Sotah 21A

הן תהוי ארכא לשלותך״, וכתיב: ״כלא מטא על נבוכדנצר מלכא״, וכתיב: ״לקצת ירחין תרי עשר״!

and then there should be an extension to your tranquility” (Daniel 4:24). And it is written: “All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar” (Daniel 4:25), and it is written in the following verse that this occurred: “At the end of 12 months” (Daniel 4:26). None of the opinions in the baraita are in accordance with the Mishnah’s statement that merit can delay punishment for up to 3 years.

לעולם רבי ישמעאל, ואשכח קרא דאמר ותני, דכתיב: ״כה אמר ה׳ על שלשה פשעי אדום״,

The Talmud answers: Actually, the Mishnah is in accordance with the opinion of R' Yishmael, who states that merit delays punishment for one year, and he found a verse which states and repeats the possibility that punishment can be delayed, indicating that merit can delay punishment up to 3 times, as it is written: “Thus says YHWH: For 3 transgressions of Edom, yes, but for 4, I will not reverse it” (Amos 1:11). Punishment can therefore be delayed for 3 consecutive periods of one year.

ומאי אף על פי שאין ראיה לדבר זכר לדבר? דלמא שאני גוים, דלא מפקיד דינא עלייהו.

The Talmud asks: And what does R' Yishmael mean by stating: Although there is no explicit proof for the concept of merit delaying punishment for 12 months, there is an allusion to the concept? The verses he cites state explicitly that punishment can be delayed for 12 months. The Talmud answers: The proof is not explicit, as perhaps non-Jews are different, as swift judgment is not administered upon them as readily as it is upon the Jewish people, with whom God is more precise in executing judgment.

ויש זכות תולה שלש שנים כו׳. זכות דמאי? אילימא זכות דתורה ⁠— הא אינה מצווה ועושה היא! אלא זכות דמצוה.

§ The Mishnah states: And there is a merit that delays punishment for 3 years. The Talmud asks: Which merit can delay the punishment of a sota? If we say it is the merit of the Torah that she has studied; but a woman who studies Torah is one who is not commanded to do so and performs a mitzva, whose reward is less than that of one who is obligated? Therefore, it would be insufficient to suspend her punishment. Rather, perhaps it is the merit of a mitzva that she performed.