Avodah Zarah 4A

בה, דכתיב: ״[כי] הנה היום בא בער כתנור והיו כל זדים וכל עשה רשעה קש ולהט אתם היום הבא אמר ה׳ צבאות אשר לא יעזב להם שרש וענף״, לא שורש ⁠— בעולם הזה, ולא ענף ⁠— לעולם הבא.

by it, as it is written: “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, should be stubble; and the day that comes should set them ablaze, said YHWH of hosts, that it should leave them neither root nor branch” (Malachi 3:19). This verse is interpreted as follows: Neither a root should remain for them in this world, nor will a branch grow for them in the World-to-Come. This teaches that the sun itself will burn and consume the wicked in the future.

צדיקים מתרפאין בה, דכתיב: ״וזרחה לכם יראי שמי שמש צדקה ומרפא בכנפיה וגו׳״, ולא עוד אלא שמתעדנין בה, שנאמר: ״ויצאתם ופשתם כעגלי מרבק״.

And the righteous will be healed by it, as it is written in the next verse: “But to you that fear My Name should the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings” (Malachi 3:20). And moreover, not only will they be healed by it, but they will even be rejuvenated by it, as it is stated in the continuation of that verse: “And you should go forth and leap as calves of the stall.”

דבר אחר: מה דגים שבים ⁠— כל הגדול מחבירו בולע את חבירו, אף בני אדם ⁠— אלמלא מוראה של מלכות, כל הגדול מחבירו בולע את חבירו. והיינו דתנן: רבי חנינא סגן הכהנים אומר: הוי מתפלל בשלומה של מלכות, שאלמלא מוראה של מלכות ״איש את רעהו חיים בלעו״.

Alternatively, just as in the case of fish of the sea, any fish that is bigger than another swallows the other, so too in the case of people, were it not for the fear of the ruling government, anyone who is bigger than another would swallow the other. And this is as we learned in a Mishnah (Avot 3:2) that R' Ḥanina, the deputy High Priest, says: One should pray for the continued welfare of the government, as were it not for the fear of the government, every man would swallow his neighbor alive.