There are] three lands in regard to [the law of] biur: Judea, and the other side of the Jordan, and the Galilee; and each one consists of three areas. Upper Galilee, and Lower Galilee, and the valley; from Kefer Chananyah and higher, wherever sycamores do not grow [is] Upper Galilee; and from Kefar Chananyah and lower, wherever sycamores grow [is] Lower Galilee; and the region of Tiberias [is] the valley. In Judea: the mountain, the lowlands, and the valley. The lowlands of Lod are like the lowlands of the South and its mountainous [region] is like the King’s Mountain. From Beis Choron to the Sea [is] one province.

Why then did they say [that there are] three lands! So that they may eat [seventh-year produce] in each of them until it disappears from the last of its [regions]. R’ Shimon says: They spoke of three lands only in regard to Judea, but all the rest of the lands are [treated] as the King’s Mountain. All of the lands are alike in regard to olives and dates.

One may eat based upon [availability in] abandoned [areas], but not upon [availability in] protected [areas]. R’ Yose permits [consumption] based even upon [the availability in] protected areas. One may eat based upon [the availability in] birdhouses, and upon the second crop, but not based upon [the availability of] the winter crop. R’ Yehudah permits as long as they have begun ripening before the end of the summer.

[If] one preserves three [kinds of vegetables] in one barrel — R’ Eliezer says: One may eat based upon [the availability of] the first. R’ Yehoshua says: Based even upon the last. Rabban Gamliel says: Any vegetable whose species has disappeared from the field must be removed from the barrel; and the halachah follows his view. R’ Shimon says: All vegetables are alike regarding [the law of] biur. One may eat purslane until artichokes disappear from the valley of Beis Netophah.

One who gathers fresh grasses [may use them] until the moisture has dried up; and one who gathers the dry [ones may use them] until the second rains fall. Leaves of reeds and leaves of grapevines [may be used] until they fall from their branches; but one who gathers the dry [ones may use them] until the second rains fall. R’ Akiva says: All of them [may be used] until the second rains fall.

Similarly: One who rents a house to another until [the arrival of] the rains [has rented it] until the second rains fall. Someone prohibited by a neder to benefit from another until [the arrival of] the rains [is forbidden] until the second rains fall. Until when may the poor enter the orchards? Until the second rains fall. From when may one derive benefit from and burn stubble and straw of the seventh [year]? From when the second rains have fallen.

One who has seventh [-year] produce when the time of biur arrives distributes food sufficient for three meals to everyone. [Only] the poor may eat [the produce] after biur but not the rich; [these are] the words of R’ Yehudah. R’ Yose says: Both the poor and the rich may eat after biur.

If] one had seventh [-year] produce which he inherited or which was given to him as a present — R’ Eliezer says: They must be given to those who will eat them. But the Sages say: A sinner should not profit. Rather, they should be sold to their owner, and the money should be distributed. One who eats from a seventh [-year] dough before its challah has been separated from it is liable for [Divinely imposed] death.

The seventh [year] cancels loans, [whether they are recorded] in a document or not [recorded] in a document. It does not cancel shop credit, but if he converted it into a loan it is canceled. R’ Yehudah says: The earlier [debt] is canceled. The wage of a hired person is not canceled; but if he converted it into a loan, it is canceled. R’ Yose says: Any work which ceases in the seventh [year] is canceled, but that which does not cease in the seventh [year] is not canceled.

[If] someone slaughters a cow and apportions it on Rosh Hashanah if the month [of Elul] was full, it is canceled; but if not, it is not canceled. [The penalty of] a violator, a seducer, and a slanderer, and any court decree, are not canceled. One who lends on collateral, and one who hands his documents over to the court, does not [have his loan] canceled.

A prozbul is not canceled. This was one of the things which Hillel the Elder instituted. When he saw that the people refrained from lending money to each other and transgressed what is written in the Torah (Deut. 15:9): Take heed lest there be an evil thought in your heart . . ., Hillel instituted the prozbul.

This is the essence of the prozbul: I submit to you, so-and-so and so-and-so the judges who are in such and such a place, that every debt due me I will [be allowed to] collect whenever I wish. And the judges sign at the bottom [of the document] or the witnesses.

A pre-dated prozbul is valid but a post-dated one is invalid. Pre-dated loan documents are invalid, but those which are post-dated are valid. [If] one [person] borrowed from five [people], a prozbul must be written for each one; [but if] five [people] borrowed from one [person], he [need] write only one prozbul for all of them.

A prozbul is written only for [a debt backed by] land. If he has none, he may award him a small amount within his own field. [If] he had a field in the town held as a security [for another debt], we may [still] write a prozbul based on it. R’ Chutzpis says: One may write [a prozbul] for a man based on the property of his wife, and for orphans based on the property of [their] guardians.