Concerning Sadducees, informers, the wicked, profaners of God’s Name¹ and heretics, Scripture declares, The wicked shall return to the nether-world.

footnotes: ¹ Ps. 9, 18. For ‘profaners of God’s Name’, which is GRA’s reading, V has ‘flatterers’.

Concerning the overbearing, haughty, proud, violent, insolent and pugnacious, Scripture declares, For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.² XXXVII, 17.

footnotes: ² ibid.

Concerning designers of evil, schemers of [wicked] plans,³ for maḥshibë, ‘who obscure their utterances’. those who spurn with their lips and the smooth-tongued, Scripture declares, Let their way be dark and slippery, the angel of the Lord pursuing them.⁴ XXXV, 6.

footnotes: ³ H reads maḥshikë ⁴ ibid.

They who smite in secret, openly blaspheme, treat the public with contempt and causers of strife are destined to be like Ḳorah and his assembly, concerning whom Scripture declares, And the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the assembly.⁵

footnotes: ⁵ Num. 16, 33.

Concerning them who hoard fruit,⁶ raise the prices, make the ephah small and the shekel great⁷ and lend money on usury, Scripture declares, The Lord hath sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their works.⁸ 7. Cf. B.B. 90b (Sonc. ed., pp. 372f.).

footnotes: ⁶ To raise the price. ⁷ Cf. Amos 8, 5. ⁸ ibid.

The following do not bequeath anything to their children, and if they do bequeath to their children they do not cause their children’s children to inherit: the dice-gambler, the breeder of small cattle,⁹ one who transacts with money derived from the Sabbatical year,¹⁰ one whose money is derived from [transactions] with overseas countries¹¹ and a kohen or Levite who borrowed on their portions.¹² and ma‘aser respectively. If a kohen or Levite borrowed money from a lay-Israelite on the understanding that the loan would be repaid from the tithe due to them, they thereby offer an inducement to that man to give the tithe only to them. Such action is considered unfair and undignified.

footnotes: ⁹ Sheep, goats, etc. Breeders of small cattle were generally frowned upon because they permitted them to graze in other people’s fields. ¹⁰ Trading with the produce of that year is prohibited. ¹¹ Danger attended the transport of freights at sea and one might suffer loss. ¹² i.e. terumah

Concerning flatterers, liars and workers of iniquity,¹³ Scripture declares, The wicked shall return to the nether-world,¹⁴ and it further states, That which is crooked cannot be made straight.¹⁵

footnotes: ¹³ So GRA. V repeats from §1, ‘Sadducees, informers, flatterers’ and adds ‘profaners of God’s Name’. Instead of the Scriptural passages which are cited GRA substitutes Job 13, 16, and Ps. 101, 7, in agreement with Soṭah 42a (Sonc. ed., p. 206). ¹⁴ Ps. 9, 18. ¹⁵ Eccl. 1, 15.

Concerning them who moan like a dove,¹⁶ who make motions with their hands [when talking],¹⁷ I.] click their heels and walk on tip-toe, Scripture declares, Let not the foot of pride overtake me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.¹⁸

footnotes: ¹⁶ Cf. Isa. 38, 14, LIX, 11. Here and in what follows the mannerisms of proud men are alluded to. ¹⁷ [So Jastrow, s.v. num ¹⁸ Ps. 36, 12.

Concerning haughty men, purveyors of slander, them who use lewd language and them who are wise in their own eyes¹⁹ Scripture declares, For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace.²⁰

footnotes: ¹⁹ Self-opinionated persons. ²⁰ Mal. 3, 19.

Concerning him who takes a wife for his infant son, who marries his daughter to an old man²¹ and who does a favour to one without notifying him²² Scripture declares, The Lord will not be willing to pardon him.²³

footnotes: ²¹ Since she does not willingly accept him, she may be led to adultery. ²² GRA reads ‘to a heathen’ to agree with Sanh. 76b (Sonc. ed., p. 517), the favour referring to the return of a lost article. ²³ Deut. 29, 19.

Concerning tax-collectors, confiscators, extortioners and collectors of customs, Scripture declares, Thy riches, and thy wares, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the exchangers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, with all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy ruin.²⁴

footnotes: ²⁴ Ezek. 27, 27.

Concerning him who deceives his partner, who does not return a lost object to its owner, who lends money to his fellow with the object of foreclosing his house or his field, who indulges in perversion with his wife, and who lays wanton charges against his wife in order to divorce her, Scripture declares, I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins.²⁵, p. 401, n. 4, remarks: ‘These are things done in private or planned in the secret of the heart, against which the teachers fought by moral pressure’.]

footnotes: ²⁵ Jer. 17, 10. [Büchler, Studies in Sin and Atonement

Concerning them who suffer insults but do not insult, who hear themselves reviled and do not answer back, who perform [religious precepts] from love²⁶ and rejoice in their chastisements,²⁷ Scripture declares, But they that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.²⁸

footnotes: ²⁶ Of God and not the expectation of reward. ²⁷ Because imposed by God either to test their faith or to punish them in this world for their sins, rewarding their virtues in the hereafter. ²⁸ Judg. 5, 31.

Concerning them who have a humble opinion of themselves, who are low in their own estimation, who subdue their [evil] inclination and who are humble of spirit, Scripture declares, Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to him who is despised of men, to him who is abhorred of nations, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves.²⁹

footnotes: ²⁹ Isa. 49, 7.

Concerning trustworthy men, them who keep a secret, who return a pledge and who restore a lost object [to its owner] Scripture declares, Mine eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me.³⁰

footnotes: ³⁰ Ps. 101, 6.

Concerning him who loves his wife as himself and honours her more than himself,³¹ who leads his children in the right path and marries his son just before he attains puberty, before he comes within the power of sin, Scripture declares, And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.³². Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.³³

footnotes: ³¹ By providing her with adornments (Rashi). Cf. Sanh. 76b (Sonc. ed., p. 517), Yeb. 62b (Sonc. ed., p. 419). ³² So lit. E.V. and shalt miss nothing ³³ Job 5, 24f.

Concerning him who loves his fellow-men, who displays friendliness towards his relatives, who marries his sister’s daughter³⁴ and lends a peruṭah to a poor man in the time of his need, Scripture declares, Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer.³⁵

footnotes: ³⁴ One has greater affection for a sister than for a brother; hence his affection for his wife, his sister’s daughter, will be the greater. ³⁵ Isa. 58, 9.

Concerning them who confess their sins in earnestness,³⁶ repent wholeheartedly, receive penitents and teach them to return from their sinful ways, Scripture declares, Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.³⁷ 8.

footnotes: ³⁶ So H. GRA reads: ‘who lead [their community] with righteousness’. ³⁷ ibid.

Concerning them who judge in righteousness, who reprove with sincerity, who perform [their daily tasks] in a state of [ritual] cleanliness and who are pure of heart, Scripture, declares, Surely God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart.³⁸

footnotes: ³⁸ Ps. 73, 1.

Concerning them who sigh, grieve and look forward to [national] salvation and mourn for Jerusalem, Scripture declares, To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them a garland for ashes.³⁹

footnotes: ³⁹ Isa. 61, 3.

Concerning them who are merciful, who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked and distribute alms Scripture declares, Say ye of the righteous, that it shall be well with him.⁴⁰ III, 10. [Ẓaddiḳ, ‘righteous’, is here connected with ẓedaḳah which is used in Rabbinic Heb. for ‘charity’.]

footnotes: ⁴⁰ ibid.

Concerning the poor, the bashful, the lowly of spirit, those who are gentle to the young⁴¹ Cf. Aboth, Sonc. ed., p. 35, n. 6. and trustworthy men Scripture declares, Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee, and light shall shine upon thy ways.⁴²

footnotes: ⁴¹ There are various renderings of the word tishḥoreth. ⁴² Job 22, 28.

Concerning them who toil in [propagating] the Torah, who study the Torah for its own sake, who are constantly in search of performing meritorious deeds and who wait for [the opening of the doors of] temples [of prayer and learning] Scripture declares, Happy is the man that hearkeneth to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.⁴³

footnotes: ⁴³ Prov. 8, 34.

Concerning them who pursue righteousness, who seek peace for their people, who grieve with the community and stand by them in the hour of their distress Scripture declares, The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that take refuge in Him.⁴⁴

footnotes: ⁴⁴ Nahum 1, 7.

On account of four things is the sun in eclipse;⁴⁵ on account of an ’Ab Beth Din who died and was not fittingly mourned;⁴⁶ on account of a betrothed maiden who cried out aloud in the city and there was none to rescue her;⁴⁷ on account of sodomy; and on account of two brothers whose blood was shed at the same time.

footnotes: ⁴⁵ lit. ‘smitten’. ⁴⁶ With an appropriate memorial address. ⁴⁷ Cf. Deut. 22, 24.

On account of four things are the luminaries⁴⁸ in eclipse: on account of those who forge documents; on account of those who give false evidence; on account of those who breed small cattle;⁴⁹ and on account of those who cut down good trees.⁵⁰

footnotes: ⁴⁸ The moon and stars. ⁴⁹ Cf. above, §6. ⁵⁰ Even though they are their own property; cf. Suk. 29a (Sonc. ed., p. 131).

⁵¹, p. 90, n. 1.] On account of four things the wealth of householders is confiscated by the government: on account of those who retain in their possession bills which have been paid;⁵² on account of those who lend money on usury; on account of those who had the power to protest [against wrongdoing] and failed to do so; and on account of those who publicly donate specified sums for charity and do not give them.⁵³

footnotes: ⁵¹ [On this and the next paragraphs, cf. Büchler, op. cit. ⁵² In the hope of claiming them again. ⁵³ Suk. loc. cit.

On account of four things is the property of householders appropriated by the State treasury:⁵⁴. on account of those who withhold the hired labourer’s wages; on account of those who delay payment of the labourer’s wages; on account of those who remove the yoke from off their own neck and place it on their fellow-men;⁵⁵ and [the sin of] arrogance is equal to them all.

footnotes: ⁵⁴ For the fiscus ⁵⁵ The reference is to those who evade payment of taxes so that the burden falls more heavily on others.

R. Dosethai b. Judah said: One should always⁵⁶ contend with the wicked, as it is stated, They that forsake the law praise the wicked; but such as keep the law contend with them.⁵⁷ Should somebody whisper to you, ‘[But is it not written,] Contend not with evildoers, neither be thou envious against them that work unrighteousness?’⁵⁸. answer him, ‘Only he whose conscience pricks him⁵⁹ speaks thus. Contend not with evildoers means, to be like them; be not envious against them that work unrighteousness means, to emulate them’.

footnotes: ⁵⁶ In Ber. 7b (Sonc. ed., p. 36) the text reads ‘it is permitted to’. ⁵⁷ Prov. 28, 4. ⁵⁸ Ps. 37, 1. E.V. fret not thyself because of evildoers ⁵⁹ lit. ‘whose heart knocks him’. So GRA in agreement with Ber. loc. cit.

In the heavenly abode⁶⁰ there is no sitting, eating, drinking, sleeping, procreation of children, enmity, hatred, rivalry, envy, obduracy, weariness or hindrance.

footnotes: ⁶⁰ In the World to Come; cf. Ber. 17a (Sonc. ed., p. 102).

The same was said by David, king of Israel; for it is stated, He made darkness His hiding-place.⁶¹ With reference to whom did David say this verse? He only said it by way of praising the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is Yah ruling in the heights of the universe; He is One and His name is One, and He dwells in three hundred and ninety firmaments.⁶² Upon each firmament His Name and attributes are inscribed; in each are Ministering Angels, Seraphim, Ophannim,⁶³ Cherubim, celestial spheres⁶⁴ and the throne of glory. Do not wonder too much at this statement; because a king of flesh and blood has a number of residences, some for warm weather and some for cold weather; how much more so [can this be said] of the King, the Life of the universe, since everything belongs to Him! When Israel perform the will of the All-present, [56b] He dwells in Araboth the seventh [heaven]⁶⁵ and He does not disinterest Himself in anything [in the world]; as it is stated, From between the two cherubim; and He spoke unto him.⁶⁶ But when He is wroth, He ascends and dwells in the upper heavens, and though people cry aloud and weep, their voices are not heard, even though they decree a fast, wallow in ashes, clothe themselves in sackcloth and shed tears.

footnotes: ⁶¹ Ps. 18, 12. ⁶² The Heb. for ‘heaven’, שמים, has the numerical value 390. ⁶³ lit. ‘wheels’, cf. Ezek. 1, 15ff. ⁶⁴ The spheres of the zodiac. ⁶⁵ The seventh heaven is the abode of righteousness, justice and peace; cf. Ḥag. 12a (Sonc. ed., pp. 71f.). ⁶⁶ Num. 7, 89.