The Stolen Field Swept Away and the Rule of Movable Property

It was taught: one who robs a field from his fellow and a river floods it is obligated to provide him another field - the words of Rabbi Eliezer. But the Sages say: he says to him, 'Here is yours before you.' On what do they differ? Rabbi Eliezer expounds by 'amplifications and limitations': 'and deals falsely with his neighbor' is an amplification; 'regarding a deposit, or a pledge, or a robbery' is a limitation; 'or of all that he swears about' returns and amplifies; with amplification, then limitation, then amplification, the verse amplifies everything. What does it amplify? It amplifies all things. And what does it limit? It limits deeds of obligation [documents]. The Rabbis expound by 'generalizations and specifications': 'and deals falsely with his neighbor' is a generalization; 'regarding a deposit, or a pledge, or a robbery' is a specification; 'or of all that he swears about' returns and generalizes; with a generalization, a specification, and a generalization, you may infer only something resembling the specification - just as the specification is explicitly a movable thing whose body is itself money, so too anything movable whose body is itself money. Excluded are lands, which are not movable; excluded are slaves, who are likened to land; excluded are documents, which, though movable, are not themselves money. As for 'or of all that he swears about' - even Rabbi Eliezer concedes that although it is amplified for the matter of return, it is not amplified for the matter of the fifth and the guilt-offering, for when the verse repeats itself it takes up the matter of the fifth and the guilt-offering, as it is written, 'and it shall be when he sins and is guilty' (Leviticus 5:23), 'from all' - and not 'all,' which excludes anything that does not resemble the passage, since there is no obligation of a sacrifice for an oath concerning lands.