When Men Quarrel and the Damages Owed for Injury

"And if men quarrel" (Exodus 21:18): why is this stated? Because it says "an eye for an eye" (below, verse 24), but as for loss of work and healing we have not heard. Scripture teaches, "and if men quarrel, if he rises again," the verse comes to teach the additional matters lacking in it. "And if men quarrel": I know only of men; women, from where? Rabbi Yishmael says: since all the laws of damages in the Torah are stated without specification, and Scripture specified in one of them that it treated women like men, so too I specify all the laws of damages in the Torah to treat women like men. Rabbi Yoshiyah says: "a man or a woman" (below, verse 28): why is it stated? Because it says "and if a man opens a pit" (below, verse 33), I know only of a man; a woman, from where? Scripture teaches, "a man or a woman," the verse comes to equate the woman with the man in all the laws of damages in the Torah. Rabbi Yonatan says: it is unnecessary, for it already says "the owner of the pit shall pay" (below, verse 34), and "he shall surely pay, the one who kindles the fire" (Exodus 22:5); so why does Scripture say "a man or a woman"? It comes for its own instruction. "And he struck a man": to make him liable for this one on its own and for that one on its own. "With a stone or with a fist": this tells us that a stone and a fist are instruments capable of causing death. You say it comes for this purpose, or does it come only to teach that if he struck him with a stone or a fist he is liable, but with anything else he would be exempt? Scripture teaches "if with a stone," telling us he is not liable until he strikes with something capable of killing and on a spot where it is capable of killing. Rabbi Natan says: it compared the stone to the fist and the fist to the stone; just as the stone must be capable of killing, so too the fist must be capable of killing; and just as the fist is of known size, so too the stone must be of known size; thus if it became mixed with other stones, he is exempt. "And he does not die but falls to bed": this tells us that the wasting illness brings on death. "And he does not die but falls to bed": thus if he struck him a blow capable of causing death, he is exempt from loss of work and from healing.