Moses received the Torah from Sinai, and transmitted it to Joshua, and Joshua to the Elders, and the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, develop many students, and make a fence around the Torah.

Shimon HaTzaddik was [one] of the remnants of the Great Assembly. He used to say: The world stands upon three things: up-on Torah, upon the [Divine] service, and upon acts of kindness.

Antigenos, leader of Socho, received [the Mesorah] from Shimon HaTzaddik.  He used to say: Do not be like servants who serve the master for the sake of receiving a reward, but [rather] be like servants who serve the master not for the sake of re-ceiving a reward, and the fear of Heaven should be upon you.

Yose ben Yoezer [the] leader of Tz'redah and Yose ben Yochanan [the] leader of Jerusalem received [the Mesorah] from them.  Yose ben Yoezer [the] leader of Tz'redah says: Let your house be a house of meeting for sages, and become dusty in the dust of their feet, and drink their words with thirst.

Yose ben Yochanan [the] leader of Jerusalem says: Let your house be open wide, and paupers should be members of your household, and do not converse excessively with the woman. They said this with regard to one's wife, how much more so [does it apply] with regard to the wife of another. From here the Sages said: Whenever a person converses excessively with the woman, he causes evil to himself, neglects Torah study, and ultimately will inherit Gehinnom.

Yehoshua ben Perachyah and Nittai of Arbel received [the Mesorah] from them.  Yehoshua ben Perachyah says: Make a teacher for yourself, purchase a friend for yourself, and judge every person favorably.

Nittai of Arbel says: Distance [yourself] from a bad neighbor, do not associate with a wicked person, and do not disregard [the possibility] of retribution.

Yehudah ben Tabbai and Shimon ben Shatach received [the Mesorah] from them.  Yehudah ben Tabbai says: Do not make yourself like the legal counselors. And when litigants stand before you [for judgment], they should [both] be as guilty in your eyes. But when they depart from before you [after judgment], they should [both] be as virtuous in your eyes, once they have accepted the verdict on themselves.

Shimon ben Shatach says: Interrogate witnesses extensively, but be cautious with your words, lest they learn from them to lie.

Shemayah and Avtalyon received [the Mesorah] from them.  Shemayah says: Love work, and hate lordliness, and do not make yourself known to the government.

Avtalyon says: Sages, be cautious with your words, for perhaps you will become liable to the punishment of exile, and you will be exiled to a place of evil waters, and the students who come after you will drink [from these waters] and will die, and it will emerge that the Name of Heaven will be desecrated.

Hillel and Shammai received [the Mesorah] from them.  Hillel says: Be from among the students of Aaron, someone who loves peace and pursues peace, who loves people and brings them closer to the Torah.

He used to say: [If] one becomes renowned, he will [eventually] lose his renown. And he who does not increase will decrease. And one who did not learn is liable to death. And one who makes use of the crown will pass [away].

He used to say: If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?

Shammai says: Make your Torah [study] fixed. Say little and do much, and receive every person with a pleasant countenance.

Rabban Gamliel used to say: Make a teacher for yourself and remove yourself from doubt, and do not be wont to tithe by es-timation.

[If] one acquires food utensils from a gentile —- if its customary way is to immerse, he should immerse [it]; to boil, he should boil [it]; to purge in fire, he should purge [it] in fire. The spit and the grill, one purges in fire; the knife, one polishes and it is purified.