of the Messiah will be forty years. As it is stated: “Forty years I shall loathe the generation.” “I shall loathe” is in the sense of “He grasped him”.

That is to say, in a generation of forty years, which is a small generation and different from the preceding generations—and presumably it is the generation of the Messiah, in which there will be great changes—in that generation I shall take Israel and rule over them.

Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says: Seventy years

will be the days of the Messiah.

As it is stated: “And it shall be on that day, and the fortress shall be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king.”

Which is the unique king

“one king”—it is an expression of something unique and important?

You must say: This is the Messiah.

Rabbi says:

the days of the Messiah will be

three generations. As it is stated: “May they fear You with the sun, and before the moon, generation of generations.”

That is to say, Israel will fear You in the generation of the Messiah, about whom it is stated: “Before the sun his name shall be extended.” And likewise, “and before the moon”—before the kingdom of the House of David [that is, the king Messiah, who is descended from David], who is compared to the moon, as it is written: “Like the moon, it shall be established forever, etc.”—they will fear You for “generation of generations.” “Generation” -

that is one generation; “generations”—that is two; thus together they are three generations.

Rabbi Hillel says: Israel has no Messiah, for they already consumed him in the days of Hezekiah

[as was explained above]. Rather, the Holy One, blessed is He, will redeem them Himself and rule over them.

Rav Yosef said: May his Master forgive him

[may the Holy One, blessed is He, forgive him]

Rabbi Hillel

for saying things that are not so!

For

when was Hezekiah

when was he?—

in

the time of

the First Temple, whereas Zechariah

was prophesying in

the time of

the Second Temple,

which was a long time after the generation of Hezekiah,

and he said: “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; shout, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your king shall come to you, righteous and saved is he, poor and riding upon a donkey, and upon a foal, the young of she-asses.”

It follows that Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would come even after the generation of Hezekiah!

It is demonstrated that the coming of the Messiah was not nullified on account of the generation of Hezekiah.

It was taught in another beraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: The days of the Messiah will be forty years.

And from where do we learn this matter?

It is written here,

concerning those forty years that Israel was in the wilderness:

“And He afflicted you and made you hungry and fed you,” and it is written there,

concerning the days of the Messiah:

“Make us glad according to the days that You afflicted us, the years in which we saw evil.”

It follows that the joy with which the Holy One, blessed is He, will gladden us in the future, in the days of the Messiah, will be like those years in which we saw evil—that is, the forty years that they were in the wilderness, about which it is stated: “And He afflicted you and made you hungry”.

Rabbi Dosa says:

the days of the Messiah will be

four hundred years.

And from where do we know this matter?

It is written here: “And they shall serve them and afflict them four hundred years,” and it is written there: “Make us glad according to the days that You afflicted us.”

That is, the joy with which the Holy One, blessed is He, will gladden us will be like those years in which we were afflicted—that is, four hundred years, about which it is stated: “And they shall serve them and afflict them.”

Rabbi says:

the days of the Messiah will be

three hundred and sixty-five years, corresponding to the number of days of the solar year. As it is stated: “For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redemption has come.”

That is, just as the spies, who explored the land for forty days and in the end brought forth an evil report about it, were punished by being in the wilderness for forty years, a year corresponding to a day, as it is written: “A day for a year, a day for a year, etc.”—and this is “the day of vengeance,” for the vengeance against the spies was a year corresponding to a day,

so too with regard to the redemption, “the year of My redemption has come”—a year for a day, a year for a day. For each and every day of this year that is written in this verse, “the year of My redemption,” one year is assigned. And if so, the days of the Messiah will be three hundred and sixty-five years, corresponding to the number of days in the year.

What is the meaning of “the day of vengeance is in My heart”?

Rabbi Yoḥanan said,

thus said the Holy One, blessed is He:

“To My heart

I have revealed”

the matter that I am destined to take vengeance upon My enemies and redeem Israel. But I did not bring the matter forth from My mouth; therefore

“to My limbs I have not revealed it,”

for they could not hear the matter.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: “To My heart I have revealed,”

but

“to the ministering angels”—

“I have not revealed.”

Avimi, son of Rabbi Abahu, taught: The days of the Messiah

for Israel

will be

seven thousand years, as it is stated: “As the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, your God shall rejoice over you.”

And since the joy of a bridegroom over a bride is seven days [the seven days of the wedding feast], and the day of the Holy One, blessed is He, is one thousand years, it follows that the days of the Messiah will be seven thousand years.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel:

The duration of

the days of the Messiah

will be

from the day on which the world was created—

and until now.

.

As it is stated: “In order that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied, etc., upon the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them,

“So that your days may be multiplied, and so on, upon the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them

as the days of the heavens over the earth.”

Yet Israel was not on its land for so long a time as the days that the heavens have been stretched over the earth—that is, from the day on which the world was created until now. Rather, necessarily, this will be so in the days of the Messiah.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said:

the days of the Messiah will be

like

the length of time from

the days of Noah—

until now.

As it is stated: “For as the waters of Noah are this to Me, concerning which I swore

that the waters of Noah would no longer pass over the earth, so have I sworn not to be angry with you and not to rebuke you.” “As the waters of Noah” means like “as the days of Noah.” That is, according to the calculation of the years that existed by the time when the Lord swore that the waters of Noah would no longer pass over the earth, “so have I sworn”—according to that same calculation of time I swore “not to be angry with you and not to rebuke you,” that I would not destroy My world after the Messiah comes, until this period of time ends.

“For as the waters of Noah” means “like the days of Noah.” That is, according to the number of years that had elapsed by the time when the Lord swore that the waters of Noah would never again pass over the earth, “so have I sworn”—according to that same period of time, I swore “not to be angry with you and not to rebuke you”: I will not destroy My world after the Messiah comes, until this period of time has ended.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: All the prophets all of them did not prophesy

all the goodness that will be for Israel—

except concerning the days of the Messiah.

But concerning the World to Come—

“No eye has seen, God, besides You, what He will do for one who waits for Him.”

That is, there is no end to the goodness that will be in the World to Come.

And

the words of Rabbi Yoḥanan

disagree with Shmuel

[they disagree with the words of Shmuel].

For Shmuel said: There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah—

except for the subjugation to kingdoms alone.

But in other matters, the days of the Messiah will resemble the other days of this world. Whereas Rabbi Yoḥanan said that in the days of the Messiah all the good prophecies that the prophets prophesied will be fulfilled.

And Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: All the prophets did not prophesy—

except for penitents. But for the completely righteous—

“No eye has seen, God, besides You,”

there is no end to the granting of their reward.

And

the words of Rabbi Yoḥanan

disagree with Rabbi Abahu,

who holds that penitents are on a superior level to the righteous.

For Rabbi Abahu said:

In

the place where penitents stand—

the righteous do not stand

[they are unable to stand there]. For the level of penitents is greater, and others are unable to stand in their company.

And from where does Rabbi Abahu learn this matter?

As it is stated: “Peace, peace, to the far and to the near.”

The verse mentioned

first

the far one,

and afterward

it mentioned the

near one. What is “far”—

“Far from the outset”

[who was far at first] and afterward repented and drew near to the Holy One, blessed is He.

And what is “near”—

One who was

near

to the Holy One, blessed is He

from the outset

[at first],

and

also

now

[at present]. That is—a completely righteous person.

Yet the verse mentioned the far one before the near one! It is demonstrated that the level of the penitent is greater.

And Rabbi Yoḥanan,

who said that the level of the righteous is greater than that of the penitent,

said

that this is the explanation of the verse:

“To the far”—

that is, a completely righteous person,

who has been far from transgression

from time immemorial. Whereas

“near”—

that is, a penitent,

who was near to transgression,

but now, when he repented,

has become distant from it.

And Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: All the prophets did not prophesy

all the good things in their prophecies—

except for

one who

marries his daughter to a Torah scholar,

and one who conducts commerce

[business]

for

the needs of a

Torah scholar,

so that he may make his livelihood from it,

and one who gives a Torah scholar benefit from his property.

But Torah scholars themselves—

“No eye has seen, God, besides You,”

there is no end to the granting of their reward.

What is the meaning of “No eye has seen,”

what is that reward which no eye has ever seen?

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: This is the wine preserved in its grapes from the six days of Creation.

.

Reish Lakish said: This is Eden,

which

no eye

has seen

ever.

.

And if you would say:

If no human eye has ever seen Eden,

Adam

the first

where did he dwell?

In the garden—

and not in Eden. For no eye has ever seen Eden.

And if you would say: The garden is Eden!

The verse states: “And a river went out from Eden to water the garden.”

It follows that the garden is not Eden, for it is written that a river went out from Eden and went to water the garden, which was in another place.

We learned in our Mishna:

And one who says that the Torah is not from Heaven, etc.

The Sages taught: “For he has despised the word of the Lord and has violated His commandment; surely that soul shall be cut off

its iniquity is upon it”—

this is one who says that the Torah is not from Heaven.

.

Another explanation: “For he has despised the word of the Lord”—

this is an epikoros.

Another explanation: “For he has despised the word of the Lord”—

this is one who interprets the Torah contrary to the halakha.

What an epikoros and one who interprets the Torah contrary to the halakha are will be explained below.

“And he has violated His commandment”—

this is one who violates the fleshly covenant.

That is, he did not circumcise himself.

And from the repetition of the expression

“surely shall be cut off”

we expound:

“shall be cut off”—

in this world; “shall be cut off”—

in the World to Come.

From here,

from this verse, “For he has despised the word of the Lord,”

Rabbi Elazar HaModa'i said:

One who profanes the sacred offerings

[through matters concerning which profanation is stated, such as an impure person who ate teruma],

one who disgraces the festivals

[the intermediate days of the festival],

one who violates the covenant of Abraham our father

[as it is written: “And he has violated My commandment”],

one who interprets the Torah contrary to the halakha,

and one who shames his fellow in public,

for all these are matters of disgrace,

even though he has

that person

Torah

and good deeds—

he has no share in the World to Come.

As it is written: “Surely shall be cut off.”

It was taught in another beraita: “For he has despised the word of the Lord”—

this is one who says

that

the Torah is not from Heaven.

And even

if

he said

that person:

“The entire Torah is from Heaven, except for this verse”

[that is, except for one verse, this one or another],

which the Holy One, blessed is He, did not say, but Moses said it on his own

he said—

this is ‘For he has despised the word of the Lord.’

And even if he said: “The entire Torah is from Heaven, except for this fine point

that is, one exposition that is derived from the deficient and surplus letters in the Torah], or except

for this kal va-chomer,

or except

for this gzera shava—

this is “for he has despised the word of Hashem.”

It was taught: Rabbi Meir would say: One who studies Torah but does not teach it

to others —

this is “he has despised the word of Hashem” .

Rabbi Natan says: Anyone who does not pay heed to the Mishna,

saying that it is not the principal [text] .

Rabbi Nehorai says: Anyone who is able to engage in Torah—

and does not engage in it.

Since he is able to engage in Torah and engages at that time in other matters, he thereby despises the Torah in comparison with those matters, for it is less important in his eyes.

Rabbi Ishmael says: This is one who worships idolatry.

What is its indication?

How is it indicated from the verse “for he has despised the word of Hashem” that this is one who worships idolatry?

For it was taught in the school of Rabbi Ishmael: “For he has despised the word of Hashem” \-

this is the

one who worships idolatry, for he

despises a declaration that was said

to Moses

at Sinai

from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself [and this is “the word of Hashem”]:

“I am Hashem your God; you shall have no other gods, and so forth” .

Rabbi Joshua ben Karha says: Anyone who studies Torah but does not review it—

resembles a person who

toils and

sows

grain,

and

in the end

does not reap.

Thus nothing came into his possession from all his labor!

Rabbi Joshua says: Anyone who studies Torah and forgets it—

resembles a woman who gives birth, and

in the end

buries

the children whom she gave birth to. Thus nothing at all came into her possession!