Se uno dicesse a un osservatore non pagato: "Dov'è il mio bue?" E disse: "È morto", quando, in realtà, era stato rotto, sequestrato, rubato o perso— "Era rotto", quando, in realtà, era morto, o era stato sequestrato, rubato o perso — "Fu sequestrato", quando, in realtà, era morto o era stato rotto, rubato o perso — "Fu rubato", quando, in realtà, era morto, o era stato rotto, sequestrato o perso — "Era perduto", quando, in realtà, era morto, o era stato rotto, sequestrato o rubato —"Ti assalisco", e lui rispose: "Amen", è esente (da un'offerta). [Perché se avesse ammesso (la verità), non avrebbe pagato nulla, in modo che qui non si potesse negare il denaro. E anche se imprecava falsamente, la Torah prescriveva un'offerta solo in caso di negazione del denaro. Allo stesso modo un giudice può imporre un giuramento solo se, se lo ammettesse (la domanda), sarebbe responsabile per il pagamento.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
ואמר אמן פטור – for if he had admitted it, he would not pay anything; it is found there is no denial of money [owed], and even though he had taken a false oath, the Torah did not obligate him a sacrifice for the oath other than where he denied money [owed]. Similarly, the judge cannot make him take an oath other than on a matter that if he admitted, he would be liable to pay money.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Introduction
This mishnah deals with the oath taken by the unpaid guardian, who as we learned in the previous mishnah, can always take an oath to exculpate himself from liability.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
If he [the owner] said to the unpaid guardian, “Where is my ox?” and he replied to him, “It died,” whereas in reality it was injured or captured or stolen or lost; [Or he replied], “It was injured,” whereas in reality it died or was captured or stolen or lost; [Or he replied,] “It was captured,” whereas in reality it died or was injured or stolen or lost; [Or he replied,] “It was stolen,” whereas in reality it died or was injured or captured or lost; [Or he replied,] “It was lost,” whereas in reality it died or was injured or captured or stolen; [And the owner said,] “I adjure you,” and he said, “amen”, he is exempt [from having to bring a sacrifice for a false oath]. As we learned in the previous mishnah, an unpaid guardian can always take an oath and exempt himself from repaying the owner if he cannot return the object under guard. It doesn’t matter whether the animal died, was injured, taken captive, stolen or lost; in all of these cases the unpaid guardian may swear that he was not negligent and be exempt from having to pay back the owner. In the five different scenarios in our mishnah the unpaid guardian lies with regards to what happened to the animal. However, even if he had told the truth, he would not have been liable to pay back the owner. For instance, if he says that the animal died, but in truth it had been lost, he has lied, but he could have told the truth without having to pay back the owner. In all of these cases, even if the unpaid guardian swears to his lie, he is not liable to bring a sacrifice. Since his false oath was unnecessary it does not obligate him for the same consequences as an oath that did actually exempt him from paying back the value of the animal under his watch.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Questions for Further Thought: • Why does the mishnah have to list all of these possibilities? What might a reader have thought had some of the possibilities not been listed?
