Mesorat%20hashas for Sanhedrin 1:5

אֵין דָּנִין לֹא אֶת הַשֵּׁבֶט וְלֹא אֶת נְבִיא הַשֶּׁקֶר וְלֹא אֶת כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. וְאֵין מוֹצִיאִין לְמִלְחֶמֶת הָרְשׁוּת, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. אֵין מוֹסִיפִין עַל הָעִיר וְעַל הָעֲזָרוֹת, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. אֵין עוֹשִׂין סַנְהֶדְרִיּוֹת לַשְּׁבָטִים, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. אֵין עוֹשִׂין עִיר הַנִּדַּחַת, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. וְאֵין עוֹשִׂין עִיר הַנִּדַּחַת בַּסְּפָר, וְלֹא שְׁלֹשָׁה, אֲבָל עוֹשִׂין אַחַת אוֹ שְׁתָּיִם:

A tribe and a false prophet and a high-priest are not judged except by a beth-din of seventy-one. [("a tribe":) the majority of a tribe that served idols, it being written (Deuteronomy 17:5): "Then you shall take that man or that woman … to your gates": A man or a woman you take out to your gates (of judgment), but you do not take out a tribe to your gates, but to the Great Beth-din (of seventy-one judges.) ("a false prophet":) This is derived by identity: "thing-thing" from a rebellious elder, it being written here (in respect to a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18:20): "…who shall presume to speak a thing," and in respect to a rebellious elder (Ibid. 17:8): "If there be hidden from you a thing." Just as a rebellious elder is judged by the Great Beth-din, viz. (Ibid.): "Then you shall arise and go up to the place, etc.", so a false prophet is judged by the Great Beth-din. ("a high-priest":) it being written (Exodus 18:22): "The great thing shall they bring to you": The things of the "great one" (i.e., the high-priest) shall they bring to you (Moses)", and Moses was in place of seventy-one.] And the people are not taken out to a "permitted" war. [(Every war except the war with the seven nations and the war with Amalek is called a "permitted" war)] except by a beth-din of seventy-one, [it being written in respect to David (I Chronicles 27:34): "and after Achitofel came Benayahu ben Yehoyada": Achitofel — the counselor; Benayahu ben Yehoyada — the Sanhedrin, of which he (Benayahu) was the mufla (the "elect"), whom all followed.] Additions to the city, [Jerusalem, whose sanctity is greater than that of the rest of Eretz Yisrael] and to the azaroth (the Temple courts), [whose sanctity is greater than that of Jerusalem] are made only by a beth-din of seventy-one. [It is not permitted to originate sanctity except through a beth-din of seventy-one, it being written (Exodus 25:9): "According to all that I show you … and thus shall you do," for (subsequent) generations, viz.: Just as the tabernacle was sanctified through Moses, who was in place of the Great Sanhedrin, so, for (subsequent) generations, additions to the city and to the azaroth are made by the Great Sanhedrin.] Sanhedraoth (of twenty-three judges) are not made for the tribes except by a beth-din of seventy-one, [as we find with Moses, who established sanhedraoth, Moses being in place of seventy-one.] A "condemned city" is declared only by a beth-din of seventy-one, [it being written (Deuteronomy 17:5): "Then you shall take out that man or that women … to your gates": You take out the man or woman to your "gates," i.e., to the beth-din (of twenty-three) in your gates; but you do not take out the entire city to your gates, but to the "distinctive gate," (i.e., the Great Sanhedrin)]. And a "condemned city" is not made in a border city, [one between Eretz Yisrael and the land of the nations, it being written (Deuteronomy 13:14): "from your midst," and not from a border city. The rationale: Lest the nations hear and come and ravage Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, the city is not made "a heap forever," as indicated for a condemned city, but its inhabitants are killed alone.] And not three, but they make one or two. [i.e., One beth-din does not make three cities "condemned cities" in one place, close to one another. But they do make them in two or three places.]

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