Study Yevamot folio 50A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אלו שני דורות. זכה — משלימין לו, לא זכה — פוחתין לו, דברי רבי עקיבא. וחכמים אומרים: זכה — מוסיפים לו, לא זכה — פוחתין לו.
these are the years of the generations, i.e., the allotted lifespan that is preordained for each individual before birth. If he is deserving, God completes his allotted lifespan. If he is not deserving, God reduces his lifespan; this is the statement of R' Akiva. R' Akiva assumes one cannot outlive one’s preordained allotted lifespan. The Rabbis say: If he is deserving, God adds years to his lifespan. If he is not deserving, God reduces his lifespan. According to the Rabbis, Isaiah’s prophecy is referring to one who deserved to have extra years added to his allotted lifespan, and the verse in the Torah is referring to one who deserved to merely complete his lifespan.
אמרו לו לרבי עקיבא, הרי הוא אומר: ״והוספתי על ימיך חמש עשרה שנה״! אמר להם: משלו הוסיפו לו. תדע, שהרי נביא עומד ומתנבא ״הנה בן נולד לבית דוד יאשיהו שמו״, ועדיין לא נולד מנשה!
The Rabbis said to R' Akiva: How can you claim that one cannot outlive one’s allotted lifespan when there is a verse that states that Isaiah prophesied to Hezekiah as Hezekiah lay on his deathbed: “And I will add to your days 15 years”? R' Akiva said to them: Those additional years that God added to his lifespan are from his own allotted lifespan. When Hezekiah sinned God decreed that his lifespan be shortened, but when he repented God allowed him to live out those years. Know that this is so, as a prophet during the reign of King Jeroboam stood and prophesied: “Behold, a son should be born to the House of David, Josiah is his name” (I Kings 13:2). Josiah was the grandson of Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, and at the time Hezekiah lay on his deathbed, Manasseh had not yet been born. Evidently, Hezekiah’s preordained allotted lifespan had still not been completed.