Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
Jeremiah repaired to the Double Cave, and spake to the Patriarchs:
"Arise, ye are summoned to appear before God." When they asked him the
reason of the summons, he feigned ignorance, for he feared to tell them
the true reason; they might have cast reproaches upon him that so great
a disaster had overtaken Israel in his time. Then Jeremiah journeyed on
to the banks of the Jordan, and there he called as he had been bidden:
"Thou son of Amram, son of Amram, arise, thou are cited to appear
before God." "What has happened this day, that God calls me unto Him?"
asked Moses. "I know not," replied Jeremiah again. Moses thereupon went
to the angels, and from them he learned that the Temple had been
destroyed, and Israel banished from his land. Weeping and mourning,
Moses joined the Patriarchs, and together, rending their garments and
wringing their hands, they betook themselves to the ruins of the
Temple. Here their wailing was augmented by the loud lamentations of
the angels: (32) "How desolate are the highways to Jerusalem, the
highways destined for travel without end! How deserted are the streets
that once were thronged at the seasons of the pilgrimages! O Lord of
the world, with Abraham the father of Thy people, who taught the world
to know Thee as the ruler of the universe, Thou didst make a covenant,
that through him and his descendants the earth should be filled with
people, and now Thou hast dissolved Thy covenant with him. O Lord of
the world! Thou hast scorned Zion and Jerusalem, once Thy chosen
habitation. Thou hast dealt more harshly with Israel than with the
generation of Enosh, the first idolaters."
God thereupon said to the angels: "Why do ye array yourselves against
Me with your complaints?" "Lord do the world," they replied, "on
account of Abraham, Thy beloved, who has come into Thy house wailing
and weeping, yet Thou payest no heed unto him." Thereupon God: "Since
My beloved ended his earthly career, he has not been in My house. 'What
hath My beloved to do in My house'?" (33)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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