Rabbi Meir would say, from where is it derived that can you say that, "With the [same] measure that a person measures others, they measure him"? As it is said (Is. 27:8), "In full measure (b'sa'seah) when You send her away do You contend with her" (Steinsaltz tr.). [From this] I only have that one who measures with a seah (b'seah) [is also measured by a seah].* From where is it derived that [the same applies to] one who measures with [smaller measures, such as] a half-kav*, two kavs (tarkav), a quarter-kav, and half of a quarter-kav, an eighth-kav (toman), and one thirty-second of a kav (ukla)? The verse states (Is. 9:4), "For all se'on He tramples with fierceness"*) may be midrashically rendered as "a small fraction of a seah," see Sot. 8b:16 -- behold, here there are many measures and many calculations. [From this] I only have things that come with a set measure. From where is it derived that even small droplets (perutot; alt., "small coins") can combine into a large calculation? The verse states (Ecc. 7:27, Steinsaltz tr.), "[Behold, this have I found, says Koheleth, adding] one thing to another, to find out the account.” And thus you find with a Sotah that with the [same] measurement that she measured, she is measured with it. She stood in front of him in order that she appear pleasing before him; therefore, the Kohen stands her before everyone to display herself in disgrace, as it is said (Num. 5:18), "And the Kohen stands the woman before God [and lets loose (the hair of) the woman's head], etc." [Similarly,] she spread out her shawl before him; therefore, the Kohen removes the scarf from her head and places it under her feet. She plaited her hair to please him; therefore, the Kohen loosens [her hair]. She adorned her face for him; therefore, her face turns green [after drinking the bitter waters]. She painted her eyelids for him; therefore, her eyes bulge out [after drinking]. She beckoned to him with her finger; therefore, her fingernails fall off. She exposed her flesh for him; therefore, the Kohen rends her cloak and exposes her disgrace to the masses. She girded herself inside [her clothes]; therefore, the Kohen brings an Egyptian rope and ties it above her breasts, and anyone who wants to see comes and sees. She opened her thighs for him; therefore, her thigh wastes away [after drinking]. She received him on her stomach; therefore, her stomach distends. She fed him delicacies; therefore, her grain offering (i.e., barley, see Num. 5:15) is animal fodder. She gave him wine to drink in the finest cups; therefore, the Kohen makes her drink the bitter waters from a broken fragment (makida) of an earthenware vessel. She acted in secret (seter), as it is said (Job 24:15), "The eye of the adulterer awaits the evening twilight, saying ['No one will cast an eye on me'...]," [but] she was not aware that He Who sits in His concealment of eternity was turning His face toward her, as it is said (ibid.), "and He places a mask (seter) on His face." Another version: It teaches that the Place exposes her concealment to the public, as it is said (Prov. 26:26), "He covers his hatred with deceit, [and thus] his wickedness shall be exposed in public."

The people of the [generation of] the Flood became haughty in front of the Place only due to the goodness that He showered upon them, as it says (Job 21:9-11): "Their homes are secure, without fear [and they do not feel the rod of God]. Their bull breeds and does not fail ... They let their infants run loose like sheep, etc." This was the cause of their [downfall]. And they said to God (Job 21:14-15): "Leave us alone ... What is Shaddai that we should serve Him?" They said, "Why does He trouble Himself with us? All we need are two drops of water. Behold, ours are the rivers and the springs with which we supply ourselves on hot summer days and on rainy days, as it is said (Gen 2:6), "But a surge would well up from the earth [and water all the face of the ground]." The Place said to them, "It was with goodness that I bestowed [all this] on you, and you come with haughtiness before me? I am coming to destroy you," as it is said (Gen. 6:17), "As for me, here, I am about to bring on the Deluge, water upon the earth, etc." Rabbi Yosei ben Dormaskit says, the people of the [generation of] the Flood became haughty in front of the Place only with the sphere (galgal) of the eye, which resembles water, as it says (Gen. 6:2), "And the b'nei ha'elohim ("the sons of the judges/nobles"; alt., "the sons of the divine beings") saw how beautiful the daughters of men were, etc." In the same way, the Holy One Blessed be He did not destroy them with anything but a gathering (galgal) of waters, which resembles the eye, as it is is said (Gen. 7:11), "On that day, all the fountains of the great deep burst apart [and the floodgates of the sky broke open]." (Note: Tanakh translations generally follow JPS.)

The people of the Tower [of Babel] became haughty in front of the Place only due to the goodness He showered upon them, as it says (Gen. 10:1-2, JPS Tr.), "Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words, and as they migrated from the east [they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled (lit., 'sat') there]." And there is no "sitting" that does not involve eating and drinking, as it says (Ex. 32:6), "And the people sat to eat and drink etc." This was the cause of their [downfall]. And they said (Gen. 11:4), "Come let us build a city and a tower, etc." What does it say, but that "The Lord scattered them [over the face of the whole earth]" (Gen. 11:7). The people of Sodom became haughty in front of the Place only due to the goodness He showered upon them, as it says: "A land from which bread had issued forth — its place was overturned, as if (consumed by) fire. A place of sapphire were its stones, and dusts of gold were there. (And now it is) a path unknown (i.e., unfrequented) by brigands, and unseen by the falcon's eye, untrodden by the haughty (beasts) and not crossed by the lion (Job 28:5-8). The people of Sodom [said]: "Since food comes out of our land, and silver and gold, and precious stones and pearls [all come] from our land, we have no need that other people will come to us to diminish [our valuables]. Let us rise and prevent the wayfarers to enter our cities [banot]!" The Holy One of Blessing said to them: "I gave goodness to you, and you seek to forget the wayfarers from your cities?! I will forget the wayfarers in your midst [beinechem] and I will forget you from the world!" What does it say? "He breaks open a shaft away from where men sojourn; they are forgotten of the foot that pass by; they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro." (Job 28:4) and "The tents of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure, in whatsoever God brings into their hand." (Job 12:6) and so it says "As I live—declares the Lord GOD—your sister Sodom and her daughters did not do what you and your daughters did.Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread"(Ezekiel 16:48-49). Egypt became haughty in front of the Place Blessed be He only due to water, as it says (Ex. 1:22, JPS Tr.), "Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every boy that is born [you shall throw into the Nile, but let every girl live]." In the same way, the Place Blessed e He only destroyed them with water, as it says (Ex. 15:4, JPS Tr.), "Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea." Sisera became haughty in front of the Place only due to legionnaires who did not receive wages (Judges 5:19, JPS Tr.), "Then the kings came, they fought [... and they got no spoil of silver]." And [when Yael entered the tent to kill him, the legionnaires] did not move from their places and they paid him no mind because he himself was merely a common soldier (see Jastrow, סָפַן).

Samson transgressed with his eyes (Sot. 1:8), as it is said (Jud. 14:3), "And Samson said to his father, 'Take her (i.e., the Philistine woman of Timnah) for me because she is pleasing to my eyes,'" and thus he was punished with his eyes, as it is said (Jud. 16:21), "And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes, etc." Rebbi says, he started going astray in Gaza, and thus his punishment happened nowhere but Gaza itself. Absalom transgressed with his hair, as it is said (2 Sam. 14:25), "And there was no man so beautiful as Absalom [in all of Israel; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, he had no defect]." Therefore, he was punished with his hair (2 Sam. 18:9). Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says, Absalom was an "eternal nazirite," and once every twelve months he would shave his head. [From where is it derived that an "eternal nazirite" cuts his hair every twelve months?] As it is said (2 Sam. 15:7-8): "After forty years had passed, Absalom said to the king, 'Let me go [and I will fulfill my vow, which I vowed to the Lord in Hebron]. For your servant made a vow [when I lived in Geshur of Aram, saying, 'If the Lord ever returns me to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord.']."* Rabbi Nehorai says, he would shave his head once ever thirty days, as it is said (2 Sam. 14:26), "And it was at the end of each period of days (יָמִ֤ים לַיָּמִים֙), etc., and the weight of [Absalom's] hair of his head was two hundred shekels by the king's weight."* Rabbi Yosei says, he would shave every Sabbath Eve, for it is the custom of the sons of kings to shave from Sabbath Eve to Sabbath Eve. [Rabbi Shimon says*,] like it says about kohanim (Ez. 44:20), "Their heads they shall not shave, and their locks they shall not grow out; [rather,] they shall trim their heads." [On the subject of shaving from Sabbath Eve to Sabbath Eve (see Lieberman),] it is not the custom of the people of Tiberius and the people of Tzipporin to shave in this way. [Returning to the discussion of Absalom,] he engaged in relations with ten concubines of his father, and therefore ten spears were thrust into him, as it is said (2 Sam. 18:15), "And ten young men [who carried Joab's armor circled around and struck Absalom, and killed him]." And because he engaged in three acts of theft -- [stealing] the heart of his father, and the heart of the Beit Din, and the heart of all of Israel -- therefore three spears were driven into his heart, as it is said (2 Sam. 18:14), "And [Joab] took three spears in his hand [and drove them into the heart of Absalom]."

Sennacherib became haughty in front of the Place only due to an emissary*, as it is said (2 Kings 19:23-24), "Through your emissaries (מַלְאָכֶ֘יךָ֮) you taunted the Lord, etc., [saying,] 'I have bore (i.e., dug for water) and I have drunk strange waters [and the soles of my feet have dried up all the canals of Metzor]." Therefore the Holy One, Blessed be He, did not destroy him with anything but an emissary, as it is said (2 Kings 19:35), "And it happened on that night, that an emissary (מַלְאַ֣ךְ) of the Lord went out and slew the Assyrian camp, etc." And all of them (i.e., the slain) were kings with crowns affixed to their heads.

Nebuchadnezzar said, the inhabitants of the earth are unworthy of my dwelling among them. I will make myself a little cloud and I will dwell within it, as it is said (Is. 14:14, Koren tr.), "I will ascend above the heights of the cloud[, I will be like the Most High]." The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him (Is. 14:13), "And you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to Heaven; higher than the stars of God I will raise up my throne, etc.'" [Therefore] I am coming to bring you down to the pit of destruction (cf. Ps. 55:24). What does it say, but (Is. 14:15), "Even unto the underworld (She'ol) will you descend[, to the bottom of the pit]." You said, the inhabitants of the earth are unworthy of my dwelling among them; [therefore it is stated] (Dan. 4:25-30), "You shall be driven from men[, and with the beasts of the field shall you dwell, etc.]," "That very hour [His] word was fulfilled as to Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men," [and] "All this came upon Nebuchadnezzar the king / At the end of twelve months..."