Your Right Hand and the Patience God Gave the Wicked to Repent

Another interpretation of "like a stone": because they hardened their heart like a stone. But You, Your kindness and Your goodness and Your abundant mercy, and Your right hand which is stretched out to all who come into the world, as it is said, "Your right hand, O LORD, Your right hand, O LORD" twice, "for it was Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your face, because You favored them." "By Myself I have sworn, righteousness has gone forth from My mouth" (Isaiah 45:23). "Glorious in power": You are lovely and mighty in power, for You granted a respite to the generation of the Flood to repent, and they did not, as it is said, "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not contend with man" and so on (Genesis 6:3); and You did not decree their utter destruction until they had completed their wickedness before You. So too you find with the men of the Tower, to whom You granted a respite, as it is said, "And the LORD said, Behold, they are one people" and so on (Genesis 11:6); and "now" means nothing but repentance, as it is said, "And now, Israel, what does the LORD ask of you" (Deuteronomy 10:12); You did not decree their destruction until they had completed their wickedness before You. So too you find with the men of Sodom, to whom You granted a respite to repent, and they did not, as it is said, "And the LORD said, The outcry of Sodom... I will go down now and see" (Genesis 18:20-21); what is said there? "And the LORD rained upon Sodom" and so on; if they repent there is rain, and if not there is brimstone and fire; and You did not decree against them, and so on. "Your right hand, O LORD": When Israel does the will of the Omnipresent, they make the left hand a right hand, as it is said, "Your right hand, O LORD" twice; and when they do not do the will of the Omnipresent, they make the right hand a left hand, as it is said, "He has drawn back His right hand" (Lamentations 2:3). When Israel does the will of the Omnipresent, there is no sleep before Him, as it is said, "Behold, He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" (Psalms 121:4); and when they do not do His will, there is, as it were, sleep before Him, as it is said, "Then the LORD awoke as one who had slept" (Psalms 78:65). When Israel does the will of the Omnipresent, there is no wrath before Him, as it is said, "Wrath is not in Me" (Isaiah 27:4); and when they do not do His will, there is, as it were, wrath before Him, as it is said, "And the anger of the LORD will be kindled" (Deuteronomy 11:17). When Israel does the will of the Omnipresent, He fights for them, as it is said, "The LORD will fight for you" (Exodus 14:14); and when they do not do His will, He fights against them, as it is said, "He turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them" (Isaiah 63:10); and not only that, but they make the Merciful One cruel, as it is said, "The LORD has become like an enemy" (Lamentations 2:5). "You shatter the enemy": it does not say here "You have shattered the enemy" but "You will shatter the enemy" in the time to come, as it is said, "In indignation You march through the earth" and so on (Habakkuk 3:12). "You shatter the enemy": this is Pharaoh, as it is said, "The enemy said" (Exodus 15:9, verse 9 below).