Rabbi Elazar HaKappar says: Jealousy, lust, and honor remove a man from the world.

He used to say: The born shall die, the dead shall be resurrected, and the living shall be judged. To know, to make known, and to understand that He is God, He is the Molder, He is the Creator, He is the Discerner, He is the Judge, He is [the] Witness, He is [the] Litigant, and He will ultimately pass judgment. Blessed is He, for before Him is neither iniquity, nor forgetfulness, nor fa-voritism, nor acceptance of bribes, for everything is His.  Know that everything is according to the accounting. And do not let your [evil] inclination assure you that the grave is a refuge for you, for against your will you are formed, and against your will you are born, and against your will you live, and against your will you die, and against your will you are destined to give judgment and accounting before the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He.

With ten Divine Statements the world was created. And what does this come to teach? Is it not evident that it could have been created with one Divine Statement? Rather, [it is] to hold liable the wicked who destroy the world that was created with ten Di-vine Statements, and to bestow optimal reward upon the righteous who sustain the world that was created with ten Divine Statements.

[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.”

Ten things were created on the first Sabbath eve at twilight, and these are they: (1) the opening of the earth's mouth, (2) the mouth of [Miriam's] well, (3) the mouth of the donkey, (4) the rainbow, (5) the manna, (6) the staff, (7) the shamir worm, (8) the script, (9) the reading, (10) and the Tablets. And some say, also the destructive spirits, Moses' burial place, and the ram of our father Abraham. And some say, also [the first man-made] tongs were made with [Heavenly] tongs.

Seven things [are found] in a crude person and seven in a wise person: (1) A wise person does not speak before someone who is greater than himself in wisdom or in number; (2) he does not interrupt the words of his friend; (3) he does not hasten to answer; (4) he asks relevant questions and answers appropriately; (5) he discusses first things first and last things last; (6) about that which he has not heard he says, “I have not heard”; (7) and he concedes the truth. And the opposite [is found] in a crude person.

Seven types of punishment come to the world on account of seven distinct sins: (1) [If] some tithe and some do not tithe, a famine of drought comes, [in which] some are hungry and some are satiated. [If] they decide not to tithe, a famine of confu-sion and of drought comes. [If they decide] not to separate challah, a famine of destruction comes. (2) Pestilence comes to the world on account of the executions stated in the Torah which were not given over to the court, (3) and on account of the pro-duce of the seventh [year]. (4) [The] sword comes to the world on account of delaying justice, on account of perverting justice, and on account of those who render Torah decisions counter to halachah.

(5) Savage beasts come to the world on account of vain oaths, (6) and on account of the desecration of the Name [of God]. (7) Exile comes to the world on account of those who worship idols, on account of illicit relations, on account of murder, and on account of the abandonment of the Land.  At four times pestilence is increased: (1) in the fourth [year], (2) in the sev-enth [year], (3) at the departure of the seventh [year], (4) and at the departure of Succos each year: in the fourth [year] be-cause of maaser ani of the third [year]; in the seventh [year] because of maaser ani of the sixth [year]; at the departure of the seventh [year] because of the produce of the seventh [year]; and at the departure of Succos each year because of stealing the gifts of the poor.