Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
— so that it perishes at forty. On this explanation we understand extension and reduction.
,
What the servant actually receives of lifespan after extension or reduction is what his Creator truly knows he will live.
.
This means He knows that He built the body's original power to last seventy, and that He will add thirty to it or subtract thirty from it.
, ,
And from where do extension and reduction come? From His word: 'Fear of the Lord adds days, while the years of the wicked are shortened' (Prov 10:27).
, ,
He said of one of the righteous: 'I have added fifteen years to your days' (Isa 38:5); and He said in many reward-statements: 'so that your days may be lengthened' — and the like.
, , . , .
And He said of some of the wicked: 'The Lord struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt' (Exod 12:29), 'those who died in the plague' — and the like. Had they died at the natural term of their power, there would be no plague on account of their sins, and nothing would have been lifted by Phinehas's act.
.
The prophet has already distinguished plague from the natural term — saying: 'But if the Lord strikes him, or his day comes and he dies, or if he goes down into battle and perishes' (1 Sam 26:10).
, , ,
But I say that not every righteous person receives an extension of lifespan, nor is every wicked person shortened — rather, it depends on the Creator's choice and on what is beneficial.
, , .
One among the righteous who is not extended — the reward of the world to come awaits him; and one among the wicked who is not cut off — the punishment of the world to come awaits him, as He said: 'For there is a time for every purpose and for every work' (Qoh 8:6).
. . , ,
Section 7. Having clarified these matters, I should explain the condition of the soul at the time of its departure from the body. I say: the forebears have informed us that the angel sent by the Creator to separate —