The Revival of the Dead

(1) Man born of woman is short-lived and sated with trouble. (2) He blossoms like a flower and withers; He vanishes like a shadow and does not endure. (3) Do You fix Your gaze on such a one? Will You go to law with me? (4) Who can produce a clean thing out of an unclean one? No one! (5) His days are determined; You know the number of his months; You have set him limits that he cannot pass. (6) Turn away from him, that he may be at ease Until, like a hireling, he finishes out his day. (7) There is hope for a tree; If it is cut down it will renew itself; Its shoots will not cease. (8) If its roots are old in the earth, And its stump dies in the ground, (9) At the scent of water it will bud And produce branches like a sapling. (10) But mortals languish and die; Man expires; where is he?

(6) In time of trouble, why should I fear the encompassing evil of those who would supplant me— (7) men who trust in their riches, who glory in their great wealth? (8) Ah, it cannot redeem a man, or pay his ransom to God; (9) the price of life is too high; and so one ceases to be, forever. (10) Shall he live eternally, and never see the grave? (11) For one sees that the wise die, that the foolish and ignorant both perish, leaving their wealth to others. (12) Their grave is their eternal home, the dwelling-place for all generations of those once famous on earth. (13) Man does not abide in honor; he is like the beasts that perish.

(11) Do You work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise to praise You?Selah. (12) Is Your faithful care recounted in the grave, Your constancy in the place of perdition? (13) Are Your wonders made known in the netherworld, Your beneficent deeds in the land of oblivion?

(18) For it is not Sheol that praises You, Not [the Land of] Death that extols You; Nor do they who descend into the Pit Hope for Your grace. (19) The living, only the living, can give thanks to You As I do this day; Fathers relate to children Your acts of grace:

(9) I called to You, O LORD; to my Lord I made appeal, (10) “What is to be gained from my death, from my descent into the Pit? Can dust praise You? Can it declare Your faithfulness?

(10) The span of our life is seventy years, or, given the strength, eighty years; but the best of them are trouble and sorrow. They pass by speedily, and we are in darkness. (11) Who can know Your furious anger? Your wrath matches the fear of You. (12) Teach us to count our days rightly, that we may obtain a wise heart.

(17) Like a woman with child Approaching childbirth, Writhing and screaming in her pangs, So are we become because of You, O LORD. (18) We were with child, we writhed— It is as though we had given birth to wind; We have won no victory on earth; The inhabitants of the world have not come to life! (19) Oh, let Your dead revive! Let corpses arise! Awake and shout for joy, You who dwell in the dust!— For Your dew is like the dew on fresh growth; You make the land of the shades come to life.

(11) Then He said unto me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off. (12) Therefore prophesy, and say unto them: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

(2) And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence.

(1) One may not expound the laws of forbidden sexual relations before three people, nor the account of Creation before two, nor the Divine Chariot before one, unless he is wise and understanding from his own knowledge. Anyone who looks into four things would be better off if he had not come into this world: what is above, what is below, what is before, and what is after. And anyone who has no consideration for the honor of his Maker would be better off if he had not come into the world.

(1) All Jews have a share in the World to Come, as it says, (Isaiah 60:21), “Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.” These have no share in the World to Come: One who says that [the belief of] resurrection of the dead is not from the Torah, [one who says that] that the Torah is not from Heaven, and one who denigrates the Torah. Rabbi Akiva says: also one who reads outside books, and one who whispers [an incantation] over a wound, saying, (Exodus 15:26) “I will bring none of these diseases upon thee that I brought upon the Egyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Abba Shaul says, also one who utters the Divine Name as it is spelled.

Rav was wont to say: The World-to-Come is not like this world. In the World-to-Come there is no eating, no drinking, no procreation, no business negotiations, no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition. Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the splendor of the Divine Presence, as it is stated: “And they beheld God, and they ate and drank” (Exodus 24:11), meaning that beholding God’s countenance is tantamount to eating and drinking.

Rava says: From where is resurrection of the dead derived from the Torah? It is derived from a verse, as it is stated: “Let Reuben live and not die, in that his men become few” (Deuteronomy 33:6). This is interpreted: “Let Reuben live” in this world “and not die” in the World-to-Come. Ravina says that resurrection is derived from here: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awaken, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting disgrace” (Daniel 12:2). Rav Ashi says proof is derived from here: “But go you your way until the end be; and you shall rest, and arise to your lot at the end of days” (Daniel 12:13).

(1) The hidden good in store for the righteous is, life in the World to Come, which is a life connected with no death and a kind of good connected with no evil; such as is described in the Torah: "That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest prolong thy days" (Deut. 22.7), which was traditionally deducted to mean, "That it may be well with thee" in a world which is entirely good; "and that thou mayest prolong thy days"—in a world existing forever; and this is the World to Come. The reward of the just is, that they will acquire the sweetness thereof, to be in such goodness; and the punishment of the wicked is, that they will not share in such life, but will suffer excision and eternal death. And, whosoever does not earn such life, is to be dead, without coming to life forever; for he is severed from life by his iniquity and goes to oblivion like a cattle. This is the meaning of excision described in the Torah, saying: "That soul shall utterly be cut off" (Num. 15.31), which was traditionally deducted to mean, "utterly cut of," both in this world and in the World to Come.¹The translation here can not be literally given on account of the English text of the quotation. “Utterly”, stands for the Hebrew word “Hikorat” and “cut off”, for “Tikorat”. The Talmud (Sanhedrin, 64b) defines “Hikorat” literally, being cut off of itself, to refer to this world; and “Tikorat”, literally, being cut off by another, refers to the World to Come. G. as if saying: "That soul which was separated from the body in this world shares not in the life of the World to Come, for even from the World to Come is it cut off".²Baba Mezi’a, 58b-59a; Kiddushin, 39b-40a; Hullin, 142a. C.

You are mighty forever, O Lord, You revive the dead, You are mighty to save. You sustain the living with loving kindness, You revive the dead to life with great mercy, You support the fallen and You heal the sick; You free the captives and preserve Your faith with those asleep in the dust. Who is like You, Master of mighty deeds? Who can be compared to You, O King Who causes death and restores life, and causes Your salvation to sprout. You are faithful to restore the dead to life. Blessed are You, O Lord, Who brings life to the dead.