Chapter 57 of Yeshayahu opens as a direct continuation of the end of the previous chapter, which described the people of that generation saying, "Come, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink" - people immersed in the lusts and pleasures of this world, building an entire worldview upon them. The chapter begins with the passing of the righteous, the claims the wicked raise as a result, and moves from there to a sharp rebuke of idolatry, immorality, and the slaughter of children to idols. Let us follow the order of the verses.
הַצַּדִּיק אָבָד וְאֵין אִישׁ שָׂם עַל לֵב וְאַנְשֵׁי חֶסֶד נֶאֱסָפִים בְּאֵין מֵבִין כִּי מִפְּנֵי הָרָעָה נֶאֱסַף הַצַּדִּיק. - The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; and men of kindness are gathered in, with no one understanding that the righteous man is taken away because of the evil to come.
Rashi understands that this refers to a specific righteous person: King Yoshiyahu. "And no one lays it to heart" - there is no one who takes to heart why the righteous man passed away. "With no one understanding" - those left behind do not understand why the Holy One, blessed be He, saw fit to take the righteous man, and they do not understand that "the righteous man is taken away because of the evil" - because of the evil destined to come upon the generation. This is why the Holy One, blessed be He, gathered the righteous man: so that he would not see or grieve over the impending calamity, nor share in it. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, takes him before it arrives.
And why specifically Yoshiyahu? Because with him we find an explicit reference. This is what Chuldah the prophetess told him: "Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil that I am bringing." There it states explicitly that he is gathered so as not to see the evil destined to come upon this place, yet no one takes it to heart to understand that this is why the righteous man was gathered.
The Radak follows the same line, except that in his view, it does not refer specifically to Yoshiyahu, but to all the righteous people who passed away from that generation. Therefore it says, "and men of kindness are gathered in" - gathered to their people. And the Radak cautions: do not be misled by the phrase "the righteous man perishes" to think that the righteous person was truly lost, and what did his righteousness avail him? Heaven forbid. The righteous person was lost to us through his death; we lost his presence, but in and of himself, he is certainly not lost. Just as he stood and served here, so he stands and serves in the Heavenly Academy. His soul enjoys a life sweeter and better than bodily life - rather, he was lost to his generation, for the loss is theirs.
"And no one lays it to heart" - the Radak explains: there is no one left to rebuke the people of Israel for the evil deeds they commit. And this corresponds to "with no one understanding" - they do not understand that the righteous man was taken away because of the evil; on the contrary, at times they even think that perhaps the righteous man perished because of some wickedness. But the truth is that because of the evil of those who acted wickedly, the Holy One, blessed be He, gathered the righteous man, so that he would not witness the evil destined to come upon the generation.
The Malbim frames this verse as an argument voiced by the people of that generation. They say: Look, the righteous man perishes. Why do you come demanding that we change our ways and become God-fearing? After all, the righteous also die in the end. One fate befalls the righteous and the wicked! What benefit is there, then, in being righteous? And if you tell me to at least perform deeds of kindness - that will not help either, for "men of kindness are gathered in." They die too, and no one understands why they have to die, since they were decent people. Their conclusion: there is neither judgment nor a Judge. And this is precisely the conclusion of those who say, "Come, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink."
The Malbim notes the precise phrasing: we find both "the righteous man" (tzaddik) and "men of kindness" (anshei chesed), both "perishes" (avad) and "gathered in" (ne'esafim). A tzaddik focuses on duties between man and God, and people pay no attention to this. Therefore, "the righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart" - they do not even notice that the tzaddik has passed away; they do not feel his absence. In contrast, they do notice the men of kindness, for they performed kindness toward others, and the moment a man of kindness is gone, his absence is felt immediately. That is why regarding them specifically it says, "with no one understanding" - they do try to contemplate and understand why he was gathered in.
And what do they conclude? Here the Malbim introduces a striking reading: they interpret "for because of the evil the righteous man was gathered" - because of the evil and harm he brought upon himself during his lifetime! Of course, all his life he fasted, barely ate, never exercised, stayed confined to his room, and never saw the sun. It was his divine service that cut his days short! They attribute the demise of the righteous man to the harm he inflicted upon himself through his pious conduct. From this they conclude: enjoy life, then, for in the end everyone reaches the same destination, there is neither judgment nor a Judge, so bring wine and let us drink! There is no point in striving, no point in serving God.
Another explanation of "for the righteous is taken away from the evil": sometimes when the Holy One, blessed be He, must bring evil upon the generation, there is no other recourse - He takes the tzaddik, and the tzaddik serves as an atonement for the generation. Because of the generation's impending evil, the tzaddik is gathered to atone for them.
It is told that the daughter of the Chofetz Chaim asked him after the passing of his son-in-law: Why specifically him? The Holy One, blessed be He, has so many people in the world, yet such a tzaddik was taken? The Chofetz Chaim answered her: What would you prefer, that the Holy One, blessed be He, take a third of the world? And the Chofetz Chaim was not speaking in metaphors or allegories; he spoke plainly, with ruach hakodesh. The Holy One, blessed be He, took one tzaddik, and that replaced a third of the world.
Similarly, the Baba Sali was asked before his passing: Were you not promised that you would merit seeing the face of Mashiach? He told them: True, but they told me in Heaven that if you want Mashiach to come now, a third of the Jewish people will perish. He arose and declared: I am willing to be an atonement for the Jewish people, provided they do not perish. Once again, these are great individuals who know what transpires on High, and they do not speak in mere rhetoric. Thus, there is an aspect in which the tzaddik is taken away because of the generation's evil, for one tzaddik can serve as an atonement for an entire generation.
The Ramchal in Derech Hashem adds an important point to this. One might ask: The tzaddik went as an atonement - but what does he gain from this? They sinned and he suffers on their behalf? The Ramchal explains that there is no greater gratification for the tzaddik than this. This is the greatest merit possible, because in the World of Truth he is judged and rewarded as one who shielded all of Klal Yisrael, and there is no reward greater than that. Consider the calculation: one who saves a single Jewish soul is considered as having sustained an entire world; if a person saved a third of the world, who can imagine the magnitude of his merit? One must not think that the tzaddik lost out, that he both toiled and perished on account of their sins. On the contrary, this is the greatest gift the tzaddik could possibly receive.
A third explanation: "For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Kohelet 7:20). Even within the greatest tzaddik there remains some minute trace of imperfection, subtle as can be. Only in Christianity is everyone a saint. In Judaism, Moshe sinned, Avraham sinned, Sarah Imeinu sinned, and Dovid Hamelech sinned. We recognize that flesh and blood is capable of sinning, and that one must exert oneself and do teshuvah.
Therefore, it is very possible that even the tzaddik must receive punishment. Moshe did not enter the Land of Israel, and over what? Over something that requires a magnifying glass to discern, and the verses do not overtly disclose his sin to us. In Avraham Avinu we saw a flaw, and in Sarah Imeinu we saw a sin as noted by the Ramban, and so forth. Yet we do not evaluate the tzaddik by his sins; rather, we evaluate the sins by the stature of the tzaddik: if dealing with a tzaddik, the sin is undoubtedly infinitesimally subtle - and nevertheless, justice must be served.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: I could reserve judgment for the World of Truth, causing you shame and anguish when entered into Gehinnom to be purged for some slight sin; or I can collect from you here in this world, so that you arrive cleansed, holy, and pure into the World to Come. What would the tzaddik prefer? Certainly here. And that is "the righteous perishes" from this world, "and none considers that from the evil" - from the slight and minor blemish within him - he was taken away. People assume he must have been wicked, since he perished. But that is not so: it was something infinitely subtle, and because of it Hashem took him before his time, thereby purging all his sins, so that he is now worthy to enter the World of Truth without any hindrance.
Another explanation: The Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to bring evil, Heaven forbid, because the Jewish people have declined and deserve punishment. Yet there is a tzaddik here who never ceases praying and beseeching on their behalf. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, do? "The righteous is gathered from the evil" - not so that he will not suffer the evil, but lest he nullify the evil. Now there is no one to plead their defense and no one to pray on their behalf, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, executes the decree.
And if you ask: Does the tzaddik not pray for the Jewish people in Heaven? There are famous stories of tzaddikim who promised before their passing that they would not relent, that they would demand Mashiach and speak up for the Jewish people. But what turns out to be the case? As the well-known saying goes, what is seen from there is not what is seen from here. When one arrives on High, it becomes clear that everything is chesed. Everything the Holy One, blessed be He, dispenses is lovingkindness, designed solely to reveal His blessed light in the world and for the ultimate benefit of the Jewish people. Over what, then, would he pray - that Hashem should halt His chesed? Certainly they pray in Heaven as well, but not as they did here. Down on earth, events manifest as harsh reality, as crisis and suffering for the Jewish people, and therefore here prayers storm the heavens; but there in the World of Truth, matters appear differently. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, takes the tzaddik so that he will not continue beseeching on earth on behalf of the Jewish people.
יָבוֹא שָׁלוֹם יָנוּחוּ עַל מִשְׁכְּבוֹתָם הֹלֵךְ נְכֹחוֹ. - He shall enter into peace; they shall rest upon their beds, each one who walked straight forward.
According to the first explanation, that the tzaddik is gathered so that he does not see the evil: the tzaddik will come to his fathers in peace and will not witness the coming calamity. "They shall rest upon their beds" - he will not suffer through all the disaster, but on the contrary, he will be at rest and lie peacefully upon his bed. And why? "Each one who walked straight forward" - because in his lifetime he walked along the upright path and acted righteously, and he does not deserve to suffer.
Radak explains "they shall rest upon their beds" to mean that in death they will rest in great tranquility; death is referred to as lying down, as in "And I will lie with my fathers." Although one could understand "lying down" as referring to the physical body lying in the grave, the concept is deeper: to lie down means to rest, and lying down expresses tranquility. When we say of a tzaddik, "his soul is at rest," it means that he is now at peace. Similarly, "his heart did not lie down" means his heart found no rest. So too here, this refers to the serenity of soul that the tzaddik experiences when he departs from this world.
The Malbim adds: Do not mistakenly think that the tzaddik perished because he harmed himself through his mortifications and fasts; rather, on the contrary, Hashem took him to the place that is good and prepared for him.
According to all the explanations we cited, the rest of the verse is clarified. According to the explanation that the death of the tzaddik serves as an atonement for the Jewish people: the tzaddik is lost so that peace will come to us, and so that we "shall rest upon their beds" - that no sword shall pass through our land, in the words of the Torah, "and you shall lie down, with none to make you afraid." In order for us to be able to continue resting, the tzaddik was taken to atone for us.
And according to the explanation that the tzaddik is lost because of a slight fault within him: Hashem took him so that "peace shall come" - that he will arrive Above whole, free of sin and without any blemish. Then, "they shall rest upon their beds," without being told to turn left toward Gehinnom because of remaining matters left to rectify. Through his passing he rectified all that was required, "walked straight forward" - straight to Gan Eden, without any need to undergo further purification.
And according to the explanation that the tzaddik passes away so that he will not pray for the generation: "He shall enter into peace; they shall rest upon their beds" - when the tzaddik is here, he shakes heaven and earth, granting no rest in Heaven and pleading ceaselessly on behalf of the Jewish people. Now he has been gathered, and that has ended. Then, "walked straight forward" - the path is cleared, as it were, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, executes the decree against the Jewish people in a direct manner, just as He intended.
וְאַתֶּם קִרְבוּ הֵנָּה בְּנֵי עֹנְנָה זֶרַע מְנָאֵף וַתִּזְנֶה. - But you, draw near here, sons of the sorceress, seed of the adulterer and the harlot.
Radak says: He speaks against the wicked people of the generation. You, now that the tzaddik is no longer here, draw near here for judgment over your evil deeds. This is a direct continuation of what we learned: once the obstacle has been removed - whether according to the explanation that the tzaddik was taken so he would not see evil and suffer with us, or whether according to the explanation that he was taken so he would not pray for us - the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: Now come forward, now pay the full price, for judgment is due to you.
"Sons of the sorceress" (bnei onenah) - the children of soothsayers and witches. And why in the feminine form? Because sorcery was mostly prevalent among women. So too we find in the Torah, "You shall not permit a sorceress to live," and Rashi asks: Is there no male sorcerer? Indeed there are, even today. Rather, the Torah spoke in terms of the prevailing reality, as the practice of witchcraft was common among women. "Seed of the adulterer and the harlot" - your fathers were adulterers and your mothers were harlots; how could you be upright when your roots stem from an evil source? This corresponds to what is said in Hoshea chapter 4: "I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, for they themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with cult prostitutes" - the Holy One, Blessed be He, judges them for the grave sins they committed.
The Malbim explains that "draw near" is an expression of approaching judgment, to bring them to trial. He explains "sons of the sorceress" in a unique manner: they committed adultery and harlotry for the sake of idolatry. We have already mentioned the words of the Vilna Gaon, that we have a tradition that next to every house of idol worship there was a brothel, which is why idolatry is consistently mentioned alongside immorality. Our Sages already touched upon this when they said: The Jewish people sought to worship idols only in order to permit forbidden relations in public. That was the method used by the idolatrous priests to attract the masses - by permitting immorality to them, and according to their doctrine, this was yet another religious rite and another way to worship the Baal.
The Malbim explains: they would commit adultery at the site of idolatrous worship, and the children born of that adultery were attributed to a specific idol or star, according to the season (*onah*) in which they were born. This is the meaning of *me'onen* (soothsayer): one who says, "This season is auspicious for such-and-such, and that season is auspicious for that." Notice that much of sorcery is based on very specific times: go on such-and-such a day, on this date, at the hour when the moon is in this phase. And they would calculate the astrological seasons of their birth - born under such-and-such a constellation and under such-and-such a star - and therefore they were called "children of a soothsaying woman" (*benei onenah*), whose auspicious season was determined from the moment they entered the world. And "offspring of an adulterer" (*zera mena'ef*) - on the side of the father who committed adultery, "and she committed harlotry" (*vatizneh*) - on the side of the mother.
And what is the difference between *mena'ef* (adulterer) and *tizneh* (she committed harlotry)? The Malbim notes that the term *zenut* (harlotry, infidelity) is almost never applied to a male, except metaphorically, as in straying after Hashem. *Zenut* means to stray, to deviate from above. A woman has one husband, and the moment she strays she becomes forbidden to him; therefore her adultery is categorized as *zenut* - she was unfaithful to her husband. A man, however, may marry multiple wives and does not become forbidden to his wife through his infidelity. Certainly he has committed a grave sin, and all the more so if it was with a married woman, and he will be judged for it, but this is not termed *zenut*, since he did not deviate from his wife. Therefore, the term *zenut* applies primarily to a woman, and the term *ni'uf* (adultery) to a man.
Here the term *tizneh* expresses a twofold matter: both the literal infidelity of straying from her husband, and also the matter of idolatry, which is frequently expressed in terms of harlotry. For they would claim that the children born were children of the idol, conceived through harlotry in the house of idol worship - similar to the impure trinity of that man, claiming that a holy spirit entered him. These were pagan, idolatrous ideas adopted from the nations, who believed that if one engaged in harlotry in a house of idol worship, something of the divine spirit entered that fetus, rendering it a form of demigod endowed with supernatural power.
עַל מִי תִּתְעַנָּגוּ עַל מִי תַּרְחִיבוּ פֶה תַּאֲרִיכוּ לָשׁוֹן הֲלוֹא אַתֶּם יִלְדֵי פֶשַׁע זֶרַע שָׁקֶר. - Against whom do you delight yourselves? Against whom do you widen your mouth and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, an offspring of falsehood?
Rashi explains: after you abandoned the path of Hashem and turned away from Him, upon whom are you relying that life is so wonderful for you? In whom do you place your trust? If you trusted in Hashem, you could delight in Hashem. But if you do not trust in Him, in whom are you taking pleasure? And if you say, "Well, right now he feels fine" - that is like someone who jumped from the fiftieth floor; someone asks him how it's going, and he replies, "What fresh air, what a view!" Is that truly good? In just a moment you will hit the ground with a crash and it will all be over. So too here: in whom are you delighting when you know that everything is about to come to an end? "Against whom do you widen your mouth" - when they spoke, they opened their mouths wide, mocking the messengers of God, mocking His prophets, uttering harsh words and slandering them. He says to them: is it against the prophets of Hashem that you speak so harshly?
The Radak connects this to the end of the previous chapter: "'Come, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink' - they were indulging in food and drink as if the Titanic were not about to sink. The ministers play music and drink wine, completely oblivious to what is about to happen in the very next moment. And they would open their mouths wide and stick out their tongues against the prophets of Hashem. The prophet says to them: you should be crying out against yourselves, for you are children of transgression and an offspring of falsehood! Before you speak against them, look at your own source and root - born of harlotry and transgression.
The Malbim divides the verse into two parts, corresponding to the two epithets preceding it. "Against whom do you delight yourselves" corresponds to "children of a soothsaying woman": in whom do you place your trust that you indulge yourselves, saying, "I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink"? In the soothsaying and omens by which you divined that you were born under a good sign? For that was their mindset - they scrutinized astrological seasons and said, "This one was born under the sign of this idol, and that one under the sign of that one; you were born under an auspicious constellation, such-and-such a god is with you and dwells within you." Can you truly indulge yourselves and claim everything will be fine merely because you practiced some divination suggesting you were born under a good sign?
And "against whom do you widen your mouth" corresponds to "offspring of an adulterer": how can you widen your mouth and scoff, "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die," speaking at length to say there is nothing to worry about, there is neither justice nor a Judge, do whatever you wish? You ought to be ashamed of the very flaw within you, that you are "children of transgression" on the side of the mother who strayed, and "an offspring of falsehood" on the side of the father who committed adultery! In your state, it would be fitting for you to remain silent, yet instead you pride yourselves, saying, "I have good fortune, I will succeed in all my affairs, we are children of a soothsaying woman and were born at an auspicious time." Given your shameful standing, you should not be uttering a word.
הַנֵּחָמִים בָּאֵלִים תַּחַת כָּל עֵץ רַעֲנָן שֹׁחֲטֵי הַיְלָדִים בַּנְּחָלִים תַּחַת סְעִפֵי הַסְּלָעִים. - Who inflame yourselves among the terebinths under every leafy tree, who slaughter children in the wadis beneath the clefts of the rocks.
Rashi explains: "Who inflame yourselves among the terebinths" (*hanechamim ba'elim*) - who arouse themselves through seminal emission beneath terebinths and oaks, people who would commit transgressions beneath every leafy tree. "Who slaughter children in the wadis" - who would sacrifice their children to idolatry, "beneath the clefts of the rocks" - in the crevices of the boulders.
It should be noted that the textual reading here is not universally agreed upon. In our text it appears as shochatei (שֹׁחֲטֵי) with a right-dotted shin, and this is the reading of nearly all the commentators. However, the Gemara in Masechet Niddah expounds that one who emits semen in vain is considered as if he sheds blood, as it says, "slaughterers of children in the ravines" - do not read shochatei ("slaughterers of") but sochatei ("squeezers of"), for this is an act akin to squeezing. And Ibn Ezra did not treat this as a mere al tikrei ("do not read"), but actually had the textual reading of sochatei with a left-dotted sin: for on the verse "and I squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup" (va'eshchat otam), Ibn Ezra writes that this is like "squeezers of the children" (sochatei hayeladim), and here too he explains "squeezers of the children" as being like "and I squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup" - the exact same word.
The Radak introduces his comments by noting that the prophets frequently compare the Jewish people, when they worship idols, to a woman who is unfaithful to her husband. Just as a married woman is under the authority of her husband yet goes and seeks other masters, so too the Jewish people are under the reign of the Creator of the world yet seek other masters for themselves - "and went astray after the Baalim" - Ba'al being from the language of ownership and mastery, seeking other deities to reign over them. And this is in addition to what was mentioned earlier, that idolaters would establish brothels adjacent to idolatrous temples to entice people to come to them.
According to the Radak, hanechamim ("who inflame themselves") is related to "when the flocks grew warm" (yecham hatzon), growing heated, an expression referring to intimate relations through the language of heat. And ba'eilim refers to trees, as in "like a terebinth and an oak" (ke'elah vecha'alon), which is why the verse elaborates: "under every leafy tree" - there they would go to commit immorality. "Slaughterers of children" - slaughtering their children to idolatry and sacrificing their sons to it, as Yechezkel phrased it: "and when they slaughtered their children to their idols"; and the place of this deed was in the valleys, in the rocky crevices.
The Malbim connects this to the "children of transgression" mentioned earlier: now Scripture details who these children of transgression were. They would inflame themselves to bear children from the "gods" - and in his view, eilim is not an expression for trees, but for deities, idols. They would erect the idols under every leafy tree, engage in immoral acts there, and claim that the woman had conceived from the god. For that was the place and dwelling of those idols, and they consequently claimed that this offspring was a divine child fathered by that deity. They would say that the gods desired human women, along the lines of "the sons of God went into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them."
And what was the next stage? They would say: now the god demands that you sacrifice his son to him. "Slaughterers of children" - that very son who was born was slaughtered to the idols, in the ravines beneath the clefts of the rocks, and in doing so they believed the children would become sanctified and become divine themselves. This was customary in the worship of the heavenly hosts, as the Malbim notes from ancient lore and mythologies, where they believed that so-and-so ascended to heaven and became a god, and another fought that god, along with other vanities the ancient nations believed. According to this, "slaughterers of children" can even sound as though the gods themselves are the slaughterers, since they demanded that these children, supposedly their own offspring, be sacrificed before them.
בְּחַלְּקֵי נַחַל חֶלְקֵךְ הֵם הֵם גּוֹרָלֵךְ גַּם לָהֶם שָׁפַכְתְּ נֶסֶךְ הֶעֱלִית מִנְחָה הַעַל אֵלֶּה אֶנָּחֵם. - "Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they are your lot; to them also you have poured a drink offering, you have offered a meal offering. Should I relent concerning these?"
Bechelkei nachal refers to smooth river stones, the stones in the stream - like those King David took when he killed Goliath. Rashi explains: those smooth stones will be your portion, with them you will be stoned, because "they, they are your lot" - you chose them as your lot, and through them retribution will be taken upon you. For they used to take smooth stones and erect them as idolatrous monuments. You worshipped them; you will be punished through them. "To them also you have poured a drink offering" - upon those stones they would pour libations over the pillar. "Should I relent concerning these?" - could I relent over such evil deeds, meaning regret My decreed punishment and not bring harm upon you? Certainly you will face judgment for this and I will exact retribution from you.
The Radak explains similarly, that whenever they found a smooth, beautiful stone among the river stones, they would worship it, in the spirit of the phrase "he set up a brick and worshipped it" - said of that man who erected a brick and bowed down to it. However, there is a difference between the commentators: according to Rashi, "your portion" (chelkech) also encompasses the punishment - what you chose will be your lot, and through it you will be punished. The Radak does not mention stoning; rather, he interprets "your portion" as in "Hashem is my allotted portion and my cup" - this is what you chose as your god. And why did the verse use the term chelkech? The Radak explains that this is wordplay: since Scripture spoke of chalukei nachal (smooth river stones), it used the related word chelkech. This is often the way of Scripture, using poetic flourishes and employing the same root in two different senses.
The Malbim continues with his approach: they would engage in immorality at the place of idol worship in order to bear children for the idolatry, and afterward slaughter them and sacrifice them to it. "Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion" - there in the valley you give the deity its supposed portion, the sons you believed were fathered by the idol. "They, they are your lot" - in your folly and vanity you think: I am giving the god the son that was born to me, and through this my fortune will succeed, since I am offering sacrifices to him. Here, "lot" (goral) denotes fortune or destiny: you imagine that the gods will raise your lot and elevate your fortune.
The chapter opened with the passing of the righteous - "The righteous man perishes, and no one takes it to heart." We saw four approaches in explaining "for the righteous is taken away from before the evil": that he not witness the impending catastrophe, that his death serve as an atonement for the generation, that he be purified of any subtle flaw and enter the World of Truth whole, and that he not stand in prayer to nullify the decree. Correspondingly, four dimensions were explained in "He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one who walked uprightly." Contrasting this is the claim of the wicked that one fate befalls both the righteous and the wicked, and therefore there is neither judgment nor Judge - a claim the prophet thoroughly rejects. Once the protective barrier of the tzaddik has been removed, the prophet addresses the generation: "And you, draw near here" - draw near to judgment. "Children of the sorceress," who place their trust in soothsaying and astrology; "seed of an adulterer and a harlot," whose roots lie in the immorality practiced in the temples of idolatry; "who inflame yourselves among the idols" and "slaughterers of children," who went so far as to slaughter their own sons to idols; and finally, "among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion" - in those very stones you chose as a god, there lies your portion and your fate. "Should I relent concerning these?" - over deeds such as these there is no room for relenting, only for judgment.