Midrash for Bava Kamma 182:17
אמר רב דיקלא דטען קבא אסור למקצציה
HE WHO CUTS DOWN HIS OWN PLANTS … Rabbah b. Bar Hanah recited in the presence of Rab: [Where a plaintiff pleads] 'You killed my ox, you cut my plants, [pay compensation', and the defendant responds:] 'You told me to kill it, you told me to cut it down', he would be exempt. He [Rab] said to him. If so you almost make it impossible for anyone to live, for how can you trust him? — He therefore said to him: Has this teaching to be deleted? — He replied: No; your teaching could hold good in the case where the ox was marked for slaughter<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Such as where it killed a human being; cf. Ex. XXI, 28. ');"><sup>16</sup></span>
Sifrei Devarim
(Devarim 20:20) "Only a tree that you know": This is a fruitful tree. (Ibid. 19) "to come before you into the siege": Cut it down.
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