Psalmów 106:23 Kabała: Zohar

For as long as there is a righteous man in the world chastisement cannot befall it, as we learn from Moses, of whom it is written: “Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in tbe breach, etc.” (Ps. 106, 23). God thus first removes the righteous from the world, and only then collects His account, as it were. We thus translate the conclusion of the verse: “the righteous is taken away before (mitne’) the evil to come”, that is, before the evil is due to befall. (According to another interpretation, “from the evil to come” is an allusion to the evil prompter.)