Study Bava Metzia folio 83A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ואפילו במקום מדרון נמי – התינח היכא דליכא ראיה, אבל היכא דאיכא ראיה – ניתי ראיה ונפטר. דתניא, איסי בן יהודה אומר: ״אין ראה שבעת ה׳ תהיה בין שניהם״, הא יש רואה – יביא ראיה ויפטר.
And even on an inclined plane, this works out well where there is no evidence, i.e., in a case without witnesses. But where there is evidence, let him bring evidence and be exempt. Why then is he forced to take an oath? As it is taught in a baraita: Isi ben Yehuda says, with regard to the verse: “And it died or was hurt or driven away without an eyewitness, an oath of YHWH should be between them” (Exodus 22:9–10), that one can infer from here that if there is an eyewitness, let him bring evidence and be exempt.
ורבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: שבועה זו תקנת חכמים היא, שאם אי אתה אומר כן – אין לך אדם המעביר חבית לחבירו ממקום למקום.
The Talmud previously cited R' Elazar’s answer to the apparent contradiction between the statements of R' Meir, which was followed by an analysis of the various opinions of the tanna’im. The Talmud presents a different interpretation. And R' Ḥiyya bar Abba says that R' Yoḥanan says: There is no difficulty with the oath proposed by R' Meir, as this oath is a decree of the rabbis for the betterment of the world. The reason for this oath is that if you do not say so, that an unpaid bailee who broke the jug in transport can exempt himself by means of an oath, you will have no person who will be willing to transport a jug for another from one place to another, due to the fear that it might break and he will have to pay.
היכי משתבע? אמר רבא: שבועה שלא בכוונה שברתיה. ואתא רבי יהודה למימר: שומר חנם ישבע, נושא שכר ישלם, האי כדיניה והאי כדיניה. ואתא רבי אלעזר למימר: אין, גמרא כרבי מאיר, ומיהו, תמיה אני אם יכולים זה וזה לישבע.
The Talmud asks: How exactly does he take an oath? Rava said that the phrasing is: I take an oath that I broke it unintentionally. And R' Yehuda came to say: An unpaid bailee takes an oath, while a paid bailee pays, this one in accordance with his law and that one in accordance with his law. And R' Elazar came to say: Yes, there is a tradition in accordance with the opinion of R' Meir. But I wonder whether both this one and that one can take an oath.