Talmud do Pieśń nad pieśniami 2:13

R. Simeon b. Joḥai said: As for the seven-year cycle in which the son of David will come, in the first year will be fulfilled And I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city;¹Amos 4, 7. There will be famine in one place and plenty in another. in the second, the arrows of hunger will be sent forth;²i.e. not actual famine, but the first signs of it, nobody being completely satisfied. in the third there will be a severe famine in the course of which men, women and children will die, pious men and miracle workers become scarce, and the Torah will be forgotten by its students;³Through lack of food. in the fourth, there will be partial plenty;⁴lit. ‘plenty and no plenty’. in the fifth, great plenty when men will eat, drink and rejoice and the Torah will be restored to its disciples;⁵‘And the Torah’, etc., is added by GRA. in the sixth [there will be heard heavenly] sounds;⁶Either heavenly voices announcing the advent of the Messiah or the blasts of the great shofar; cf. Isa. 27, 13. in the seventh, wars [will be waged]; and at the expiration of the septennate the son of David will come.⁷Cf. Sanh. 97a (Sonc. ed., pp. 654f.) for this and the following passages; also Midrash to Song of Songs 2, 13 (Sonc. ed., p. 126).
Rabban Gamaliel said: In the generation when the son of David comes, the house of assembly⁸Where scholars gather. will be a brothel, Galilee will be in ruins, and the inhabitants of Gablan⁹The Jews living along the borders of the Land of Israel. Gablan is to be read for Galil, ‘Galilee’, as in Sanh., loc. cit. (Sonc. ed., p. 655, n. 4). will wander about [begging] from city to city without experiencing pity; the wisdom of scribes will be in disfavour and God-fearing men despised, the leaders of the people¹⁰lit. ‘the face of the generation’. will be dog-faced;¹¹Shameless. truth will be lacking, and he that departs from evil will be regarded as demented.
R. Nehorai said: In the generation when the son of David comes, young men will insult the old, the aged will stand up before youth,¹²To do them honour. a daughter will rise up against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,¹³Cf. Micah 7, 6. and a son will not be abashed in his father’s¹⁴So GRA and H. V has ‘mother’s’. presence.
R. Nehemiah said: In the generation when the son of David comes, impudence will increase, esteem will be perverted,¹⁵No one will esteem another. Or, even the nobility and most honoured will degenerate. the vine will yield its fruit yet wine will be dear,¹⁶Drunkenness will increase so that in spite of the abundant yield there will be a scarcity. and the government will be converted to heresy¹⁷Heb. minuth. By ‘the kingdom’ the Roman Empire is meant, and the statement is a remarkable forecast by R. Nehemiah (100 C.E.) of the conversion of Rome to Christianity under Constantine the Great in 313 C.E. Cf. however, Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, pp. 207ff., Sanh., loc. cit. (Sonc. ed., p. 656, n. 4). with none to reprove.