The Fixed Thirty Shekels When an Ox Gores a Slave

"If the ox gores a male slave or a female slave" (Exodus 21:32). The male slave and the female slave were also included [in the general rule], as it is said, "and it killed a man or a woman" (Exodus 21:29); yet Scripture removes them from the general rule, to be lenient toward the owner in that even if the slave was worth one hundred maneh, he pays thirty selas, and to be stringent toward him in that even if the slave is worth only a dinar, he pays thirty selas. "If it gores a male slave" and so forth, to make one liable for this one on its own and for that one on its own. "If a slave": Scripture speaks of a Canaanite slave. Or is it perhaps only a Hebrew slave? When it says "thirty shekels of silver" and so forth, behold, Scripture speaks of a Canaanite slave. "Thirty shekels of silver" and so forth, the same for a man and the same for a woman. Another interpretation: "the ox shall be stoned," why is this said? Because it was included in the general rule and went out to be treated as a new matter, Scripture restored it to its general rule.