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Adapted from Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin (Sanhedrin 97a)
Edition William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic Translation English translation by Maggid , since no free public English translation of this passage exists.
License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC-BY-NC) "the fallen booth of David" (Amos 9:11). He said to him: Thus said Rabbi Yohanan: In the generation in which the son of David comes, Torah scholars dwindle, and as for the rest, their eyes fail from sorrow and sighing, and many troubles and harsh decrees are renewed; before the first has passed, the second hurries to come. Our Rabbis taught: In the seven-year cycle in which the son of David comes, in the first year this verse is fulfilled: "And I will cause it to rain upon one city, and upon another city I will not cause it to rain" (Amos 4:7). Rav Katina said: Six thousand years the world will exist, and for one thousand it will be destroyed, as it is stated: "And the LORD alone will be exalted on that day" (Isaiah 2:11). Abaye said: It will be destroyed for two thousand, as it is stated: "He will revive us after two days; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him" (Hosea 6:2). It was taught in a baraita in accordance with the opinion of Rav Katina: Just as the Sabbatical year releases the land one year in seven years, so too the world releases one thousand years in seven thousand years, as it is stated: "And the LORD alone will be exalted on that day" (Isaiah 2:11), and it says: "A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day" (Psalms 92:1), a day that is entirely Sabbath, and it says: "For a thousand years in Your eyes are but as yesterday when it passes" (Psalms 90:4). The school of Elijah taught: Six thousand years the world will exist: two thousand years of chaos, two thousand years of Torah, and two thousand years the days of the Messiah.
אֶת סֻכַּת דָּוִיד הַנֹּפֶלֶת״. אֲמַר לֵיהּ: הָכִי אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: דּוֹר שֶׁבֶּן דָּוִד בָּא בּוֹ, תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים מִתְמַעֲטִים, וְהַשְּׁאָר עֵינֵיהֶם כָּלוֹת בְּיָגוֹן וַאֲנָחָה, וְצָרוֹת רַבּוֹת וּגְזֵרוֹת קָשׁוֹת מִתְחַדְּשׁוֹת, עַד שֶׁהָרִאשׁוֹנָה פְּקוּדָה, שְׁנִיָּה מְמַהֶרֶת לָבֹא. תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: שָׁבוּעַ שֶׁבֶּן דָּוִד בָּא בּוֹ, שָׁנָה רִאשׁוֹנָה מִתְקַיֵּים מִקְרָא זֶה ״וְהִמְטַרְתִּי עַל עִיר אֶחָת וְעַל עִיר אַחַת לֹא אַמְטִיר״.
אָמַר רַב קַטִּינָא: שֵׁית אַלְפֵי שְׁנֵי הָוֵי עָלְמָא, וְחַד חָרוּב, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְנִשְׂגַּב ה׳ לְבַדּוֹ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא״. אַבָּיֵי אָמַר: תְּרֵי חָרוּב, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״יְחַיֵּינוּ מִיֹּמָיִם בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי יְקִמֵנוּ וְנִחְיֶה לְפָנָיו״.
תַּנְיָא כְּוָתֵיהּ דְּרַב קַטִּינָא: כְּשֵׁם שֶׁהַשְּׁבִיעִית מְשַׁמֶּטֶת שָׁנָה אַחַת לְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים, כָּךְ הָעוֹלָם מְשַׁמֵּט אֶלֶף שָׁנִים לְשִׁבְעַת אֲלָפִים שָׁנָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְנִשְׂגַּב ה׳ לְבַדּוֹ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא״, וְאוֹמֵר: ״מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר לְיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת״ – יוֹם שֶׁכּוּלּוֹ שַׁבָּת. וְאוֹמֵר: ״כִּי אֶלֶף שָׁנִים בְּעֵינֶיךָ כְּיוֹם אֶתְמוֹל כִּי יַעֲבֹר״. תָּנָא דְּבֵי אֵלִיָּהוּ: שֵׁשֶׁת אֲלָפִים שָׁנָה הָוֵי עָלְמָא, שְׁנֵי אֲלָפִים תּוֹהוּ, שְׁנֵי אֲלָפִים תּוֹרָה, שְׁנֵי אֲלָפִים יְמוֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ.
Commentary Some say the world will remain desolate for a thousand years, just as land lies fallow every seventh year. But after this the world will be revived, as it is said. He will raise us up, and we shall be whole by His favor (Hos. 6:2). Others say that the six days of Creation represent all the days of the world, and the seventh day is the Great Sabbath, as it is said, a Sabbath of the Lord (Lev. 25:2). That will be the Sabbath of His Great Name. For the world as we know it was intended to exist for six thousand years: two thousand years without Torah, two thousand years with Torah, and two thousand years of the Messiah's reign. And just as one year in seven is a sabbatical year of release, so God will provide a day of release, a day lasting a thousand years. Thus, in the seventh millennium, the Great Sabbath will begin. Then all activity will cease. There will be no food or drink. But each and every one of the righteous will rejoice in his understanding of the Torah, and they will sit with crowns on their heads and feast off the splendor of the Shekhinah. At the end of this Sabbath year of days, the era of the World to Come will be ushered in, when death will never, ever again exist. For the World to Come will be wholly a Sabbath and everlasting rest. The Sabbath is said to be a foretaste of the World to Come. This myth, based on an interpretation of Leviticus 25:2, about the need to let the land lie fallow every seventh year, describes a cosmic Sabbath, known as the Great Sabbath, that will come after 6,000 years— three ages of 2,000 years each. Just as the seventh day is the Sabbath, the day of rest, so for a thousand years there will be no life in this world as we know it, but the righteous will reap great rewards in the World to Come. Note that the righteous are sustained in the World to Come by feasting off the splendor of the Shekhinah. Or, in an alternate version, the light they bask in is none other than the primordial light, the light of the first day. See "The Light of the First Day/' p. 83. In this myth, the existence of the world is said to be limited to six millennia, and the longevity of the world is directly tied to the six days of Creation. This explanation draws on the verse in Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday (Ps. 90:4), which was taken as the precise correlation between time on earth and in heaven. Therefore the world that was created in six days will be destroyed at the end of six of God's days. Here the key is the symmetry between the six days of Creation and the span of the world's existence. This myth makes a distinction between the messianic era, which will last 2,000 years in this world, and the Great Sabbath that will follow, where all existence in this world will cease for good. In some versions of this myth, however, after lying fallow for a thousand years (some say 2,000 years), God will renew the world, and life will be revived (B. Sanh. 97a-b). In B. Sanhedrin 97b, Rabbi Hanan bar Tahlifa tells of seeing an ancient scroll on which was written: "Four thousand two hundred and ninety-one years after its creation, the world will be orphaned. The years that follow will see the wars of Gog and Magog and the messianic age, but God will not renew the world until after 7,000 years."
