Study Sanhedrin folio 39B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
“It is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9), teaching that where the verse mentions “the nations,” the Jewish people are not included.
The Talmud cites a related statement: R' Elazar raises a contradiction: It is written in one verse: “YHWH is good to all and His compassion is over all His works” (Psalms 145:9), and it is written in a different verse: “YHWH is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him” (Lamentatio
§ The Mishnah teaches: Therefore, since all humanity descends from one person, each and every person is obligated to say: The world was created for me. The Mishnah then teaches that the court says to the witnesses: And perhaps you will say: Why would we want to be responsible for the blood of this
The Talmud asks: But is God gladdened by the downfall of the wicked? Isn’t it written in the verse describing the victory of the Jewish people in battle: “He appointed them that should sing unto YHWH, and praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say: Give thanks to YHW
The Talmud comments: As R' Shmuel bar Naḥman says that R' Yonatan says: What is the meaning of that which is written in the passage describing the splitting of the Red Sea: “And the one came not near the other all the night” (Exodus 14:20)? At that time the ministering angels desired to recite a son