And if a soul sin
The soul is put for the person, and is particularly mentioned, as
Ben Melech says, because possessed of will and desire:
and hear the voice of swearing;
or cursing, or adjuration; not of profane swearing, and taking
the name of God in vain, but either of false swearing, or
perjury, as when a man hears another swear to a thing which he
knows is false; or else of adjuration, either the voice of a
magistrate or of a neighbour adjuring another, calling upon him
with an oath to bear testimony in such a case; this is what the
Jews
and is a
witness;
is able to bear witness to the thing he is adjured about:
whether he
hath seen or known of it;
what he has seen with his eyes, or knows by any means: of such a
case, the Jews observe F20, that there may be seeing without
knowing, or knowing without seeing, and in either case a man
ought to bear witness:
if he do not
utter it;
tell the truth, declare what he has seen or known:
then he
shall bear his iniquity;
he shall be charged with sin, and be obliged to acknowledge his
offence, and bring a trespass offering for it: it is said
F21, that the witnesses are not guilty
of the oath of the testimony, but in these ten cases; if they are
required; if the testimony is concerning goods; if the goods are
movable; if he that requires binds himself to pay for their
testimony only, in case they bear witness; if they refuse after
required; if they refuse in the sanhedrim; if the adjuration or
oath is made there by the name of God, or his titles; if
knowledge of the testimony goes before the oath; if he
particularizes his witnesses in the time of the oath, or at the
time of the requirement; and if the oath is in a language they
understood.
F18 Misn. Sotah, c. 7. 1.
F19 Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. T. Bab.
Sotah, fol. 33. 1.
F20 T. Bab. Shebuot, fol. 33. 2. & 34.
1.
F21 Maimon. Hilchot, Shebuot, c. 9. sect.
3.