Talmud su Ecclesiaste 4:12

Rebbi Jeremiah said that Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac asked: Justice protects the one on the straight path but sin destroys the sinner¹⁴Prov. 13:6.. Evil deeds will pursue the sinner but He will reward the just¹⁵Prov. 13:21.. While He makes scoffers targets of scoffing, He will bestow grace on the meek¹⁶Prov. 3:34.. He will watch over the feet of his pious ones, but evildoers will be silent in the darkness¹⁷1 Sam.. 2:9.. The wise will inherit honor, but shame will mark the stupid ones¹⁸Prov. 3:35.. Fences are made fences and doors doors. Is it so that fences make fences and doors doors? But so it is: Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Samuel ben Rav Isaac: If a person is careful the first, second, and third times not to commit a sin, then in the future the Holy One, praise to Him, will watch over him. What is the reason? All this God will do twice, three times with a man¹⁹Job 33:29.. Rebbi Zeˋira said, but only if the person does not revert [to sin]. What is the reason? It does not say the triple thread “will never snap” but rather will not quickly snap²⁰Eccl. 4:12.. If you work on it, it will split.

MISHNAH: Everybody who keeps one commandment they⁶⁴⁴The Heavenly court. treat well and prolong his life; he will inherit the Land⁶⁴⁵This probably is the Future World, in Psalms called “the Lands of Life.”. But everybody who does not keep one commandment they do not treat well, do not prolong his life, and he does not inherit the Land. ⁶⁴⁶Of this part of the Mishnah there exist versions widely differing in text but identical in meaning. Anybody who knows neither Scripture nor Mishnah nor a trade⁶⁴⁷Which lets him earn an honest living. is not part of civilization, but about one who holds on to these three, the verse says⁶⁴⁸Eccl. 4:12. The person studying Scripture and tradition, and earning an honest living, will not easily sin. This formulation is that of the Tosephta, 1:17.: “The triple cord will not easily break.”

Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai had five students, and he had a name for each of them. He called Eliezer ben Hyrcanus “the Plastered Pit,” because it never loses a drop, and “the Sealed Bottle,” because it keeps all of its wine. He called Yehoshua ben Hananya “the Triple Knot,” because it does not get severed easily. He called Yosei HaKohen “the Saint of the Generation.” He called Yishmael ben Hananya “the Oasis in the Desert,” which holds on to its water. (Happy is the student whose teacher praises him and speaks of his virtues!) He called Elazar ben Arach “the Flowing Stream” and “the Bubbling Brook,” for its waters overflow and go out into the world, as it says (Proverbs 5:16), “Your wellsprings will burst forth, and the streams will spill out onto the streets.”