וּֽבְקֻצְרְכֶם֙ אֶת־קְצִ֣יר אַרְצְכֶ֔ם לֹ֧א תְכַלֶּ֛ה פְּאַ֥ת שָׂדְךָ֖ לִקְצֹ֑ר וְלֶ֥קֶט קְצִֽירְךָ֖ לֹ֥א תְלַקֵּֽט׃
Apabila kamu menuai hasil panen di negerimu, janganlah engkau menuai habis sudut ladangmu, dan sisa-sisa panenmu yang berjatuhan janganlah engkau pungut.
Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor
If all of his produce that he reaped was destroyed or burned before he gave péah, he deserves punishment [with lashes], for he has transgressed a negative mitzvah and cannot fulfill the positive one [to rectify the situation] for the opportunity has been taken from him.2See Babylonian Talmud Makkot 16b. Punishment, according to the rabbis of the Talmud, usually took the form of lashes, where the offender was whipped across his or her back, based upon Deuteronomy 25:3. Because no one was ever to receive more than forty lashes, the standard number to be received was thirty-nine or less if that is what the offender could bear. Negative commandments were usually punished with lashes while positive commandments were not, but in this case, the commandments not to gather certain agricultural produce involve negative commandments whose transgression could be made up for by fulfilling positive commandments. In this case, it is only when the opportunity to fulfill the positive commandment is also lost and the situation cannot, therefore, be rectified in any fashion that punishment is incurred. This rabbinic understanding of liability also applies to the next two laws.
Mishneh Torah, Negative Mitzvot
Not to reap the entire field, as it is said, “…. thou shalt not wholly reap the corner of thy field” (Lev. 19:9 and 23:22).