מדרש אויף תהילים 13:2

Another thing, a meditation for David. King Solomon said (Proverbs 21:23), "He who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles." Similarly, it says (Ecclesiastes 5:4), "Do not be hasty with your mouth." The prophets said to the Holy One, Blessed be He, "Why do You do good to the heathen nations in this world?" He said to them, "Because I wrote (Deuteronomy 7:10), 'And repays those who hate Him.'" Similarly, it says (Isaiah 45:9), "Woe to him who argues with his Maker, as a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth!" Habakkuk came and did the same thing, making a figurine of bread in the land, and said, "I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts" (Habakkuk 2:1). What is the "rampart" that he fashioned? "And I will look out," (Habakkuk 2:1) said the Holy One, Blessed be He. "I am looking for all who break their pledge to come to Me." He began to cry out (Psalms 13:2), "How long, O Lord, will You forget me forever?" The Holy One, Blessed be He, answered him, "You are a son of Torah and not a son of the earth. It is written for you in one tablet, Aleph Bet, and then you shall say, 'Inform me of the end.' " And similarly, it says (Habakkuk 2:2), "And the Lord answered me, 'Write the vision down, inscribe it clearly on the tablets." The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him, "When I told you in the first exile that Babylon would be filled for seventy years, what is written (Chronicles II 36:22-23)? 'Cyrus, King of Persia, etc.' Even now, when the end comes, I will redeem you." Similarly, it says (Isaiah 34:8), "For it is a day of vengeance for the Lord and a year of recompense for the vindication of Zion." When Habakkuk heard this, he fell on his face and pleaded before the Holy One, Blessed be He, saying, "Master of the Universe, do not judge me willfully but rather ignorantly," as it says (Habakkuk 3:1), "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon his shigionoth." Similarly, David said, "Meditation for David. When he was being pursued by Saul" (Psalms 57:1). Similarly, it says (Samuel I 26:2), "And Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph. When he came to kill him, Abishai said to David, 'I will go and strike him down,' for it says (Samuel II 16:9), 'Thus says Abishai the son of Zeruiah, 'Let me go and strike him down.'" And the people said to him, "You shall not go out, for if you go out, it will be a snare for you" (Samuel II 18:3).

(Ps. 13:2–3[1–2]:) HOW LONG ('ad-'anah), O LORD? WILL YOU FORGET ME FOREVER? concerns Babylon.
(Ibid., cont.): HOW LONG ('ad-'anah) WILL YOU HIDE YOUR FACE FROM ME? concerns Media.
(Ibid., cont.): HOW LONG ('ad-'anah) SHALL I TAKE COUNSEL IN MY SOUL <WITH GRIEF IN MY HEART ALL DAY>? concerns Greece.
(Ibid., cont.): HOW LONG ('ad-'anah) WILL MY ENEMY BE EXALTED OVER ME? concerns Edom (i.e., Rome).

(Numb. 14:1:) “Then the whole congregation raised (rt.: ntn) their voices; [and that night the people wept.]” This text is related (to Jer. 12:8), “[My heritage] has set (rt.: ntn) its voice against Me; therefore I have hated (rt.: sn') it.” The very voice with which you wept caused you to be punished by enemies (rt.: sn').⁴²Numb. R. 16:20, cont. Moreover, it was over this very generation that Isaiah said (in Is. 17:11), “In the day you plant, you see it flourish; and on the morning you sow, you see it bloom.” Isaiah said, “On the day that I went to plant you in the land, you produced slag; ‘and on the morning you sow, you see it bloom,’ it has flowered before the heat [of the day].” (Is 17:11, cont.:) “[But the] harvest flees on a day of sickness (nahalah) and human pain.” On the day that I went to give you your ancestral inheritance (nahalah), you became a manifesto in the world. And “human pain” refers to the divine punishment that you received as a legacy for [future] generations.⁴³Ta‘an. 29a; yTa‘an. 4:8 (or 5) (68d); Sot. 35a. Because the congregation wept in the night of the Ninth of Ab,⁴⁴See Ta‘an. 4:6: FIVE [CALAMITOUS] THINGS BEFELL OUR ANCESTORS ON THE SEVENTEENTH OF TAMMUZ AND FIVE ON THE NINTH OF AB…. ON THE NINTH OF AB IT WAS DECREED AGAINST OUR ANCESTORS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT ENTER THE LAND, THE TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED THE FIRST TIME AND THE SECOND TIME, BETHAR (THE CENTER OF THE BAR COCHBA REVOLT) WAS TAKEN, AND THE CITY [OF JERUSALEM] WAS PLOWED UNDER (after this revolt, but cf. Ta‘an. 29a). the Holy One, blessed be He, has said, “You have wept for nothing. I shall establish this night for you as [a night of] a weeping for [future] generations.” And from that hour a decree on the Temple was ordained for it to be destroyed and that the Children of Israel would go in exile among the nations. It is so stated (in Ps. 106:26-27), “So He raised His hand toward them [in an oath], to make them fall in the wilderness. And to make their seed fall among the gentiles, even to scatter them among the lands.” The raising of [the divine] hand was corresponding to the lifting up of the voice (in Numb. 14:1). (Numb. 14:2:) “And all the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them.” These are the sanhedraot. (Numb. 14:2, cont.:) “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt […].” [The matter] is comparable to a king at whose tribunal⁴⁵Gk.: Bema. a certain person came up for judgment.⁴⁶Numb. R. 16:21. He uttered a word from his mouth by which he convicted himself. The king set aside his bill of indictment⁴⁷Lat.: elogium; Gk.: elogion. and convicted him out of his own mouth. He said to him, “I am judging you by what has come out of your own mouth. So let it be for you according to what you have said.” Similarly the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them (in Numb. 14:29), “In this desert shall your carcasses fall.” (Numbers 14:28:) “’As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘as they have spoken in My ears.’” They began to say (in Numb. 14:3–9), “And why is the Lord bringing us [unto this land…]?” They also said to each other, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces [before the whole assembly of the congregation of the Children of Israel]. Moreover, Joshua ben Nun and Caleb ben Jephunneh, of those who had explored the land, rent their clothes and spoke unto the whole assembly of the Children of Israel, …. “If the Lord is pleased with us, [He will bring us into this land]…. Only do not rebel against the Lord….” The people said to them, “We have no faith in you! Our brothers care for us more than you do.” Thus it is stated (in Deut. 1:28), “Where are we going up to? Our brothers have caused [our hearts] to melt (with fear).” (Numb. 14:10:) “So the whole congregation said to stone [them with stones].” And who was “them?” Moses and Aaron. (Ibid., cont.:) “Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting.” [This incident] teaches that they threw stones, but the cloud intercepted them. (Numb. 14:11:) “Then the Lord said unto Moses, ‘How long ('ad-'anah) will this people scorn Me, and how long ('ad-'anah) will they have no faith in Me?’” The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “I have uttered two cries (of 'ad-'anah) because of you.⁴⁸Numb. R. 16:22, cont.; see below, Numb. 4a:14. Your end shall be to cry out in the subjection of the four empires: (Ps. 13:2-3:) ‘How long ('ad-'anah), O Lord, will you forget me forever; how long ('ad'-'anah) will you hide Your face from me? How long ('ad-'anah) shall I take counsel in my soul with grief in my heart [all day]; how long ('ad-'anah) will my enemy be exalted over me?’ I cried out (in Numb. 14:27), ‘How long ('Ad-matay) shall this evil congregation [be murmuring against me]?’ Your end shall be to cry out (in Ps. 6:4), ‘My soul also is greatly dismayed; [and You, O Lord, how long ('ad-matay)]?’”