השרץ (creeping thing) – the creeping animal defiles through contact but not by lifting (see Tractate Kelim, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1 as well as Leviticus 11:29-30).

צפרדע – a ritually pure [frog], but since it is similar to a species of lizard and they (i.e., the Rabbis) erred concerning it, because of this, it (i.e., the Mishnah) took [the word] צפרדע/frog.

כזית מן המת -defiles in a tent. But a carrion does not defile in a tent.

עצם מן המת – [a bone from a corpse] defiles through movement, but the bone of a carrion is ritually pure.

גוש מבית הפרס וגוש מארץ העמים – they defile through contact and by lifting/carrying but do not defile in a tent.

שני שבילין אחד טמא – that one of them is a grave lying width-wise and fills all of it, and he doesn’t pass through it so that he will not be overshadowed.

האהיל על אחד מהן – we are referring to on an olive’s bulk of a corpse or on an olive’s bulk of a carrion.

הסיט אחד מהם – [on a bone from the corpse or a bone from the carrion, and similarly] a clod of earth from a ritually pure land and a clod of earth from an area in which uncertainty exists concerning the location of a grave or a corpse/בית הפרס and a clod of earth from the land of the nations (i.e., outside the Land of Israel), that defile through movement.

ר' עקיבא מטמא – for Rabbi Akiba holds that defilement in the public domain – its manner of doubt is pure – these words apply when he made/prepared pure things, since they lack any remedy when they are defiled. But concerning a person who is caused to need ritual immersion [in a Mikveh] and sprinkling [of ashes], he holds that he requires ritual immersion and sprinkling, lest today or tomorrow the matter becomes verified that he was defiled.

וחכמים מטהרים – for even a person who has a remedy, we don’t we require him to undergo ritual immersion and sprinkling. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.

אחד שאמר נגעתי בזה – it refers to the frog and the creeping animal of the first clause [found in Mishnah 1 of this chapter], for the frog is similar to a species of lizard and they (i.e., the Rabbis) erred concerning it.

שדרך בני אדם להלוך – that it is impossible for a person to prevent himself that he should not walk in the public domain, therefore a manner of doubt regarding pathways is ritually pure. But [regarding] touching/contact it is possible for a person not to touch it, therefore, if he has doubt whether he touched it or not, his manner of doubt is ritual impurity. But the Halakha is neither according to Rabbi Akiba or Rabbi Yossi.

הזה ושנה – he sprinkled on the third [day] and repeated it on the seventh [day].

אלו ואלו תלויות – even though that in the two [paths] that they walked, we establish that each one is in the presumption of ritual purity, as is taught in the Mishnah further on (Mishnah 5), here concerning one [person] in two times, it doesn’t belong to ritually purify with those which remain, for even with two when they came to interrogate him at the same time, they are ritually impure. And the other, even with one after the other is considered like at the same time.

השניות ישרפו – for certainly it was ritually impure when they were made.

אם נשאלו – each of by the Sages on his manner of doubt by himself, no Jewish court is able to defile them, for we hold that regarding a manner of doubt in the public domain, his manner of doubt is ritually pure, but if they came at one time, since that with one decision we are able to say, “you [both] are ritually impure or “you are [both] ritually impure, it is impossible for us to say “you [both] are ritually pure” since one is definitely impure.

ר' יוסי אומר בין כך ובין כך טמאין – Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Yehuda did not disagree when they came to be interrogated at the same time, for everyone states that they are ritually impure. But when they came to be interrogated one after another, everyone states that they are ritually pure. On what did they disagree? One when one comes to be interrogated him and on his fellow, for Rabbi Yehuda compares this to one coming after the other, whereas Rabbi Yossi comes it to simultaneously. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.

אכל אחד מהן – it (i.e., the Mishnah) taught defilement according to the Torah and it [also] teaches defilement according to the Rabbi. And the dispute of Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yossi here also is when one comes to be interrogated upon and on his neighbor, like the dispute above (in Mishnah 5). And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.

על רוקו שורפים – that on the spittle that is found, we burn the heave-offering/priest’s due as it is taught in the Mishnah in our chapter above (Tractate Taharot, Chapter 4, Mishnah 5), and even though they are a matter of doubt, we don’t follow after the majority.

ועל בגדיו הולכים אחר הרוב - if the majority of the people of that city are people with gonorrhea/זבים and זבות/women with a flux, we burn [the priest’s due/heave-offering].

כליו טמאין מדרס – although that when he sat and another came and tread, we go after the majority. Sleeping is different, for we are concerned that perhaps the majority of people tread on his clothing and one of them was a man with gonorrhea or a woman with a flux.

וחכמים מטהרין – since there was a doubtful defilement in the public domain, he is ritually pure, perhaps no one tread at all.

נגע באחד בלילה – we are speaking specifically in the public domain.

וחכמים מטמאין – if he saw him from the evening even though he came in the morning and found that he had died, the Sages agree with Rabbi Meir that he is ritually pure, but if he saw him living, there is a dispute. But the Halakha is according to the Sagesץ

שוטה אחת בעיר – and specifically a woman imbecile, but not a male imbecile. For a woman is regularly in a menstruating status, whereas a male is not normally having a flux.

או נכרית – and the same law applies regarding a heathen/gentile, for according to the Torah, there is no distinction between a male and a female, and all of them are ritually pure, but the Rabbis decreed upon them that they would be like those with a flux. And similarly, regarding a female Cuthean (i.e., a member of the sect of Samaritans), there is no distinction between a male Cuthean to a female Cuthean according to the one who says that Cutheans are lion-proselytes (i.e., proselytes from mere fear – referring to II Kings, Chapter 17, verse 25), and even today, they (i.e., the Rabbis) decreed concerning them that they would be like heathens regarding all their matters.

כל הרוקין שבעיר טמאים – for it is their manner to walk throughout the city.

או שישבה עמו בספינה – that she defiles through treading/leaning (i.e., Midras – Levitical uncleanness arising from a person with gonorrhea’s immediate contact) even though her clothing does not touch, as is taught in the beginning of the third chapter of [Tractate] Zavim (Mishnah 1).

אם מכירתו שהוא אוכל בתרומה כליו טהורים – that if she was a menstruating woman or a woman with a flux she would not tread on his clothing nor enter with him on the ship.

ר' מאיר מטמא – that if two [witnesses] brought him to a grave death [as punishment], they would not bring him to [bring] the lenient sacrifice (see also the reasoning of Rabbi Meir in Tractate Kritot, Chapter 3, Mishnah 1).

וחכמים אומרים אדם נאמן על פי עצמו – that we provide the answer through his word. What is “I was not defiled” that he stated? I didn’t stand in my defilement but rather I ritually immerse, and since this is the case, a person is believed concerning himself.

ברה"י טמא ברה"ר טהור – that he is considered like the rest of merely doubtful matters of defilement.