The Oath That Never Departs and the Woman Who Buried Three Sons

"An oath of the LORD shall be between the two of them" (Exodus 22:10) - with the Tetragrammaton [the divine name spelled yod-heh]. From here you derive a rule for every oath in the Torah: since all the oaths in the Torah were stated without specification, and Scripture specified in one of them that it is only with the divine name, I specify regarding all the oaths in the Torah that they are only with the divine name. "Between the two of them" - to exclude the heir. "Between the two of them" - to exclude the case where his opponent is suspect regarding oaths. "Between the two of them" - that the judge may not impose the oath upon him against his will. "If he has not laid his hand" (Exodus 22:10): for its own need. You say for its own need, or perhaps for its need and not for its need? Behold I reason: "laying on of a hand" is stated here and "laying on of a hand" is stated elsewhere (Exodus 22:7); just as here it involves an oath, so too there; just as here with the divine name, so too there; just as there in court, so too here; just as there for its own need, so too here; just as there it concerns "the matter of trespass" (Exodus 22:8), so too here. "An oath of the LORD shall be between the two of them": that it does not budge from between the two of them. If the one administering the oath imposes it falsely, it will ultimately come out against him; and if the one who swears swears falsely, it will ultimately come out against him. There was an incident with a certain woman who went in to knead dough at her neighbor's house, and three dinars were tied in her wrap. She took them and placed them on a kerchief, and they got kneaded into the dough. She baked bread and went off. Her husband said to her, "Give me the three dinars." She went searching for them at her neighbor's. She said to her, "Perhaps you have seen these three dinars?" That woman had three sons. She said, "May that woman [meaning herself] bury a son if she knows anything about them." Her sins caused it, and she buried him. That woman said, "Had she not been suspicious of me, she would not have buried her son." She went again, and so forth. The woman said, "May she bury another son if she knew anything about them." Her sins caused it, and another son died. Another time she said to her, "I have found the three dinars." She said, "May that woman bury a third son if she knows anything about them." Her sins caused it, and she buried him. Her husband said to her, "Will you not go to comfort this neighbor of yours?" She took two loaves of bread and went to comfort her. When they cut the loaves, those three dinars fell out of one of them. This is what people mean when they say: whether innocent or guilty, do not enter into oaths.