372. He opened with the verse: "Yah has chastised me severely: but He has not given me up to death" (Tehilim 118:18). King David said, "YAH HAS CHASTISED ME SEVERELY" about all that he had done in this world and he said about the confidence he had in that world, "BUT HE HAS NOT GIVEN ME UP TO DEATH." For from everything that happened to him in this world - that he was pursued and he escaped from all his pursuers to a strange land, in the land of Moab, and in the land of the Philistines - the Holy One, blessed be He, has saved him and did not leave him to die. He said, "BUT HE HAS NOT GIVEN ME UP TO DEATH" about his confidence in that world, THE ETERNAL.

373. David said, If I sinned here against the Holy One, blessed be He, I have already been smitten here and have received my punishment. He purified me from all my sins and did not leave my punishments to that world that is after my death. Definitely, "Yah has chastised me severely" in this world to cleanse me. "But He has not given me up to death" in that world to take revenge from me there. RABBI YOSI RETURNED TO TALK ABOUT HIMSELF AND SAID, As for myself, the Holy One, blessed be He, has already cleansed me once in this world. From here on, I need to be careful AND WATCH OUT that I should not be shamed in the World to Come.