As Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that it is written: “And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather around and I will tell you what will occur to you in the end of days” (Genesis 49:1). Jacob wanted to reveal to his sons when the complete redemption would arrive at the end of days (see Daniel 12:13), but the Divine Presence abandoned him, rendering him unable to prophesy. He said: Perhaps the Divine Presence has abandoned me because, Heaven forfend, one of my descendants is unfit, as was the case with my grandfather Abraham, from whom Ishmael emerged, and like my father Isaac, from whom Esau emerged. His sons said to him: Hear Israel, our father, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. They said: Just as there is only one God in your heart, so too, there is only one in our hearts. At that moment Jacob our father said in praise: Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever, as all his children were righteous.

(4) This is the general principle: When a child is born from a servant, a gentile, a maid-servant, or a female gentile, he is like his mother. We are not concerned with the father. For this reason, [the Sages] permitted a mamzer to marry a maid-servant to purify the lineage of his descendants. For he can free them and they will be free men. [Our Sages] did not ordain a decree forbidding a maid-servant to a mamzer, so that he can legitimize his sons.

(14) “Now, therefore, revere GOD and render service with undivided loyalty; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve GOD. (15) Or, if you are loath to serve GOD, choose this day which ones you are going to serve—the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or those of the Amorites in whose land you are settled; but I and my household will serve GOD.” (16) In reply, the people declared, “Far be it from us to forsake the ETERNAL and serve other gods!

(20) If you forsake the ETERNAL and serve alien gods, [God] will turn and deal harshly with you and make an end of you, after having been gracious to you.” (21) But the people replied to Joshua, “No, we will serve the ETERNAL !” (22) Thereupon Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have by your own act chosen to serve the ETERNAL.” “Yes, we are!” they responded.

(1) While Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the House of God, a very great crowd of Israelites gathered about him, men, women, and children; the people were weeping bitterly. (2) Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel of the family of Elam spoke up and said to Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God by bringing into our homes foreign women from the peoples of the land; but there is still hope for Israel despite this.^-a (3) Now then, let us make a covenant with our God to expel all these women and those who have been born to them, in accordance with the bidding of the Lord and of all who are concerned over the commandment of our God, and let the Teaching be obeyed. (4) Take action, for the responsibility is yours and we are with you. Act with resolve!” (5) So Ezra at once put the officers of the priests and the Levites and all Israel under oath to act accordingly, and they took the oath.

(27) the Jews undertook and irrevocably obligated themselves and their descendants, and all who might join them, to observe these two days in the manner prescribed and at the proper time each year.

Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding. Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai.

(3) Hear, Israel: Adonoy is our God, Adonoy is One.