Many rabbinic sources state that repentance is of paramount importance to the existence of this world, so that it was one of the seven provisions which God made before the Creation.
他必与许多人坚定一个七的盟约；到一七之半，他必使祭祀和供献止息，并且以那造成荒凉者的可憎之物代替祭祀和供献，直到所定之完全的毁坏倾倒在那造成荒凉者的身上。