Blessing the Righteous and Cursing the Wicked When Named

"The memory of the righteous is for a blessing, but the name of the wicked shall rot" (Proverbs 10:7). Rabbi Yitzchak said: Anyone who mentions a righteous person and does not bless him transgresses a positive commandment, as it is written, "The memory of the righteous is for a blessing." And anyone who mentions a wicked person and does not curse him transgresses a positive commandment, as it is written, "but the name of the wicked shall rot." Rabbi Yitzchak said: The wicked are like vessels of kuris; if a person does not use them, they rot. So too, have you ever seen in your days a person calling his son Pharaoh, Sisera, Sennacherib? Rather, what does he call him? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Rabbi Berekhya and Rabbi Chelbo in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman: Rabbi Yonatan, when he would reach this verse, "who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exiles who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled" (Esther 2:6), would say, "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, may his bones be crushed." And why did he not say so in Jeremiah? Rather, every "Nebuchadnezzar" in Jeremiah was alive, but here he was dead. Rav said: "Cursed be Haman, cursed be his sons." Rabbi Pinchas said: "Charvonah, remembered for good." Rabbi Berekhya in the name of Rabbi Levi: We find that when the Holy One, blessed be He, mentions Israel, He blesses them. And what is the reason? "The Lord has remembered us, He will bless" (Psalms 115:12). I have only all Israel; from where each and every one? Rav Huna said in the name of Rabbi Avin: "And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham..." (Genesis 18:17). The verse did not need to say this, but rather, "And the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah, because it is great..." (Genesis 18:20). Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Shall I mention the righteous one and not bless him? Rather, I will bless him and afterward inform him. This is what is written, "And Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and through him shall be blessed..." (Genesis 18:18); and what is written after it? "And the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah..."