13 Attributes

רחום, merciful to those who are guilty, reducing the punishment they really deserve. David explains this in Psalms 34,18 צעקו וה' שמו, “they cry out and the Lord hears.” G’d sees and sympathises with the anguish of the downtrodden as we know from Exodus 3,9 וגם ראיתי את הלחץ, “I have also taken note of the oppression, etc.”

וחנון; He even responds to people who request leniency even though they are not deserving of it.

ארך אפים, both to the righteous and to the wicked. The reason? To encourage them to do teshuvah.

ורב חסד, inclining toward leniency in administering justice. Our sages define this as מעביר ראשון ראשון, He decides in favour of the accused when his merits and demerits are in balance.

ואמת, the adjective רב, “abundant” mentioned in connection with the attribute חסד also applies to the attribute אמת. The mention of the attribute אמת is important as if we had only known about G’d’s patience with the sinner, i.e. ארך אפים, we might have concluded that the sinner might eventually get away with his sin. The attribute אמת is a reminder that if the sinner who enjoyed G’d’s patience did not use it to repent, his sins will catch up with him. G’d does not wipe out the sin. It also refers to what our sages described as the meaning of Deuteronomy 10,17 that G’d does not show favoritism, i.e. an illustrious’ father such as Avraham cannot save his son Yishmael from punishment, nor a Yitzchok his son Esau. Similarly, it includes the fact that G’d does not accept “bribes,” and that sins cannot be offset by good deeds so that the sin goes unpunished.

(Ib. b) (Ex. 34, 6), And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed. R. Jochanan said : "Had this passage not been written, it would have been impossible to think of it, for it teaches us that the Holy One, praised be He ! wrapped Himself, as does a deputy of the congregation, while pointing out to Moses the regular order of prayer, and said to him: 'Whenever Israel sins, let them do [pray to Me], after this manner, and I shall pardon their sins.'" (Ib.) The Lord, the Lord; i.e., I am the same God before a man sins as I am after he sins and does repentance; a God, merciful and gracious. R. Juda said : "This means a solemn assurance was given that the invocation of the thirteen divine attributes will never be without effect, as it is said (Ib. 10) Behold I make a covenant." Ilpha pointed out a similar contradiction: "It is written (Ex. 34, 6) abundant in goodness; and in addition it is written, and truth. How can both harmonize? In the beginning [His attribute] is truth, but at the end it is goodness." R. Elazar points out a further contradiction: "It is written (Ps. 62, 18) Unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy; and again. Thou renderest to every man according to his work; i.e., in the beginning He rewards every man according to his works, but in the end He is merciful." R. Huna points out a contradiction : it is written (Ib. 145, 17) The Lord is just in all His ways; and it is also written (Ib.) and kind in all His deeds; i.e., in the beginning He is only just, but in the end He is kind."

ופשע, sins intended to challenge G’d.

וחטאה, additional to the taunting sin called פשע. We encounter an illustration of this in Jeremiah 11,15 כי רעתכי אז תעלוזי, “for you exult while performing your evil deeds.” We must remember that the degree of evil committed by different people is never a duplicate, i.e. each one commits evil according to his own agenda; hence G’d’s reaction to such evil varies after taking into consideration all the circumstances. This is why all these attributes have been enumerated separately.

ונקה, even though G’d wipes the slate clean for those penitents motivated by their love for G’d and not by their fear of punishment, לא ינקה, He will not do this for the ones whose only motivation for turning penitent is their fear of G’d’s retribution, or their desire to arrest such retribution. We find confirmation of this in Yuma 86 that i.e. intentional sins of such penitents will be treated as if they had been unintentionally committed sins, a conclusion based on Hoseah 14,2 כי כשלת בעונך, “for you have fallen because of your sin.”

הלא אם תיטיב שאת, when your heart will be good and your deeds will be of benefit for you. The meaning of such terms as כפרה, סליחה, is like נושא עון in Exodus 34,7. The scholar Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra explains the concept שאת mentioned in our verse as derived from נשיאה the lifting of something, the opposite of ויפלו פניו, Kayin’s face having “fallen.” G’d told Kayin that if he were to become good, mend his ways, then his face would be “lifted,” he could hold his head high. G’d Himself would raise his face for him. In Bereshit Rabbah 22,6 the words אם תיטיב שאת are understood as a blessing, whereas the words ואם לא תיטיב are understood as a curse, quoting Leviticus 20,19את עונם ישאו. Another approach, also taken from the Midrash: “if you will improve your ways I will forgive all your previous sins, if not the very sin you were guilty of will weigh even more heavily in the scale.” (seeing you have spurned My offer of forgiveness). Rabbi Berechyah, quoting Rabbi Shimon bar Ami, explained Psalms 32,1 אשרי נשוי פשע כסוי חטאה to mean: “hail the man who towers above (is higher than) sin,” as opposed to the sin which towers above man.”