Snp 2.14 Dhammikasutta (SC verse 398):
What is “ungiven”—anything, anywhere,
THAT’S KNOWN TO BE OTHERS’, its theft one should avoid.
Neither order things taken,
nor others’ removal approve—
all of this “ungiven” let the hearkener avoid
Tato adinnaṃ parivajjayeyya,
Kiñci kvaci sāvako bujjhamāno;
Na hāraye harataṃ nānujaññā,
Sabbaṃ adinnaṃ parivajjayeyya
Here,’what is ungiven’ is qualified (at long last!) with ‘that’s known to be others’. Not that I was in any doubt after all that has been said in this topic, but here we have it plainly from the Suttas.
Otherwise, ‘taking what is not given’, taken literally, would mean that, just as it would be wrong to pick a fruit from tree in the forest,so would be drinking water from a river and taking the very air that we breathe – which is absurd. This reminds me of what I had read once: anything that does not make sense cannot be a teaching of the Buddha.
Metta to all