Midrash su Geremia 27:7

It is written: “You have seen, for You behold mischief and spite; to requite is in Your hand: the helpless man commits himself to You; You are the helper of the orphans” (Psalms 10:14). The congregation of Israel said before The Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the Universe, You saw that Esau the wicked came, and is destined to destroy the Temple, exile Israel from its land, and shackle them in collars – “You behold…to requite is in Your hand” – yet you rested Your Divine Presence upon Isaac, who said to him [Esau]: “Behold, the fat of the earth shall be your dwelling, and from the dew of the heavens from above” (Genesis 27:39). “The helpless man commits himself to You” – the next day he [Esau/Rome] comes and takes orphans and widows and incarcerates them in prison, and says to them: Will He about whom it is written: “The father of orphans and the judge of widows” (Psalms 68:6), come and rescue you from me? Rather, You helped his [Esau’s] orphan. Two orphans who remained from him, that is Remus and Romulus, you allowed the wolf to nurse them, and ultimately, they arose and constructed two great towers in Rome.’
Another matter: “You have seen, for You behold mischief and spite…” the congregation of Israel said before The Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the Universe, You saw Nebuchadnezzar the wicked, who came and destroyed the Temple, and exiled Israel, and shackled them in collars. “To requite is in Your hand” – yet You rested Your Divine Presence on Jeremiah, who said to us: “All the nations will serve him [Nebuchadnezzar] and his son and his son's son...” (Jeremiah 27:7). “The helpless man commits himself to You” – the next day he comes and takes Ḥananya, Mishael, and Azarya and puts them in the fiery furnace, and says to them: “Who is the God who will save you from my hands?” (Daniel 3:15). Rather, it is not, “You are the helper of the orphans,” but one orphan girl remained from him [Nebuchadnezzar] and you made her an empress in a kingdom that was not hers, and who was that? Vashti.’

What is written above this? “And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to your brother Aaron…” (Leviticus 16:2) R’ Avin said: He said to him - go and comfort him with words, as it says “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem…” (Isaiah 40:2) “…that he should not come at all times…” (Leviticus 16:2) R’ Yehudah bar R’ Simon said: Moshe was greatly distressed by this. He said: oy! Perhaps Aharon my brother has been driven out from the inner space at all times! There is a time corresponding to the hour “…that he should not come at all times…” (ibid.) There is a time corresponding to the day “And water by measure you shall drink…” (Ezekiel 4:11) There is a time corresponding to the year, as it says “And it was, at the return of the year…” (Samuel II 11:1) There is a time corresponding to twelve years “Until the time when His word came…” (Psalms 105:19) There is a time corresponding to the seventy years, as it says “…since the destruction of Jerusalem seventy years.” (Daniel 9:2) And it says “…until the time of his own land come…” (Jeremiah 27:7) There is a time corresponding to eternity “You gave joy into my heart from the time that their corn…” (Psalms 4:8) The Holy One said to Moshe: it is not as you think. This is not a time of the hour, the day, the year, of twelve years, seventy years or of eternity. Rather, at any time which he wants to enter he may enter, but he must do it with this procedure. R’ Yehudah bar R’ Elazar said: with thirty-six bells and thirty-six pomegranates. The Rabbis say: with seventy-two bells and seventy-two pomegranates.

Come and see how wise Ben Sira was! They would bring him a se'ah [2-ish gallons] of wheat, and he would say to them, "Count the wheat grains in this se'ah, and you will find in it such-and-such number of grains in sum," until his reputation had spread around the whole world. Eventually, Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon heard of his wisdom. And who did he hear it from? From his wise ones. And when his wise ones heard of his [Ben Sira's] wisdom, they said, "Oy for us, Voy for us- because now Nebuchadnezzar will get rid of us. Instead, let us slander him to the king. He should send after him, and we will ask him something difficult, from our own logic that is not his logic, and if he does not respond do us with an answer, we will kill him." And this they did- they told the king and he sent for him, and he said to them, "And what do you want to ask him?" They said to him, "What is 'Oy Vanehi.' If he knows, very well, and if not, we will kill him." A thousand cavalry went after him, all of whom had cut off a finger and uprooted a tree. They all said, as one, to the King, "Our master, if you want to deploy us to anywhere in the world, we will go. But do not send us to one of the Israelite Sages, so that he does not do us what Elisha did to the Aramean troops. He wrote to them: (Jeremiah 27:6) (Shabbat 129b (150a?)) '"I even give him [Nebuchadnezzar] the wild beasts of the field to serve him." As he tells you, you must go. They said to him(?): "This is a sign that his God has entrusted me, and he should come with you," and he wrote it for them in a letter. When they arrived to him and showed him the letter, Ben Sira said to them, "He sent you not for me but for one rabbit that I have." Immediately, he took a rabbit and wrote on its head, "Behold, this is of the wild beasts of the field and will serve you." He [Nebuchadnezzar] said, "How is it that this hair is shaved off like vellum?" He said, "It is not by iron or any other thing." "I see its flesh inside it, and vellum cannot possibly have its flesh inside it." And he did not know how it was constructed. Immediately, he sent after him another delegation, and sent him in writing, "If you do not want to come in my honor, come in the honor of your rabbit." Immediately, he [Ben Sira] softened and became willing to do it, and went to him. And at the point when he arrived to him, he was seven years old. Immediately all Nebuchadnezzar's wise ones gathered around him and began questioning him. They said to him, "What is Oy Vanehi?" He said to them, "When you heard about me, you had an 'Oy,' and if I kill you, you would have a 'Nehi.'" They said to him, "Explain it well for us, what is "Nehi' and what is 'Vay?" He said, "There are two vavs in it, and their meaning is: When someone goes and touches a dog, and grabs its ear- that is certainly 'Vay' for him. And even before being saved from a snake, if a lion comes to him - that is certainly 'Oy Vanehi.'" When they heard this, they were afraid, and they passed around the words, and said, "We do not know what you are saying. Show us 'Voy Vanehi' to our own eyes." Immediately, he went and took a container (a hollow tube) with two openings and went and caught three snakes and three scorpions, and placed the scorpions in the lower opening and the snakes in the upper opening, and sealed the container and came before the king. And his wise ones said, "What is in the container?" He said to them, "Look!" Immediately one of them put his hand in the container in the first opening and felt the snakes, and said, "Vay, what is this?!" One put his hand in the lower opening and a scorpion struck him, and he said, "Vay Vanehi!" Ben Sira said to them, "Behold- you know 'Vay Vanehi' and you have seen them." When they saw that it was so, they immediately were afraid and sweated and trembled, and fell on their faces. The king said to them, "You contracted with me that if he did not know 'Vay Vanhei' you would kill him; behold, he knows 'Vay Vanehi.' The judgment that you ruled for him, that he should be executed- now you are liable for that execution." They said to him, "Let the king do whatever he wants to his servants." Immediately he handed them over to Ben Sira. He said to them, "Haven't you brought me here here for 'Vay Vanehi?'" Immediately he took them and threw them into the lion's den and they died, at the words 'Vay Vanehi.' Then the king lifted Ben Sira and placed him on a golden throne and set a crown on his head. The king said to him, "I will king you, since you are suitable to rule." He said to him, "My master, I do not want it, since I am small. And it would not be suitable for me to rule over Israel, since I am not from the dynasty of David." He said to him, "But Yoash assumed the throne when he was seven years old." He said to him, "He was from the royal dynasty." He said to him, "Since you do not want it, sit with me in my kingship, since I want to ask you about any matters that I have in my heart, that I see in the world and do not know." He said to him, "My master, anything that you want, ask, and I will explain to you anything that you say." Then he asked him twenty-two questions (the number of the alphabet) and he responded to (and answered) his questions, and here they are: