Study Shevuot folio 29B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Rather, Moses administered the oath in this manner so that there would not be any possibility of the nullification of their oath. An oath taken with public consent cannot be dissolved. In this case, Moses and God constitute the public that gives its consent to the oath administered to the people.
§ The Mishnah teaches with regard to an oath about a matter that is impossible, e.g., If I did not see a camel flying through the air, or: If I did not see a snake as large as the beam of the olive press. The Talmud asks: And are there no snakes that large? But wasn’t there a certain snake during t
Shmuel said: The size of the snake is not the subject of the analogy. The oath is referring to a snake that was flat [taruf ] like the beam of an olive press. The Talmud asks: Aren’t they all flat? The Talmud explains: Snakes’ undersides are flat. This oath is referring to a snake whose back is fl
§ The Mishnah teaches: If one said: On my oath I will eat this loaf, and later said: On my oath I will not eat it, the first oath is an oath on an utterance, and the second is an oath taken in vain. If he ate the loaf, he violated the prohibition against taking an oath in vain. If he did not eat i
R' Yirmeya said: Teach the Mishnah with this emendation: If he did not eat it, he also violated the prohibition against breaking an oath on an utterance.