“Brimstone and fire” – that is what is written: “He will rain upon the wicked burning coal [paḥim], fire and brimstone…” (Psalms 11:6). “Paḥim” – [this means both] coals and traps. “Fire and brimstone” – why is it that when a person smells brimstone his soul becomes unsettled? It is because it knows that it will be sentenced with it in the future, as it is stated: “[Fire and brimstone…] will be their lot [menat kosam]” (Psalms 11:6).
Rabbi Yishmael bar Naḥman in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: Like a cup [kos] of herbal drink [that one drinks] after attending the bathhouse.13This drink was drunk with much eagerness, enjoyed to the last drop. So, too, the wicked will drink their cup of punishment to the last drop. Rabbi Ḥanina [ben Pazi] said: Nothing bad ever descends from on High. They raised an objection: But is it not written: “Fire and hail, snow and vapor”? (Psalms 148:8).
He said to them: It is the “storm wind” that “performs His word” (Psalms 148:8).14When they first descend from heaven, they are not harmful. It is the storm wind that renders them harmful. A statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish disagrees with what Rabbi Ḥanina ben Pazi said, [as Rabbi Shimon said]: “The Lord will open for you His storehouse of goodness” (Deuteronomy 28:12) – from here we learn that He has other storehouses.15Storehouses that contain things other than “goodness.”
“From the Lord from the heavens”16The verse states that it was from the heavens, why was it necessary to state also “from the Lord”? – like something hurled by a mighty man.