Devarim (Deuteronomy)

4:5-8 See, I have imparted to you laws and rules, as the Lord my God has commanded me, for you to abide by in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing of all these laws will say, “Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people,” For what great nation is there that has a god so close at hand as is the Lord our God whenever we call upon Him? Or what great nation has laws and rules as perfect as all this Teaching that I set before you this day?

Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs)

3:1-2 Upon my couch at night, I sought the one I love—I sought, but I found him not. I must rise and roam the town, through the streets and through the squares; I must seek the one I love. I sought but I found him not.
5:6-8 I opened the door for my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. I was faint because of what he had said (or, because of him). I sought, but found him not; I called, but he did not answer. I met the watchmen who patrol the town; they struck me, they bruised me. The guards of the walls stripped me of my mantle. I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem! If you meet my beloved, tell him this: that I am faint with love.
6:1-2 “Whither has your beloved gone, O fairest of women? Whither has your beloved turned? Let us seek him with you.” My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to pick lilies.

Isaiah

50:1-2a Thus said the Lord: Where is the bill of divorce of your mother whom I dismissed? And which of my creditors was it to whom I sold you off? You were only sold off for your sins, and your mother dismissed for your crimes. Why, when I came, was there no one there? Why, when I called, would none respond? Is my arm, then, too short to rescue, have I not the power to save?

Jeremiah

3:6-9, 12b-13a The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what Rebel Israel did, going to every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and whoring there? I thought: After she has done all these things, she will come back to Me. But she did not come back; and her sister, Faithless Judah, saw it. I noted: Because Rebel Israel had committed adultery, I cast her off and handed her a bill of divorce; yet her sister, Faithless Judah, was not afraid—she too went and whored. Indeed, the land was defiled by her casual immorality, as she committed adultery with stone and with wood...I will not look on you in anger, for I am compassionate—declares the Lord; I do not bear a grudge for all time. Only recognize your sin...
31:31-33, 35, 40b See, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, though I espoused them—declares the Lord. But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Lord: I will put my teaching into their innermost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be my people...For I will forgive their iniquities, and remember their sins no more...They shall never again be uprooted or overthrown.

Talmud Bavli Shabbat 88a

They [Israel] stood under the mountain (Exodus 19:17b). R. Abdimi b. Hama b. Hasa said: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, overturned the mountain upon them like an [inverted] cask, and said to them, “If you accept the Torah, it will be good; if not, this shall be your burial.”

Shmot Rabbah 21:5  (Midrash on Exodus)  

Trans. from Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narratives from Classical Hebrew Literature, Eds. David Stern and Mark Jay Mirsky

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said, What is this like? It is like a king who was on a journey. A princess cried out to him, “Help! Save me from these bandits!” The king heard her and rescued her. Later, he wished to take the princess to be his wife, and he longed for her to speak to him, but she did not wish to. What did the king do? He set bandits against her—so that she would cry out to the king. He said to her, “For this I longed—to hear your voice.”
Likewise Israel: When they were enslaved in Egypt, they began to cry out, lifting their eyes to the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, “A long time after that, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God” (Exodus 2:23). And immediately, “God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them” (Exodus 2:25). The Holy One, blessed be He, began to take the Israelites out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. He wished to hear Israel’s voice again, but they were not willing. What did he do? He incited Pharaoh to pursue them, as it is said, “As Pharaoh drew near” (Exodus 14:10), and immediately thereafter, “the Israelites cried out to the Lord” (Exodus 14:10). At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “For this I longed—to hear your voice,” as it is said “My dove, in the cranny of the rocks, hidden by the cliff, led me see your face, let me hear your voice (Song of Songs 2:14). The verse does not say “let me hear a voice” but “your voice”—the same voice that I heard in Egypt. Therefore it is written, “Let me hear your voice.”

Eicha Rabbah 3:211 (Midrash on Lamentations)

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said, It is like a king who took a certain woman to be his wife. He wrote her a very long marriage contract. “So many bridal chambers will I make for you,” he wrote her. “So many jewels will I bestow upon you, so much silver and gold will I give you.” The he left her for many years while he journeyed to a distant province. All this time her neighbours taunted her. “Has your husband not abandoned you?” they said. “Go! Take another man for yourself!” The woman wept and sighed, but then she would go inside her bridal chamber, read her marriage contract, and console herself. Many days and years later, the king returned. “You amaze me!” he said to her. “How have you been able to wait for me all these years?” She replied, “My lord, O king! If not for the generous marriage contract you wrote me, my neighbours would indeed have led me astray.”
So the nations of the world vex the children of Israel. “Your God no longer wants you,” they say. “He has abandoned you, and removed His Presence from among you. Come! Join us, and we will appoint you rulers and commanders and generals.” But the children of Israel enter their synagogues and houses of study where they read in the Torah, “For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you...and I will set my tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you” (Leviticus 26:9, 11)—and so they console themselves. And in the future, when the redemption arrives, the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to Israel, “My children, you amaze me! How have you waited for me all these years?” They will reply, Master of the universe! If not for the Torah you gave us, and the verse, ‘For I will have respect unto you and I shall not abhor you,’ which we read when we entered our synagogues and houses of study, the nations of the world would indeed have led us astray.”

Compiled by Shira Wallach

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