Makkos 3a

מכות ג׳ ע״א

Makkot 3a

Learn Makkos 3a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Makkos 3a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How עדים זוממין pay: רב's rule that a single witness pays his share, and how the court values false testimony about a כתובה or a loan's due date

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier discussion: רב נחמן's statement is read as agreeing with רבה, not as a separate reason. Then רב teaches that an עד זומם pays 'according to his share.' The גמרא tries several cases to explain this. It rejects each one in turn, until it settles on a witness who admits that a בית דין already found them to be זוממין and ordered them to pay money. In that case, even רבי עקיבא agrees he pays his share based on his own admission, even though his admission cannot obligate his partner. Next comes a משנה about false witnesses who said a man divorced his wife without paying her כתובה. They pay only the market value of the uncertain right to collect it. רב חסדא, רב נתן בר אושעיא and רב פפא disagree about whose side the court prices. A second משנה deals with witnesses who said a loan was due in thirty days when the borrower says ten years. They pay the value of the extra time. The גמרא then brings שמואל's rule that a ten-year loan is still cancelled by שביעית, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (22)

1. ChallengeIsn't רב נחמן's statement the same as רבה's?
2. ResolutionRead it as 'and likewise said רב נחמן'
3. Statementרב: a conspiring witness pays according to his share
4. QuestionWhat does 'according to his share' mean?
5. ChallengeEach pays half? A משנה already teaches that
6. ResolutionOnly one witness was proven false and he pays his half
7. ChallengeNo payment unless both are proven false
8. Resolutionרבא: the witness admits 'I testified falsely'
9. ChallengeOnce a witness has testified, he cannot take it back
10. ResolutionThe witness admits a court already found them to be false witnesses
11. ChallengeThis answer does not fit רבי עקיבא
12. ResolutionThe court had also ordered them to pay money
13. ConclusionWhat רב is teaching us
14. StatementNew משנה: false testimony about an unpaid כתובה
15. StatementThe witnesses pay the market value of the כתובה right
16. QuestionHow exactly is the value assessed?
17. Responseרב חסדא: measure from the husband's side
18. Responseרב נתן בר אושעיא: measure from the wife's side
19. Responseרב פפא: the wife's side, and only her כתובה
20. StatementNew case: the witnesses say thirty days, the borrower says ten years
21. StatementThe court estimates the value of the extra time
22. Statementשמואל: a ten-year loan is still cancelled by שביעית