Exodus 22:5

5 si laeserit quispiam agrum vel vineam et dimiserit iumentum suum ut depascatur aliena quicquid optimum habuerit in agro suo vel in vinea pro damni aestimatione restituet

Exodus 22:5 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 22:5

If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten
Which is not his own, by putting cattle into it to feed upon it, as it is explained in the next clause:

and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field;
do damage in one or both those two ways, either by his feet treading down the grass and fruits of the earth, which the Rabbins, as Jarchi says, think, is meant by putting in his beast; or with his beast eating up the same, which is intended by the latter phrase:

of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard,
shall he make restitution
for what damage is done by his beast in his neighbour's field or vineyard; and this held good of any garden or orchard injured in like manner; and it is a general rule with the Jews, that when any damage is sustained, he that does the damage is obliged to pay with the best the earth produces ^F12, even though better than was the man's that suffered the loss, that for the future he might be more careful of doing injury to another ^F13.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Misc. Bava Kama, c. 1. sect. 1.
F13 Bartenora in Misn. Gittin, c. 5. sect. 1.

Exodus 22:5 In-Context

3 quod si orto sole hoc fecerit homicidium perpetravit et ipse morietur si non habuerit quod pro furto reddat venundabitur

4 si inventum fuerit apud eum quod furatus est vivens sive bos sive asinus sive ovis duplum restituet

5 si laeserit quispiam agrum vel vineam et dimiserit iumentum suum ut depascatur aliena quicquid optimum habuerit in agro suo vel in vinea pro damni aestimatione restituet

6 si egressus ignis invenerit spinas et conprehenderit acervos frugum sive stantes segetes in agris reddet damnum qui ignem succenderit

7 si quis commendaverit amico pecuniam aut vas in custodiam et ab eo qui susceperat furto ablata fuerint si invenitur fur duplum reddet