[There were] ten generations from Adam to Noah. [This is] to show how much patience [exists] before Him, for all those gen-erations angered [God] increasingly, until He brought upon them the waters of the Flood.  [There were] ten generations from Noah to Abraham. [This is] to show how much patience exists before Him, for all those generations were increasingly contemptuous [before God], until Abraham came and took upon himself the reward for them all.

[In] ten tests our father Abraham, peace be on him, was tested and he stood up to all of them. [This is] to make known how great is the endear- ment of our father Abraham, peace be on him.

Ten miracles were performed for our ancestors in Egypt and ten [miracles] at the Sea [of Reeds].  (Ten Plagues the Holy One, Blessed is He, brought on the Egyptians in Egypt and ten [plagues] at the Sea [of Reeds].)  [With] ten trials our forefathers tried the Holy One, Blessed is He, in the Wilderness, as it says: They have tried Me now ten times and have not lis-tened to My voice.

Ten miracles were performed for our ancestors in the Holy Temple: (1) No woman ever miscarried because of the fragrant smell of the sacrificial meats, (2) the sacrificial meats never became spoiled, (3) a fly was never seen in the [Temple] butcher-ing-area, (4) a seminal discharge never occurred to the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur, (5) rains never extinguished the fires of the Altar Pyre, (6) the winds never overcame the column of smoke [rising from atop the Altar], (7) no cause for disqualification was ever found in the omer, the shtei halechem or the lechem hapanim, (8) they [who assembled in the Temple] would be standing crowded together yet prostrated themselves in ample space, (9) no snake nor scorpion ever harmed [anyone] in Je-rusalem, (10) and no man ever said to his friend, “The space is too restrictive for me to stay in Jerusalem.”