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Chapter 5. Now that I have explained and clarified these appointed terms, I say: we have established that if our repentance is not completed, we wait until the appointed time is complete. And if the time is complete and we have not repented, it is possible for the Redemption to come while we are still in our sins.
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Since our sojourn has grown long and we have not returned — we were rejected without repentance, and this will come about through hardship. The transmitted reports of the prophets indicate that severe afflictions and distress will befall us, so that we choose repentance amid them and thereby deserve the Redemption.
This is what our predecessors said: if
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"If Israel repents they are redeemed; if not, the Holy One sets over them a king whose decrees are harsher than those of Haman, and then they repent and are redeemed."
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They also said that the trigger for this will be the appearance of a man from the lineage of Joseph in the Galilee mountains, and a band of stragglers from the nation will gather around him.
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His course will lead to Jerusalem, which the Romans will have occupied, and he will stay there for a period. Then a man called Armilus will come against him in an attack — he will fight them, breach the city, kill and take captive and destroy.
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And the man from Joseph's lineage will be among those killed. A great calamity will then befall the nation at that time — the worst of it being their broken relations with the kingdoms, until they are expelled into the wilderness where they will suffer hunger and thirst.
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And amid what befalls them, many will leave their faith — the remaining elect will stay. Elijah the Prophet will then appear to them, and the Redemption will come.
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After hearing this account, I examined Scripture and found in it a place for every one of these points. The first of them: that Rome will hold Jerusalem at the time of the Redemption — as it says: "Deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau."
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And that its destruction will be carried out by one of Rachel's descendants — as it says: "Hear then the counsel of the Lord which He has counseled against Edom, and His purposes which He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them out."
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And that only individuals from the nation — not many — will gather around him, as it says: "And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and bring you to Zion." And that
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The attacker will overcome them, take them captive, and lead them away — as it says: "Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, and your plunder will be divided in your midst" — and it says: "I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem for battle…"
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And that the appointed leader will be among those killed, and they will weep over him and lament — and about this it says: "And they will look to Me, the one they pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child" — and the rest of the passage.
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And that great calamity will befall the nation at that time — as it says: "It will be a time of trouble, the like of which has never been."
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And that enmity will arise between them and many of the nations, until they expel them into great wildernesses — as it says: "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples."
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And that they will hunger, thirst, and suffer just as the earlier ones did — as it continues: "As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you."
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And that they will be refined and purified like silver and gold, until it becomes known how patient they were and how firm their belief — as it says: "I will make you pass under the staff and bring you into the bond of the covenant."
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And that these events will cause those weak in faith to leave their religion, saying: "This is what we hoped for, and this is all that came of it" — about them it continues: "And I will purge from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me."
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And that Elijah the Prophet will appear to those who remain — as it says: "Behold, I am sending you Elijah the prophet…" and "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children."
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All of these matters are explicitly expounded in Scripture, and the transmitted reports added their ordering and sequence, one thing after another, in the manner I have set forth.
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Praised be the One who blessed us by foretelling these tribulations, so that they do not overtake us unawares and cause us to despair. And of their occurrence He also said: "From the ends of the earth we hear song: glory to the righteous" — to the end of that passage.