“He said: Release me, as dawn has broken. He said: I will not release you unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:27). “He said: Release me, as dawn has broken” – it is written: “New each morning, great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:23) – Rabbi Shimon bar Abba said: From the fact that you renew us each and every morning we know that You have great faithfulness to revive the dead for us. Rabbi Alexandri said: From the fact that you renew us in the morning of the kingdoms,1You give us strength to live despite the hardship of living under their reign. we know that You have great faithfulness to redeem us.
Rabbi Ḥelbo said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman: No heavenly group2Group of angels. lauds and repeats, but rather, each day the Holy One blessed be He creates a new group of angels, and they recite a new song before Him, and they go on their way. Rabbi Berekhya said: I responded to Rabbi Ḥelbo: ‘But is it not written: “Release me, as dawn has broken,” and the time for me to recite song has arrived?’
He said to me: ‘Strangler! Do you seek to strangle me?’3Do you seek to strangle me by challenging me from an explicit verse? I said: ‘What is that verse that is written: “Release me, as dawn has broken”?’ He said to me: ‘These are Mikhael and Gavriel, who are heavenly princes, as all of them are replaced, but they are not replaced.’
Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya, he said to him: ‘Do you say: No heavenly group lauds and repeats, but rather, each day the Holy One blessed be He creates a new group of angels, and they recite a new song before Him, and they go on their way?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘To where do they go?’ He said: ‘To the place from which they were created.’
He said to him: ‘From where were they created?’ He said to him: ‘From the River of Fire.’ He said to him: ‘What is the function of the River of Fire?’ He said to him: ‘It is like that Jordan that does not stop; neither by day nor by night.’
He said to him: ‘From where does it originate?’ He said to him: ‘It is from the perspiration of beasts that perspire from bearing the Throne of the Holy One blessed be He.’ His adviser said to him: ‘But does that Jordan not flow during the day, and it does not flow at night?’ He said: ‘I was a sentry at Beit Peor; just as it flowed during the day, it flows at night.’
Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Shimon: Rabbi Meir says: Who is greater, the guard or the guarded? From what is written: “For He will charge His angels on your behalf to guard you” (Psalms 91:11) – that is, the guarded is greater than the guard. Rabbi Yehuda says: Who is greater, the carrier or the carried? From what is written: “They will carry you on their palms” (Psalms 91:12) – that is, the carried is greater than the carrier.
Rabbi Shimon said: From what is written: “He said: Release me” – that is, the one releasing is greater than the one released.