מימר אמר סלקא דעתיה דרבנן כי הני שיכרא קא שתו אלא ודאי האי חמרא הוא ונסכיה מאן דשרי שפיר שרי מימר אמר סלקא דעתך דרבנן כי הני חמרא קא שתו ואמרו ליה לדידי תא אשקינן אלא ודאי שיכרא הוא קא שתו ולא נסכיה

the gentile says to him self: Can it enter your mind that great Sages like these are drinking liquor [shikhra]? Rather, this is certainly wine that they are drinking, and therefore the gentile may have poured it as a libation. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi continues to explain that the one who deemed the wine permitted properly deemed it permitted, as he holds that the gentile says to him self: Can it enter your mind that great Rabbis like these are drinking wine and they say to me, a gentile: Come, serve us drinks? Rather, it is certainly liquor that they are drinking, and therefore he did not pour it as a libation.

והא קא חזי בליליא והא קא מרח ליה בחדתא

The Gemara asks: But doesn’t the gentile see whether it is wine or liquor? The Gemara answers: The incident occurred at night. The Gemara asks: But doesn’t the gentile smell it and recognize that it is wine? The Gemara answers: This incident occurred with new wine, whose smell does not diffuse.

והא קא נגע ביה בנטלא והוה ליה מגע גוי שלא בכוונה ואסור לא צריכא דקא מוריק אורוקי והוה ליה כחו שלא בכוונה וכל כחו שלא בכוונה לא גזרו ביה רבנן

The Gemara asks: But didn’t the gentile touch the wine when he drew the wine in the pail, and therefore it is a case of a gentile’s unintentional touch, which renders the wine prohibited? The Gemara replies: No, it was necessary to teach this halakha because the gentile was pouring from one vessel to another without touching the wine, and therefore it was a case where the wine was poured by the force of the gentile’s action, without any intention of offering it as a libation. And in any case where wine is poured by force of a gentile’s action, without any intention of offering it as a libation, the Sages did not issue a decree prohibiting the wine, and it is permitted to drink it.

בעא מיניה רבי אסי מרבי יוחנן יין שמסכו גוי מהו אמר ליה ואימא מזגו אמר ליה אנא כדכתיב קאמינא טבחה טבחה מסכה יינה אמר ליה לשון תורה לעצמה לשון חכמים לעצמו

§ Rabbi Asi asked Rabbi Yoḥanan: With regard to wine that a gentile mixed [mesakho] with water, what is the halakha? Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Rabbi Asi: And why not say: Wine that a gentile diluted [mezago] with water, as that is the term that is usually used? Rabbi Asi said to Rabbi Yoḥanan: I say wine that was mixed, as it is written: “ She has prepared her meat, she has mixed [maskha] her wine” (Proverbs 9:2). Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Rabbi Asi: While it is true that this is the language of the Bible, the language of the Torah is a language in itself, and the language of the Sages is a language in itself, i. e., the terminology of the Bible is not the same as the terminology employed by the Sages.

מאי אמר ליה אסור משום לך לך אמרין נזירא סחור סחור לכרמא לא תקרב

Rabbi Asi repeated his question: What is the halakha? Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Rabbi Asi: Although the gentile did not touch the wine when diluting it, it is prohibited by rabbinic decree due to the maxim: Go, go, we say to a nazirite, who is prohibited from drinking wine and eating grapes; go around and go around, but do not come near to the vineyard. Although a nazirite is prohibited only from eating produce of the vine, he is warned not even to come into the proximity of a vineyard as a protective measure to ensure that he will not transgress this prohibition. So too, in many cases, the Sages decreed certain items and actions to be prohibited because they understood that if people would use them, they would eventually transgress Torah prohibitions.

רבי ירמיה איקלע לסבתא חזא חמרא דמזגי גוי ואישתי ישראל מיניה ואסר להו משום לך לך אמרין נזירא סחור סחור לכרמא לא תקרב אתמר נמי אמר רבי יוחנן ואמרי לה אמר רבי אסי אמר רבי יוחנן יין שמזגו גוי אסור משום לך לך אמרין נזירא סחור סחור לכרמא לא תקרב

Rabbi Yirmeya happened to come to Savta. He saw wine that a gentile diluted with water and then a Jew drank from it, and Rabbi Yirmeya then deemed the wine prohibited to them, due to the maxim: Go, go, we say to a nazirite, go around and go around, but do not come near to the vineyard. It was also stated: Rabbi Yoḥanan says, and some say that Rabbi Asi says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Wine that a gentile diluted is prohibited, due to the maxim Go, go, we say to a nazirite, go around and go around, but do not come near to the vineyard.

ריש לקיש איקלע לבצרה חזא ישראל דקאכלי פירי דלא מעשרי ואסר להו חזא מיא דסגדי להו גוים ושתו ישראל ואסר להו

§ Reish Lakish happened to come to Bozrah, a town east of the Jordan. He saw Jews who were eating untithed produce and he deemed the produce prohibited to them. He also saw water to which gentiles bowed down and yet Jews drank the water, and he deemed the water prohibited to them.

אתא לקמיה דרבי יוחנן אמר ליה אדמקטורך עלך זיל הדר בצר לאו היינו בצרה ומים של רבים אין נאסרין

Reish Lakish came before Rabbi Yoḥanan and told him about the incident. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Reish Lakish: While your coat [addemiktorakh] is still on you, go and retract your rulings. This is because the town of Bezer which is mentioned among the cities of refuge (Deuteronomy 4:43) is not the same as Bozrah. Bozrah is not part of Eretz Yisrael, and one is not obligated to separate tithes from its produce. The water is also permitted as it is water that belongs to the public, and water that belongs to the public is not rendered prohibited.

רבי יוחנן לטעמיה

The Gemara notes that Rabbi Yoḥanan conforms to his standard line of reasoning,