Study Makkot folio 24B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
באש, ולא נבכה?! אמר להן: לכך אני מצחק, ומה לעוברי רצונו כך, לעושי רצונו על אחת כמה וכמה.
by fire, and should we not weep? R' Akiva said to them: That is why I am laughing. If for those who violate His will, the wicked, it is so and they are rewarded for the few good deeds they performed, for those who perform His will, all the more so will they be rewarded.
שוב פעם אחת היו עולין לירושלים, כיון שהגיעו להר הצופים קרעו בגדיהם, כיון שהגיעו להר הבית ראו שועל שיצא מבית קדשי הקדשים, התחילו הן בוכין ורבי עקיבא מצחק. אמרו לו: מפני מה אתה מצחק? אמר להם: מפני מה אתם בוכים? אמרו לו: מקום שכתוב בו ״והזר הקרב יומת״, ועכשיו שועלים הלכו בו, ולא נבכה?!
The Talmud relates another incident involving those rabbis. On another occasion they were ascending to Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple. When they arrived at Mount Scopus and saw the site of the Temple, they rent their garments in mourning, in keeping with halakhic practice. When they arrived at the Temple Mount, they saw a fox that emerged from the site of the Holy of Holies. They began weeping, and R' Akiva was laughing. They said to him: For what reason are you laughing? R' Akiva said to them: For what reason are you weeping? They said to him: This is the place concerning which it is written: “And the non-priest who approaches should die” (Numbers 1:51), and now foxes walk in it; and should we not weep?
אמר להן: לכך אני מצחק, דכתיב: ״ואעידה לי עדים נאמנים את אוריה הכהן ואת זכריה בן יברכיהו״ – וכי מה ענין אוריה אצל זכריה? אוריה במקדש ראשון, וזכריה במקדש שני! אלא: תלה הכתוב נבואתו של זכריה בנבואתו של אוריה.
R' Akiva said to them: That is why I am laughing, as it is written, when God revealed the future to the prophet Isaiah: “And I will take to Me faithful witnesses to attest: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah” (Isaiah 8:2). Now what is the connection between Uriah and Zechariah? He clarifies the difficulty: Uriah prophesied during the First Temple period, and Zechariah prophesied during the Second Temple period, as he was among those who returned to Zion from Babylonia. Rather, the verse established that fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah is dependent on fulfillment of the prophecy of Uriah.
Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.