Returning the Lost Animal of Your Enemy

"When you encounter" (Exodus 23:4) — from this I know only a positive commandment. How do I know the negative commandment? Scripture teaches, "You shall not see your brother's ox" (Deuteronomy 22:1). I know only of your brother; how do I know of your enemy? Scripture teaches, "your enemy's ox," in any case. [Could it mean] even the animal of others [non-members of the covenant community] is so? Scripture teaches, "your brother" (there). Just as your brother is one who is a fellow with you, so any person who is a fellow with you. If you subdue your impulse so as to make your enemy your friend, I promise you that I will make your enemy your friend. "When you encounter" — could this mean an actual encounter [close at hand]? Scripture teaches, "when you see." Could it mean from when he sees it far off? Scripture teaches, "when you encounter." How then? A seeing that is like an encounter: one part in seven and a half of a mil, the measure of a ris [about that distance]. "Going astray" — anything whose manner is straying. From this you say: if a donkey was grazing in its usual way, and vessels were lying in their usual place, one is not obligated toward them. But if a donkey is straying among the vineyards, or vessels are lying in the middle of the road, then one is obligated toward it. "You shall surely return it" — since it says, "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12), could it be that even if his father and mother said to him, "Do not return it," he should obey them? Scripture teaches, "You shall surely return it." If he returned it and it ran off again, how do I know he is obligated to return it again? Scripture teaches, "You shall surely return it" — even a hundred times. "To him" — return them to your brother, or to a domain that is his.