When a person is about to die, the angel assigned to them delivers a devastating eulogy. Not a eulogy of praise. A eulogy of regret. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jerahmeel ben Solomon, the angel looks at the dying body and laments each part separately.
"Woe to these legs that never walked in the ways of God. Woe to these hands that occupied themselves with sin. Woe to these eyes that desired the property of strangers. Woe to these ears that refused to hear reproof. Woe to this mouth that consumed what belonged to others. Woe to this proud body that never bent in repentance."
Then the angel commands the soul to stand for judgment. "Know where you came from and where you are going," the angel says. "To a place of dust and worms. No one else can answer for you. The only defense is good deeds."
The text catalogs the consequences of specific transgressions with surgical precision. Whoever sins with their eyes, those eyes will grow dim. Whoever sins with their tongue, punishment will follow. Whoever sins with their hands will lose honor. Whoever leads others into sin will bury their own wife and children in their lifetime. These are not abstract warnings. They are mechanical spiritual laws, operating with the certainty of cause and effect.
The Chronicles then lists biblical figures who were destroyed by their own gifts. Samson, Abner, and Joab fell through their own strength. Ahitophel, Doeg the Edomite, and Balaam were undone by their own wisdom. Absalom and Adonijah were ruined by their beauty. Even Aaron the High Priest knew no joy from his sons Nadab and Abihu.
But the text ends with hope. The eye that does not sin will behold the Divine Glory. The heart that remains pure will see God with abundant joy. The mouth that avoids wrongdoing will sing praises before the Creator.