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I will bring a sword against you to wreak vengeance for the covenant; and if you withdraw into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into enemy hands.

(12) And a man cannot even know his time. As fishes are enmeshed in a fatal net, and as birds are trapped in a snare, so men are caught at the time of calamity, when it comes upon them without warning.

Then the man who was standing among the myrtles spoke up and said, “These were sent out by the LORD to roam the earth.”

And in fact, they reported to the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtles, “We have roamed the earth, and have found all the earth dwelling in tranquility.”

and I am very angry with those nations that are at ease; for I was only angry a little, but they overdid the punishment.

(4) Now speak to them and tell them: Thus said the Lord GOD: If anyone of the House of Israel turns his thoughts upon his fetishes and sets his mind upon the sin through which he stumbled, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will respond to him as he comes with his multitude of fetishes.

(6) Now say to the House of Israel: Thus said the Lord GOD: Repent, and turn back from your fetishes and turn your minds away from all your abominations.

(14) even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—should be in it, they would by their righteousness save only themselves—declares the Lord GOD.

(16) as I live—declares the Lord GOD—those three men in it would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would become a desolation.

(19) Or, if I let loose a pestilence against that land, and poured out My fury upon it in blood, cutting off from it man and beast,

(20) should Noah, Daniel, and Job be in it, as I live—declares the Lord GOD—they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save themselves alone by their righteousness.

(21) Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: How much less [should any escape] now that I have let loose against Jerusalem all four of My terrible punishments—the sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence—to cut off man and beast from it!

Savage beasts come to the world because of vain [i.e., unneeded] oaths, desecration of the Name, [i.e., transgressing blatantly in public, or being seen by others, who emulate one's deeds]. Exile comes to the world because of idolators, illicit relations, bloodshed and (not) leaving the land idle [i.e., plowing and sewing on the sabbatical year]. In four periods pestilence increases: in the fourth year (of shemitah), and in the seventh year, and at the conclusion of the seventh year, and at the conclusion of the festival (of Succoth) of every year. In the fourth year, because of (omission of) the poor-tithe of the third year. [For in place of the second tithe of the other years of shemitah, in the third and in the sixth years the poor-tithe is given]. In the seventh year, because of (omission of ) the poor-tithe of the sixth year. At the conclusion of the seventh year, because of (profanation of) the fruits of the seventh year, and at the conclusion of the festival of every year, because of theft of the gifts of the poor: [leket, shikchah, peah, peret, and oleloth].

§ The mishna taught: What is considered a plague of pestilence? If it is a city that sends out five hundred infantrymen, and three dead are removed from it on three consecutive days, one dead per day, this is a plague of pestilence. The Sages taught: If a city that sends out fifteen hundred infantrymen, i.e., one that has a population of at least fifteen hundred men, e.g., the village of Akko, and nine dead are removed from it on three consecutive days, i.e., three dead per day, this is considered a plague of pestilence.

If all nine died on a single day, while none died on the other days, or if the nine died over a period of four days, this is not a plague of pestilence. And a city that sends out five hundred infantrymen, for example, the village of Amiko, and three dead are removed from it on three consecutive days, this is a plague of pestilence.

The Gemara asks: The reason for this ruling is apparently only because Eretz Yisrael is a lady in comparison to the Diaspora, which is likened to a maidservant. It may be inferred from this that in a case involving a maidservant and a maidservant, i.e., two places in the Diaspora, there is no reason to fast. But in the previous story, when they said to Shmuel: There is pestilence in the region of Bei Ḥozai, he decreed a fast in Neharde’a, despite the fact that Neharde’a is not considered a lady with respect to Bei Ḥozai. The Gemara answers: It is different there. Since there are caravans that regularly travel from Bei Ḥozai to Neharde’a, the pestilence will join and accompany them in the caravans.

Furthermore, the Sages said that due to the sin of delay of justice, i.e., judges delay issuing their rulings due to personal considerations, and for distortion of justice, i.e., judges intentionally distort their verdicts, and for miscarriage of justice that results from negligence, and for dereliction in the study of Torah, violence and looting abound in the world, and pestilence and famine come, and people eat and are not sated, and they eat their bread measured by weight. As it is written: “And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant; and you shall be gathered together within your cities; and I will send the pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy” (Leviticus 26:25). And covenant means nothing other than Torah, as it is stated: “If My covenant be not with day and night, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth” (Jeremiah 33:25). The study of Torah is the mitzva practiced both day and night. And it is written with regard to this punishment: “When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight; and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied” (Leviticus 26:26). And it is written: “Even because they rejected My ordinances, and their soul abhorred My statutes” (Leviticus 26:43). All of these punishments result from breaching the covenant of the Torah and the perversion of justice.

(12) The LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this site as My House of sacrifice.

(13) If I shut up the heavens and there is no rain; if I command the locusts to ravage the land; or if I let loose pestilence against My people,

(14) when My people, who bear My name, humble themselves, pray, and seek My favor and turn from their evil ways, I will hear in My heavenly abode and forgive their sins and heal their land.

That He will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, And from the noisome pestilence.

nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness; nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.

Seven kinds of punishment come to the world for seven categories of transgression:When some of them give tithes, and others do not give tithes, a famine from drought comes some go hungry, and others are satisfied. When they have all decided not to give tithes, a famine from tumult and drought comes; [When they have, in addition, decided] not to set apart the dough-offering, an all-consuming famine comes. Pestilence comes to the world for sins punishable by death according to the Torah, but which have not been referred to the court, and for neglect of the law regarding the fruits of the sabbatical year. The sword comes to the world for the delay of judgment, and for the perversion of judgment, and because of those who teach the Torah not in accordance with the accepted law.

Each and every one of the sons of man has virtues and vices. He whose virtues exceed his vices is a just man, and he whose vices exceed his virtues is an evildoer; if both are evenly balanced, he is mediocre. Even so is a state. If the virtues of all of its inhabitants exceeded their vices, it is, indeed, a just state; but if their vices exceeded, it is, indeed, a wicked state. Even such is a standard for the whole world.¹Rosh ha-Shanah, 17a C.

A man whose vices exceed his virtues presently dies in his wickedness, even as it is said: "For the multitude of thine iniquity" (Hos. 9. 7). So is a state whose vices exceed presently destroyed, even as it is said: "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorroh is great (Gen. 18. 20). So, too, is the whole world, if their vices exceeded their virtues they are presently destroyed, even as it is said: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great" (6. 5). But the weighing of this is not according to the number of virtues and vices, but according to their magnitude. There is a virtue that overbalances many vices, even as it is said: "Because in him there is found some good thing" (I Kings, 14. 13); and there is a kind of vice which overbalances many virtues, even as it is said: "But one sinner destroyeth much good" (Ecc. 9. 18). Moreover these are not weighed by anyone, save only in the knowledge of the All-knowing God, for only He knoweth the estimate of virtues versus vices. (³Yebamot, 50a; Kiddushin 40a. C.)

So too, with regard to different forms of suffering, at the time when they are sent to afflict the person, an oath is administered to them as follows: Take an oath that you shall not go and afflict the person except on such and such a day. And you shall not leave him except on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, by means of so-and-so, a specific doctor, and by means of such and such a medicine. When the time came for the suffering to leave him, this sick man went to a temple of idol worship. The forms of suffering said: By right we should not leave him. But then they say: Should we lose the fulfillment of our oath just because this fool is acting improperly?

And this is consistent with that which Rabbi Yoḥanan says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Then the Lord will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues and faithful, and evil and faithful sicknesses” (Deuteronomy 28:59)? The term “evil” does not mean that the agent of sickness is in itself evil. Rather, this is referring to its mission, which is to cause harm. The term “and faithful sicknesses” indicates that the illnesses are faithful to their oath and adhere to the times designated for the affliction.