Sukkah 52B

רע כל היום״. אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש: יצרו של אדם מתגבר עליו בכל יום ומבקש להמיתו, שנאמר: ״צופה רשע לצדיק ומבקש להמיתו״, ואלמלא הקדוש ברוך הוא שעוזר לו ⁠— אינו יכול לו, שנאמר: ״ה׳ לא יעזבנו בידו ולא ירשיענו בהשפטו״.

evil all day” (Genesis 6:5). All day long his thoughts and desires are for evil. R' Shimon ben Lakish said: A person’s evil inclination overcomes him each day and seeks to kill him, as it stated: “The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to kill him” (Psalms 37:32); the wicked here is referring to the wickedness inside one’s heart. And if not for God Who assists him with the good inclination, he would not overcome it, as it is stated: “YHWH will not leave him in his hand, nor suffer him to be condemned when he is judged” (Psalms 37:33).

תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל: אם פגע בך מנוול זה ⁠— משכהו לבית המדרש. אם אבן הוא ⁠— נימוח, אם ברזל הוא מתפוצץ. אם אבן הוא נימוח, דכתיב: ״הוי כל צמא לכו למים״, וכתיב: ״אבנים שחקו מים״. אם ברזל הוא מתפוצץ, דכתיב: ״הלא כה דברי כאש נאם ה׳ וכפטיש יפוצץ סלע״.

The school of R' Yishmael taught: If this scoundrel, the evil inclination, accosted you, seeking to tempt you to sin, drag it to the study hall and study Torah. If it is like a stone, it will be dissolved by the Torah. If it is like iron, it will be shattered. The Talmud elaborates: If it is like stone, it will be dissolved, as it is written: “Ho, everyone who is thirsty, come you for the water” (Isaiah 55:1), water in this context meaning Torah; and it is written: “Stones were worn by water” (Job 14:19). If it is like iron, it will be shattered, as it is written: “Is not My word like fire, says YHWH; and like a hammer that shatters rock” (Jeremiah 23:29).

אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן: יצר הרע מסיתו לאדם בעולם הזה, ומעיד עליו לעולם הבא, שנאמר: ״מפנק מנוער עבדו ואחריתו יהיה מנון״⁠ — שכן באטב״‎ח של רבי חייא, קורין לסהדה מנון.

R' Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that R' Yoḥanan said: The evil inclination incites a person to sin in this world, and then testifies against him in the next world, as it is stated: “He that delicately brings up his servant from a child should have him become a master [manon] at the last” (Proverbs 29:21). Initially, in one’s youth, the evil inclination, which should have been enslaved to him, takes control of him and causes him to sin. Then, ultimately, that same evil inclination becomes his manon. Manon means witness, as in R' Ḥiyya’s coded alphabet in which alef and tet and beit and ḥet, etc., are interchanged. Witness [sahada] is called manon. The letters mem and samekh, nun and heh, and vav and dalet are interchanged with other letters.