Gemara Clarity

Bava Metzia 17a

בבא מציעא י״ז ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 17a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Metzia 17a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

When a debtor's claim "פרעתי" is believed, when he becomes a כפרן, and when a found שטר חוב is returned.

Overview

The amud opens with a debate about a borrower who says "פרעתי" (I paid) after בית דין ruled against him. One view splits the court's wording "צא תן לו" from "חייב אתה ליתן לו". רב זביד says he is believed after either wording. For רב זביד, the wording matters only when witnesses disprove his first "פרעתי" and he says it again: after "צא תן לו" he becomes a כפרן for that money, but after "חייב אתה ליתן לו" he was only stalling. רבי יוחנן adds two more cases of כפרן. The first is someone who denies a loan completely and then claims he paid, backed up by the story of שבתאי and the woolen cloak. The second is someone who falsely claims he took an oath that בית דין required of him. The גמרא then turns to a found שטר חוב with a הנפק dated that same day, which רבי יוחנן says is returned. The גמרא defends this ruling with two explanations: same-day repayment is uncommon, and רב כהנא's case where the borrower admits the debt. The amud ends as רבי יוחנן begins a new teaching about claiming payment after a מעשה בית דין, and the ruling comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְאָמַר ״פָּרַעְתִּי״ – נֶאֱמָן.

and he said "I paid" — he is believed.

בָּא מַלְוֶה לִכְתּוֹב –

If the lender comes to have a document written —

אֵין כּוֹתְבִין וְנוֹתְנִין לוֹ.

they do not write it and give it to him.

״חַיָּיב אַתָּה לִיתֵּן לוֹ״

If they said, "You are obligated to give him"

The steps (26)

  1. StatementAfter 'Go pay him,' the borrower is believed
  2. StatementAfter 'You are obligated to pay,' the borrower is not believed
  3. Statementרב זביד: the borrower is believed in both cases
  4. StatementThe real difference: proven false once, then claiming again
  5. StatementAfter 'You are obligated to pay' he is not branded a denier
  6. QuestionWhy is he not considered a denier?
  7. ResponseHe was only stalling until the court reviewed his case
  8. StatementDenying the loan, then claiming to have paid, makes him a denier
  9. ProofThe story of שבתאי and the woolen cloak
  10. StatementCaught lying about an oath makes him a כפרן for that oath
  11. Statementרבי אבהו limits the ruling to an oath imposed by בית דין
  12. Responseרבי אבין agrees that he meant an oath from בית דין
  13. ProofAnother version of the teaching says בית דין openly
  14. StatementA found שטר חוב with a הנפק dated that day goes back to the lender
  15. StatementWhy the found note is returned: two worries removed
  16. Challengeרבי זירא quotes another teaching of רבי יוחנן
  17. ProofThe case can't be a later day, because then the note would be backdated
  18. ChallengeSo people do repay on the same day
  19. ResolutionRare, not impossible: רבי אסי clarifies his claim
  20. Statementרב כהנא: the case is when the borrower admits the debt
  21. ChallengeIf the borrower admits, why say it at all?
  22. ResolutionWhy we don't suspect a trick to reuse the note
  23. ChallengeSetting up a challenge from the משנה about found loan documents
  24. ChallengeThe challenge spelled out: in the משנה the lender does go along with a misdated note
  25. ResolutionIn the משנה the lender gains something; in רבי יוחנן's case he gains nothing
  26. StatementNew teaching: someone who claims he paid after a court action