Midrash for Makkot 45:13
והקורא קורא כו': תנו רבנן הגדול שבדיינין קורא השני מונה והשלישי אומר הכהו בזמן שמכה מרובה מאריך בזמן. שמכה מועטת מקצר והא אנן תנן חוזר לתחלת המקרא מצוה לצמצם ואי לא צמצם חוזר לתחלת המקרא
And the reader reads. etc.: The rabbis taught [in a baraisa], The greatest of the judges reads, the second counts, and the third one says "strike him". In times when the lashes are many, he lengthens [the recital]. In times when the lashes are few, he shortens [the recital]. But we learned in our mishna, that he returns the beginning of the verses. [Why then does the baraisa say to adjust the length]? The mitzvah is to be precise, but if one is not precise then he returns to the beginning of the verses.
Sifrei Devarim
I might think, (that they were steeped in blood) even after they received it; it is, therefore, written "only" (a term of limitation). Once they received it, they observed it with joy. [Rabban Gamliel says: It states "Only strengthen yourself not to eat the blood". If Scripture exhorted us so concerning the "lightest" mitzvah of the Torah, (not to eat) blood, how much more so are we thus exhorted concerning the other mitzvoth of the Torah!]
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Sifrei Devarim
(Rabban Gamliel says: It states "Only strengthen yourself not to eat the blood". If Scripture exhorted us so concerning the "lightest" mitzvah of the Torah, (not to eat) blood, how much more so are we thus exhorted concerning the other mitzvoth of the Torah!)
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