Study Makkot folio 5A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
להכרזה. ורבי מאיר? הכרזה מ״ישמעו ויראו״ נפקא.
for the requirement of proclamation. When the witnesses are taken to their execution, there is a mitzva for the court to publicly proclaim the transgression for which they are being punished, in order to deter others from committing the same transgression. And R' Meir derives the requirement of proclamation from the phrase in that verse: “should hear and fear.” The prohibition is derived from the phrase “and should not continue to perform any more evil.”
מתני׳ משלשין בממון ואין משלשין במכות. כיצד? העידוהו שהוא חייב לחבירו מאתים זוז ונמצאו זוממין – משלשין ביניהם. אבל אם העידוהו שהוא חייב מלקות ארבעים ונמצאו זוממין – כל אחד ואחד לוקה ארבעים.
Mishnah: When punishing conspiring witnesses based on the verse: “As he conspired to do to his brother” (Deuteronomy 19:19), one divides the punishment of money among them, but one does not divide the punishment of lashes among them; each receives 39 lashes. The Mishnah elaborates: How so? If the witnesses testified about someone that he owes another person 200 dinars and they were then found to be conspiring witnesses, the witnesses divide the sum among themselves and pay a total of 200 dinars. But if they testified about someone that he was liable to receive 40 lashes and they were then found to be conspiring witnesses, each and every one of the witnesses receives 40 lashes.
גמ׳ מנא הני מילי? אמר אביי: נאמר ״רשע״ בחייבי מלקיות, ונאמר ״רשע״ בחייבי מיתות בית דין. מה להלן – אין מיתה למחצה, אף כאן – אין מלקות למחצה.
Talmud: The Talmud asks: From where are these matters, that the witnesses do not divide the punishment of lashes among themselves, derived? Abaye said: “Wicked” (Deuteronomy 25:2), is stated with regard to those liable to receive lashes, and: “Wicked” (Numbers 35:31), is stated with regard to those liable to receive a court-imposed death penalty. Just as there, with regard to those sentenced to be executed, there is no partial death penalty, so too here, with regard to those liable to receive lashes, there is no partial administering of lashes.