My Wrath Will Burn and Your Wives Will Be Widows

"And My wrath will burn" (Exodus 22:23). Rabbi Yishmael says: "burning of wrath" is stated here, and "burning of wrath" is stated elsewhere. Just as there it means withholding of rains and exile, as it is said, "and the wrath of the LORD will burn against you" (Deuteronomy 11:17) and so forth, so here it means withholding of rains and exile. And just as here it is by the sword, so there too it is by the sword. "And your wives shall be widows." From the implication of what is said, "And My wrath will burn and I will kill," we already learn that your wives will be widows; so what does Scripture teach by saying "and your wives shall be widows"? Rather, widows yet not widows, as in the matter of which it is said, "and they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood" (2 Samuel 20:3) [their husbands missing but not confirmed dead, so they could not remarry]. "And your children orphans," yet not actual orphans, but that the court will not let them sell their father's property, holding it on the presumption that the fathers are still alive [as captives]. From the implication of what is said, "And My wrath will burn," do I not know that their wives are widows and their children orphans? Rather, it teaches that their wives will seek to remarry and are not permitted, and their children will seek to claim their property and are not permitted. And learn from this that one does not put a relative in possession of a captive's property. And the matter follows by an inference from minor to major: if when you do not pervert justice your wives will not be widows nor your children orphans, how much more so when you do pervert justice. And so it says, "Execute true judgment" (Zechariah 7:9), and it says, "Judge truth and the judgment of peace in your gates," and it says, "Thus says the LORD, Keep justice and do righteousness" (Isaiah 56:1). How much the more, then, that your wives shall not be widows; and so it says, "that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep" and so forth (Deuteronomy 11:21), "that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children," and it says, "They shall not labor in vain" (Isaiah 65:23), and it says, "and your seed shall be as the sand," and it says, "And their heart shall be," and it says, "As the new heavens" (Isaiah 66:22), and it says, "And a redeemer shall come to Zion" (Isaiah 59:20), and it says, "And as for Me, this is My covenant" and so forth. How much the more, then, that you shall lengthen your days in this world and see children and children's children.