האומר משקלי עלי כו', אם כסף כסף – if he specified silver, he gives his weight in silver, but if he specified gold, he gives his weight in gold. But surely it comes to tell us that if he didn’t specify, but rather stated merely, “my weight is upon me,” he exempted himself from anything, as long as there will be a thing that is similar to it that is ordinarily weighed in that place. And even pitch/tar and even onions and the people of the place are accustomed to sell them by weight, and one of the people of that place said merely: “my weight is incumbent on me [as a pledge to the Temple]” but did not specify, he gives his weight in pitch/tar or in onions and is further exempt.

ומעשה באמה של ירמטיה – It explains in the Gemara (Tractate Arakhin 19a) that our Mishnah is deficient and should be read as follows, and if he is a prominent person, even though he has not expressly stated, we estimate in accordance with his honor, and it happened with the mother of the Yirmatia, a woman whose name was such, that said, “I vow the weight of my daughter,” and she went up to Jerusalem and weighed her, and then she paid her weight in gold, because she was estimated in wealth.

משקל ידי עלי – how does he weigh his hand, for if he wants he makes it heavy and if he wants, he makes it lighter?

ומכניסה עד מרפקו (pokes his hand in up to his elbow) – KUDO in the foreign tongue, because in vows one follows the language of human beings and at tht time, they would call the hand from the arm to the elbow, and when one places one’s hand into the jar filled with water, the water that is in the jar will spill out according to the place of the hand that one entered into it until the elbow (i.e., the water is displaced), and he goes back and places the flesh, sinews and bones of a donkey, for the weight of the flesh of a donkey is like the weight of the flesh of a human being, and there will be in that flesh sinews and bones according what is in the hand [of a human being] for the weight of the bones and sinews is not equivalent to the weight of the flesh, and he places into it until it returns and is filled up like it was, for now there is volume like the measurement of his hand, and he weighs the flesh and these sinews and this is the weight of his hand.

היאך אפשר לכוין בשר כנגד בשר – for perhaps here is in the flesh of a donkey that place that he places into the jar more sinews and bones from what is in the hand [of a human being] or less, and it is found that the weight is not equivalent. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.

וכמה הוא שוה בלא יד – it explains in the Gemara (Tractate Arakhin 19b – see Rashi, s.v. אומד של נזקין), that we don’t valuate/estimate how beautiful when his hand is cut off and how much he would be worth when his hands are whole. For a person whose hand was cut off, when they come to valuate him how much he would be worth at first, they don’t valuate him other than cheaply, because we view him as despised, for this person who says: “the price of my hand is incumbent upon me,” his hand was not cut off. Therefore, it (i.e., the Gemara) explains how much he is worth without a hand, as for example, if his master sold all of him except for his hand, for his one hands is recorded/levied to his first master and we estimate how much he is worth when his master sells all of him and does not leave anything of him to himself. And how much less he is worth if his master left his one hand without selling it, for now he is not despised. And such he gives to the sanctity of the Temple.

זה חומר בנדרם מבערכין – for whereas, if he said in valuation , that the value of my hand and/or my foot is upon me, he did not say anything, unless he said it with regard to which life depends.

ערכי עלי ומת יתנו היורשים – the value of something that is determined/clearly defined. But specifically when he stood in judgment prior to his death, because he is not liable for a valuation until after he stands before the Kohen, as it is written (Leviticus 27:8): “he shall be pesented before the priest.” But my price is incumbent upon me, which is not other than what the Jewish court will estimate him, and behold he doesn’t come to that for he has died, even though he stood in judgment, he is lacking an approximate assessment, and the heirs do not pay it.

נותן ערך כולו – for it is written (Leviticus 27:2): “the equivalent for human being.”

זה הכלל – to include the rest of the limbs on which life depends.

חציי עלי – it would be like the valuation of my head and the valuation of my liver, for it is something upon which his life depends upon.

דמי חציי עלי נותן דמי כולו – as it is written (Leviticus 27:2): “explicitly vows [to the LORD] the equivalent for a human being,” an analogy is made between a vow and a valuation, just as regarding a valuation, if he said: “the valuation of half of me is incumbent on me,” he pays the whole of his valuation, so also that of a vow if he said: “the price of half of me is incumbent on me,” he pays the whole of his price.

זה הכלל – to include all of he limbs upon which his life depends, for if he said: “half of the price of that limb is upon me, as for example, that he said: “half of he price of my heart is upon me,” or the price of half of my liver is upon me, he gives the price of all of it.

מת הנודר והנידר יתנו היורשים – and he that stood in judgement before he died, as was explained above, but the ending clause is necessary: “The price of so-and-so is incumbent upon me,” if the person taking the vow dies, the heirs will give the money, for you might have thought that even though that he stood in judgment, since the person making the vow died prior to making an estimate/valuation of the one whom the vow was about, his possessions are not mortgaged, for it comes to tell us that an approximate assessment/assessment by sight is a revealing a general thing, for since the person about whom the vow is taken lives, we assess him.

בית זה קרבן – for keeping the Temple in repair.

ונפל הבית – prior to the treasurer [of the Temple] grabbed hold of him.

מת השור וכו' חייב לשלם – and we don’t say that there are no funds for the deed, other than for a human alone.

ממשכנין אותן (exact pledges from them) – the treasurer enters into their homes and takes it against their will.

חייבי חטאות ואשמות – since it is for atonement that came, they do not procrastinate [in providing the sin-offering or guilt offering] , and they do not exact pledges from them. But the sin-offering of the Nazirite, since it does not come for atonement, and does not prevent him from drinking wine, for since the blood of one of the sacrifices was sprinkled, the Nazirite is permitted to drink wine and to become defiled to the dead, on occasion that he acted negligently and delayed, therefore we exact the pledge on his sin-offering.

חייבי עולות ושלמים – even though the burnt-offering atones for [violation of] a positive commandment and for a prohibition that after its violation is transformed into a positive commandment, since the negative commandment is not an obligation, it is not considered as an atonement and one can delay performing it, therefore, we exact a pledge from them. But there are those liable for burnt-offerings where we don’t exact a pledge from them, as for example the burnt-offering of a leper, because it delays his purification and it does not come to delay him.

כופין אותו עד שיאמר רוצה אני – where that the Jewish court exacts a pledge from him, he must state: “I want to do it.”

וכן אתה אומר בגטי נשים – whomever his judgement is that they force him to divorce [his wife], the Jewish court of Israel beats him until he says: “I want [to do it] (i.e., divorce his wife), and he gives [her] the Jewish bill of divorce and it is appropriate (see also Tractate Ketubot, Chapter 7, Mishnah 10).