(see Bamidbar 14:21). "I said: I live forever": For not as the measure of the Holy One Blessed be He is the measure of man. The measure of man: A noble enters his province (to exact vengeance). If he can exact from the living, he does so; if not, he does not. But not so with Him who spoke and caused the world to come into being. If He does not exact it from the living, He exacts it from the dead. If He does not exact it in this world, He exacts it in the world to come.
(Devarim 32:41) "When I whet the flash of My sword": When punishment goes forth from before Me, it is light as a flash — in spite of which "My hand takes hold of justice."