sighing

For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.

For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

Therefore he cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and sighing, and a mighty cry, and rent his garments.

Let us cleave, therefore, to those who cultivate peace with godliness, and not to those who hypocritically profess to desire it. For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” And again: “They bless with their mouth, but curse with their heart.” And again it saith, “They loved Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue; but their heart was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His covenant.” “Let the deceitful lips become silent,” [and “let the Lord destroy all the lying lips,] and the boastful tongue of those who have said, Let us magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, and for the sighing of the needy, will I now arise, saith the Lord: I will place him in safety; I will deal confidently with him.”

Then Hell, receiving Satan the prince, with sore reproach said unto him: O prince of perdition and chief of destruction, Beelzebub, the scorn of the angels and spitting of the righteous, why wouldest thou do this? Thou wouldest crucify the King of glory, and at his decease didst promise us great spoils of his death: like a fool thou knewest not what thou didst. For behold, now, this Jesus putteth to flight by the brightness of his majesty all the darkness of death, and hath broken the strong depths of the prisons, and let out the prisoners, and loosed them that were bound. And all that were sighing in our torments do rejoice against us, and at their prayers our dominions are vanquished and our realms conquered, and now no nation of men feareth us any more. And beside this, the dead which were never wont to be proud triumph over us, and the captives which never could be joyful do threaten us. O prince Satan, father of all the wicked and ungodly and renegades, wherefore wouldest thou do this? They that from the beginning until now have despaired of life and salvation—now is none of their wonted roarings heard, neither doth any groan from them sound in our ears, nor is there any sign of tears upon the face of any of them. O prince Satan, holder of the keys of hell, those thy riches which thou hadst gained by the tree of transgression and the losing of paradise, thou hast lost by the tree of the cross, and all thy gladness hath perished. When thou didst hang up Christ Jesus the King of glory thou wroughtest against thyself and against me. Henceforth thou shalt know what eternal torments and infinite pains thou art to suffer in my keeping for ever. O prince Satan, author of death and head of all pride, thou oughtest first to have sought out matter of evil in this Jesus: Wherefore didst thou adventure without cause to crucify him unjustly against whom thou foundest no blame, and to bring into our realm the innocent and righteous one, and to lose the guilty and the ungodly and unrighteous of the whole world? And when Hell had spoken thus unto Satan the prince, then said the King of glory unto Hell: Satan the prince shall be in thy power unto all ages in the stead of Adam and his children, even those that are my righteous ones.

And when I had entered within the gate of paradise there came to meet me an old man whose face shone like the sun, and he embraced me and said: Hail, Paul, dearly beloved of God. And he kissed me with a joyful countenance, but he wept, and I said unto him: Father, why weepest thou? And again sighing and weeping he said: Because we are vexed by men, and they grieve us sore; for many are the good things which the Lord hath prepared, and great are his promises, but many receive them not. And I asked the angel and said: Who is this, Lord? And he said unto me: This is Enoch the scribe of righteousness. And I entered within that place and straightway I saw Elias, and he came and saluted me with gladness and joy. And when he had seen me, he turned himself away and wept and said unto me: Paul, mayest thou receive the reward of thy labour which thou hast done among mankind. As for me, I have seen great and manifold good things which God hath prepared for all the righteous, and great are the promises of God, but the more part receive them not; yea hardly through much toil doth one and another enter into these places.

Then Death went into Amente, and his six sons were with him, and he found the place swept bare, and it was like unto a desert, and there was not one soul therein. All the doors thereof were smashed in pieces, and the door-frames were thrust out of their places, their bolts were shattered, and the brazen fiery furnaces had been overthrown. Nothing whatsoever was found in that place except three voices [which cried out in fear, and with fearful screams, and were full of anguish of heart] and trouble, and suffering. In [that] place there was weeping and gnashing of teeth; it was a place of sighing and trouble, and there was there the worm which never sleepeth. Woe be unto them!

Then Death descended into Amente, and his six Dekans also were with him, [and] he found Amente desolate, [and] it was like a desert, and there was not one soul in it, but it was in a state of dire disorder and confusion. The doors thereof were smashed in pieces, the door-frames were thrust out of position, and the bolts were snapped asunder, and the blazing brazen furnaces had been choked. He found nothing whatsoever in that place except three voices, which cried out in fear, and with tearful screams, and were full of anguish of the heart and trepidation. In [that] place there were weepings and gnashings of the teeth, it was a place of sighing and of tribulation, and of quaking, and of the worm which never sleepeth. Woe unto them, the wretched, the miserable, and the poor … in God. These [voices] belonged to the three [men whose names] have been blotted out of the Book of Life, and removed from the Roll of the Saints, and from the knowledge of salvation, that is to say, Judas, and Cain, and Herod. These were there, and they were like unto a three-headed kelos; and because of the cruelty which is on them (sic), men shall not keep their memory in remembrance. Judas betrayed the Lord of that which is in the heavens, and of that which is on the earth. Herod smote Jesus on His face a blow of insult. Cain rose up against his brother, and slew him with his own hand. And Death with his Dekans cried out, saying, 'This is the Son of God Who hath risen from the dead, Who hath redeemed Adam, and delivered all his sons, and hath forgiven unto them their sins, in the peace of His Father. Amen.'

Then God said unto Adam, "If only there had been this sighing and praying before, ere thou didst transgress! Then wouldst thou have rest from the trouble in which thou art now."

But her heart was still set upon evil, and she looked around how to ensnare me, and sighing deeply she became downcast, though she was not sick.

Abraham said, I beseech you, is there also an unexpected death? Tell me. Death said, Verily, verily, I tell you in the truth of God that there are seventy-two deaths. One is the just death, buying its fixed time, and many men in one hour enter into death being given over to the grave. Behold, I have told you all that you have asked, now I tell you, most righteous Abraham, to dismiss all counsel, and cease from asking anything once for all, and come, go with me, as the God and judge of all has commanded me. Abraham said to Death, Depart from me yet a little, that I may rest on my couch, for I am very faint at heart, for since I have seen you with my eyes my strength has failed me, all the limbs of my flesh seem to me a weight as of lead, and my spirit is distressed exceedingly. Depart for a little; for I have said I cannot bear to see your shape. Then Isaac his son came and fell upon his breast weeping, and his wife Sarah came and embraced his feet, lamenting bitterly. There came also his men slaves and women slaves and surrounded his couch, lamenting greatly. And Abraham came into indifference of death, and Death said to Abraham, Come, take my right hand, and may cheerfulness and life and strength come to you. For Death deceived Abraham, and he took his right hand, and straightway his soul adhered to the hand of Death. And immediately the archangel Michael came with a multitude of angels and took up his precious soul in his hands in a divinely woven linen cloth, and they tended the body of the just Abraham with divine ointments and perfumes until the third day after his death, and buried him in the land of promise, the oak of Mamre, but the angels received his precious soul, and ascended into heaven, singing the hymn of thrice holy to the Lord the God of all, and they set it there to worship the God and Father. And after great praise and glory had been given to the Lord, and Abraham bowed down to worship, there came the undefiled voice of the God and Father saying thus, Take therefore my friend Abraham into Paradise, where are the tabernacles of my righteous ones, and the abodes of my saints Isaac and Jacob in his bosom, where there is no trouble, nor grief, nor sighing, but peace and rejoicing and life unending. (And let us, too, my beloved brethren, imitate the hospitality of the patriarch Abraham, and attain to his virtuous way of life, that we may be thought worthy of the life eternal, glorifying the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; to whom be glory and power forever. Amen.).

In those days I will bring upon all creatures of the earth ten plagues, through misfortune and disease and sighing of the grief of their soul.

And Noah then opened the windows of the ark, and Noah still called out to the Lord at that time and he said, O Lord, who didst form the earth and the heavens and all that are therein, bring forth our souls from this confinement, and from the prison wherein thou hast placed us, for I am much wearied with sighing.

And he rose up from there in bitterness of soul, and went sighing to the bake house in which he had remained all the night before, and he slept there the second night.

"'20. To hear the sighing of those in chains, to loose the power of the souls whose power is bound,--

"'20. To hear the sighing of those in chains, to loose the sons of those who are slain,

"'10. For my years have wasted away in sadness and my life is wasted in sighing. My power is enfeebled in misery and my bones are distracted.

Israel were redeemed from Egypt for five reasons. [Because of the term,] because of tribulation, because of entreaty, because of the merit of the Fathers, because of repentance, because of the term. That is what is written, it was in these important times that the Children of Israel were sighing at the work and crying, because of tribulation; and God heard their wailing, because of entreaty; and God remembered His Covenant, because of the merit of the Fathers. And God saw the children of Israel, because of repentance, and God knew, because of the term. And so it says, if you are in trouble, because of tribulation; and all these matters will find you in future times and you will repent, because of repentance; for the Eternal, your God, is a merciful power, because of mercy; He will not let you sink nor destroy you, nor will He forget your Fathers’ Covenant, because of the merit of the Fathers. And so it says, He saw how they were in trouble, because of tribulation; when He heard their prayer, because of entreaty; and remembered for them His Covenant, because of merit of the Fathers; and consoled them in the abundance of His grace, because of repentance; and He had mercy with them, because of mercy.

Three verses in which the word "redeem" occurs — "He hath redeemed my soul in peace so that none came nigh me" (Ps. Iv. 19) ; "And the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion...and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Is. 35:10) ; "And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel?... So the people rescued [padah] Jonathan, that he died not" (I Sam. xiv, 45).

Rab Kattina himself explained [that the phenomenon was due to God] clapping His hands ; as it is said, "I will also smite My hands together, and I will satisfy My fury" (Ezek. xxi. 22). R. Nathan says : The rumbling is due to His sighing; as it is said, "I will satisfy My fury upon them, and I will be eased" (ibid. v. 13). The Rabbis say : He treads upon the firmament ; as it is said, "He giveth a noise, as they that tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth" (Jer. xxv. 30). Rab Aha b. Jacob said : He presses His feet beneath the Throne of Glory ; as it is said, "Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool" (Is. Ixvi. 1).