Rabbi Levi said: It is a fitting statute that anyone who is haughty is sentenced only in fire, as it is stated: “It is the burnt offering [ola]25Ola is expounded to mean one who exalts himself. on the pyre” (Leviticus 6:2). The generation of the Flood, because they were haughty and said: “What is the Almighty that we should serve Him…?” (Job 21:15), were sentenced only in fire, as it is stated: “When scorched, they disappear [nitzmatu]” (Job 6:17).
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Their scorching was absolute, just as it says: “In perpetuity [latzemitut] to the purchaser” (Leviticus 25:30). “In its heat they dwindle from their place” (Job 6:17). What is “in its heat”? It is in boiling water.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Holy One blessed be would boil each and every drop that He brought upon the generation of the Flood in Gehenna. That is what is written: “In its heat they dwindle from their place.” The people of Sodom, because they were haughty and they said: We will cause the passersby to be forgotten from our midst, just as it is written: “He drives a shaft away from habitation, [which is forgotten by passersby]” (Job 28:4), they were sentenced only with fire, “The Lord rained down on Sodom [brimstone and fire]” (Genesis 19:24).
Wicked Pharaoh, because he was haughty and said: “Who is the Lord that I should heed His voice” (Exodus 5:2), was sentenced only in fire, “There was hail and fire flashing…” (Exodus 9:24). Wicked Sisera, because he was haughty and oppressed Israel, just as it is written: “He oppressed the children of Israel harshly” (Judges 4:3). What is “harshly”? Rabbi Yitzḥak said: With curses and blaspheming.26See Malachi 3:13–14, where it states: “Your words have been harsh against Me, said the Lord” regarding those who said “it is vain to worship God.”
He was sentenced only in fire, “The stars27The stars are balls of fiery gases. from their courses waged war [with Sisera]” (Judges 5:20). Sennacherib, because he was haughty and said: “Who is it among all the gods of these lands [that delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord will deliver Jerusalem from my hand?]” (Isaiah 36:20). He was sentenced only in fire, “Instead of his glory, a burning will burn…” (Isaiah 10:16).
Nebuchadnezzar, because he was haughty and said: “Who is the god who will save you from my hands?” (Daniel 3:15), was sentenced only in fire, “they were killed by a flame of fire” (Daniel 3:22). The evil empire,28Rome. because it curses, blasphemes and says: “Whom do I have in Heaven?” (Psalms 73:25), is judged only in fire, “I was seeing until the beast was slain, its body destroyed, and it was consigned to the burning of fire” (Daniel 7:11).
But Israel, who are scorned and downtrodden in this world, will be comforted only with fire, as it is stated: “I will be for it, the utterance of the Lord, a wall of fire all around” (Zechariah 2:9).