כל הבתים and especially in the Land of Israel, as it is written (Leviticus 14:34): “[and I inflict an eruptive plague] upon a house in the land you possess.”

חוץ משל נכרים – if they purchased a chouse in the Land of Israel. For such is implied, "אחוזתכם"/[in the land] you possess (Leviticus 14:34) is susceptible to be defiled by plagues, but the possession of heathens is not susceptible to be defiled by plagues. And just as their possession is not susceptible to be defiled by plagues, so their clothes and their bodies are not susceptible to be defiled by plagues.

יראו בתחילה – and the days that there was a plague in them all the while that they were in the hands of the heathens, do not count from the total amount.

בית עגול – that have no corners.

טריגון (triangular) – that they have three corners. [The number] “three” in the Roman language is TREI. And the same law applies concerning a house that has six corners or five.

אינו מיטמא בנגעים – for concerning plagues, it is written (Leviticus 14:37 and 14:39): "קירות", "קירות" (Leviticus 14:37: "והנה הנגע בקירת הבית"/the plague in the walls of the house; Leviticus 14:39: "והנה פשה בקירת הבית"/ “[if he sees that] the plague has spread on the walls of the house) twice – and the minority/the least of [this plural] is two, hence four.

ובאסקריא (mast, yard – where the captain sits for looking out, raft) – it is the mast/yard of a ship. But there are books that the reading אכסדיא/raft and hey are the beams that they tie together and place them in the rivers and in the sea. And in the language of the Bible, they are called רפסודות (2 Chronicles 2:15): “[We undertake to cut down as many trees of Lebanon as you need, and deliver them to you] as rafts by sea to Jaffa; you will transport them to Jerusalem.”/"רפסדות על-ים יפו ואתה תעלה אתם ירושלם".

אינן מיטמאין בנגעים – as it is written (Leviticus 14:34): "בבית ארץ [אחזתכם]"/upon a house in the land that you possess”, until the house will be attached to the ground.

על ארבע קורות – like or on four beams. For the house was built on top of beams.

אפילו על ארבעה עמודים – for the pillars are attached to the ground and they are considered four corners to the house and the roof that is upon them is susceptible to being defiled through plagues and even though it is open from all of its sides.

בית שאחד מצדדיו – one of the four walls is covered with marble MARMARA.

בסלע – a rock which is there from the Six Days of Creation.

בלבנים – that are made in a kiln/furnace.

בעפר – that the wall is made from clods/handfuls of earth.

טהור – that we require that the four walls of the house will be susceptible to uncleanness through plagues, but if one of the walls is made of something that is not appropriate to be made unclean, as for example, all of these that we have mentioned (i.e., stone, bricks, dirt), the house is clean.

בית שלא היו בו אבנים ועצים ועפר – all three of them, but rather, one of them was in it, and the plague appeared in that one, it is pure. For we require that it be appropriate to be made susceptible to uncleanness prior to seeing the plague.

עד שיהיו בו אבנים ועצים ועפר – as it is written (Leviticus 14:45): “[The house shall be torn down - ] its stones, and timber and all the coating on the house –[and taken to an impure place outside the city].”

עד שיראה כשני גריסים – as it is written (Leviticus 14:37): "וראה את-הנגע והנה הנגע בקירת הבית"/ “If, when he examines the plague, the plague in the walls of the house,” it teaches that the it is not the plagues of plagues of the house do not make it susceptible to uncleanness, until there will appear like [the size of] two split [Cilician] beans.

או על אבל אחת – and that is the reason that Rabbi Yishmael stated four stones, for the four walls of the house, for each wall has one stone. But for Rabbi Akiba who stated, until that there should appear like [the size of] two split [Cilician] beans on two stones, not on one stone, for not less than eight stones, as each wall has two stones.

רבי אליעזר בר' שמעון אומר כו' – the reason of Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Shimon [Tractate Sanhedrin 71a] as it is written (Leviticus 14:37): "קיר" (i.e., "ומראיהן שפל מן-הקיר"/that appear to go deep in the wall) and it is written (Leviticus 14:37): "קירות" (i.e., "והנה הנגע בקירת הבית" /the plague in the walls of the house is found), What is a wall that is like multiple walls? He would say that this the corner, and in each wall, we require the measure of a plague, and that is like the split [Cilician] bean squared on each one. But the Halakha is according to Rabbi Akiba.

עצים – as we have stated (see Mishnah 2 of this chapter, that a house is not susceptible to be unclean until it has wood in it, how much [wood] will be in each and every wall. כדי ליתן תחת השקוף (as much wood as is needed to place under an arch/lintel – to keep it in shape)- thus it needs for each and every wall.

שקוף – place that the door arches/bends upon it, and they regularly place wood under it.

סנדל לאחורי השקוף – the regularly place wood for the back of the lintel to protect it, and it is called aסנדל /sandal [support] , like that the sandal protects/supports the foot. שקוף/arch or lintel, is called whether of the opening [of the house] or the window.

פצים (boards – the board nailed against the wall to form a door-frame/door-post) – it the language of chips and tears. Like (Psalms 60:4): “You have made the land quake; You have torn it open.”/"הרעשתה ארץ פצמתה".

קירות האבוס (walls of cattle stall) – of cattle.

וקירות המחיצה – of [courtyards), gardens and orchards.

אין מיטמאין בנגעים – as it is written (Leviticus 14:37): "בקירת-הבית"/in the walls of the house, but not the walls of the cattle stall nor the walls of the partition.

ירושלים וחוצה לארץ אינן מיטמאין בנגעים – as it is written (Leviticus 14:34): "בבית ארץ אחוזתכם"/in the land you possess, but outside the Land is not your possession, and Jerusalem also was not divided among the tribes.

לא יגזור (will not decisively rule) –the judge will not make a legal ruling to state that it is a definitive plague, from as it is written (Leviticus 14:35): "[ובא אשר-לו בבית והיגד לכהן לאמר] כנגע נראה לי בבית"/ “[The owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying,] ‘Something like a plague has appeared upon my house,’” but it is not written [a definitive] נגע/plague (but rather, something like a plague).

אפילו חבילי עצים (and even bundles of wood) – which are not included in the uncleanness, one must remove. But as it is written (Leviticus 14:36): "ולא יטמא כל-אשר בבית" / “so that nothing in the house may become unclean,” that implies that the All-Merciful was stringent regarding uncleanness, Rabbi Yehuda holds that this is a matter on its own , to inform us that vessels that were initially also defiled, if he left them. But the Halakah is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

עסק זה לפינוי – in astonishment, and to busy himself to empty out the house, Scripture needed that you must remove things that are not susceptible to receive defilement, by force, Scripture does not come to expound other than like Rabbi Meir expounds that the Torah has compassion on the money of Israelites.

פכו (his cruse) – the language of small cruses.

תפיו (to set upon for cooking/ewer) – a place that one makes and cooks on it his dishes, as for example, an earthenware oven and [an earthenware] double stove that ae susceptible to become unclean. But there are books that have the reading טפיו/his stand for a portable oven/dripping, and it is a very small earthenware vessel that the liquid does not leave from it other by constant dripping. And all of these do not have purification in a Mikveh.

וא"כ על של רשע – that the plagues come on account of gossip/evil talk.

אינו הולך לתוך ביתו – as it is written (Leviticus 14:38): “The priest shall come out of the house [to the entrance of the house, and close up the house for seven days].” It is possible that he would go to his house and shut it up, the inference teaches us (Leviticus 14:38): “to the entrance of the house”/"אל-פתח הבית", or on the entrance of the house, it is possible that he would stand underneath the lintel and shut it up, as the inference teaches us (Leviticus 14:38): “The priest shall come out of the house”/"ויצא הכהן מן-הבית" until he uproots from everything in the house (see also Tractate Nedarim 56b and Hullin 10b).

ולא סיד מכל מקום (and not lime from any place) – as it is written (Leviticus 14:42): “and take other coating ]and plaster the house[”/"ועפר אחר יקח [וטח את-הבית]", but he lime is not dirt, but rather burnt stone.

לא אחת תחת שתים – a large stone that replaces the place of the two [stones].

מכאן אמרו אוי לרשע ואוי לשכנו – if a wall interrupts between two houses and the plague appears on the wall on the side of this house, the owner of the other house has to deal with him on this, as it is written (Leviticus 14:40): “[The priest] shall order the stones with the plague in them to be pulled out”/"[וצוה הכהן] וחלצו את-האבנים אשר בהן הנגע", in the plural language (i.e., וחלצו את האבנים – they shall pull out the stones). And the one for whom the plague is on the side of his house is called an “evil” person, for plagues come on account of gossip/evil talk, as we have stated.

שניהם קוצעים (both of the neighbors must bear the expense for tearing out – the leprous stone, and for scraping the wall) – it is the language of (Leviticus 14:41): “The house shall be scraped inside all around”/”ואת-הבית יקצע מבית סביב" .

יקח וטח – it is singular language (Leviticus 14:42): "ועפר איר יקח וטח את-הבית"/ “and take other coating and plaster the house,” to exclude his neighbor that does not deal with him in plastering.

בא בסוף השבוע –(Leviticus 12:48): "אחרי הטח את-בית"/ “after the house was replastered,” he (i.e., the Kohen) returns and quarantines it/shuts it up, but if at the end of the week, the plague returns, “he tears down the house,”/"ונתץ את הבית" (Leviticus 12:45).

הפשיון הסמוך – that it spread close/adjacent to the plague.

והחוזר כשני גריסין – as it is written (Leviticus 14:43): "ואם-ישוב הנגע"/ “if the plague again breaks out in the house,” like a person who states: “so-and-so returned to his place.” But the plague that is in the houses at the outset do not other defile other than with two split [Cilician] beans in size.