The following are [the women] to whom the courts give warning: One whose husband has become a deaf-mute or mentally incompetent, or [who] has been incarcerated in a prison. They did not say this [in regard] to giving her to drink but only [in regard] to disqualifying her from [receiving payment for her] marriage contract. R’ Yose says: Even [in regard] to giving her to drink —- so that when her husband comes out of prison he will give her to drink.

Just as the waters test her, so the waters test him, as it is stated: And they shall enter (v. 22), and they shall enter (v. 27). Just as she is prohibited to the husband, so she is prohibited to the adulterer, as it is said: become defiled (v. 27), and be defiled (v. 29); these are the words of R’ Akiva. R’ Yehoshua said: So did Zechariah ben Hakatzav expound. Rabbi says: The two men-tions in the passage [of], if she had become defiled, be defiled —- one is [in regard] to the husband and the other is [in re-gard] to the adulterer.

On that day R’ Akiva expounded: And any earthenware utensil into which any of them falls, whatever is in it shall become tamei (Lev. 11:33) —- it does not say “tamei,” but rather “yitma” —- [even] to render others tamei. This teaches that a loaf which is of a sheni [degree of tumah] can make a shlishi [degree of tumah]. R’ Yehoshua said: Who will remove the dust from your eyes, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai! —- for you used to say that a future generation would [pro- nounce] tahor a loaf that was [contaminated as] a shlishi, since there is no verse in the Torah that it is tamei. But [now] does not Akiva your disciple adduce a verse from the Torah that it is tamei, as it is said: Whatever is in it shall be tamei.

On that day R’ Akiva expounded: And you shall measure from outside the city, the east side —- two thousand cubits, etc. (Numbers 35:5). But another verse states: From the wall of the city and outward, one thousand cubits round about (Num-bers 35:4). It is impossible to say one thousand cubits, since it already says two thousand cubits; and it is impossible to say two thousand cubits, since it already says one thousand cubits. How do we resolve this? [The] one thousand cubits [are] a clearing, while [the] two thousand cubits [are] the Sabbath boundary. R’ Eliezer the son of R’ Yose HaGlili says: [The] one thousand cubits [are] a clearing, while the second thousand cubits [are for] fields and vineyards.