If one married a woman and she stipulated with him [with writ and kinyan (act of acquisition) or he told witnesses: You are my witnesses that I obligate myself] to feed her daughter [that she has from another] for five years, he must feed her for five years. If (the first divorced her within the five years and) she married another, and she stipulated with him to feed her daughter for five years, he must feed her for five years. The first may not say to the second: If she came to me, I would feed her [i.e., Had I remained married to her mother, I would have fed her], but he must bring her food to the place where her mother is. [For we rule: A daughter (whether a minor or grown) may remain with her mother so long as she (the mother) wishes it. And a son remains with his mother for six years and the father is obliged to feed him while he is with his mother if she so wishes.] Likewise, the two should not say: We shall feed her as one; but one feeds her and the other gives her food money.

If she (the daughter) married, her husband gives her food, and they (the mother's husbands) give her food money. If they (the husbands) died, their (own) daughters are fed from free property [and not from bound property, for we do not take from bound property for food for one's wife and daughters, because of "the general good"; for the buyers do not know how much feeding them will cost that they could take care to leave them a place from which to collect.], and she (the step-daughter) is fed from bound property, for she is like a creditor, [having a deed for sustenance against that property.] The "clever" ones would write: "…on condition that I feed your daughter five years, so long as you are with me" [but not if I die, or you die, or I divorce you.]

If a widow said: "I do not want to move from my husband's house," the heirs cannot say to her: Go to your father's house and we will feed you; but they must feed her in her husband's house, and they must give her living quarters in keeping with her dignity. [Likewise, vessels, bondsmen, and bondswomen, as she was wont to use in her husband's lifetime. But if the house fell, they are not required to build her another one. For (in the kethubah) it is written: "And you shall dwell in my house." And even if she desired to rebuild it from her own money, she is not heeded.] If she said: "I do not want to move from my father's house," the heirs can say to her: If you are with us, we shall feed you, [the "blessing" of the house being greater]; if not, we shall not feed you. If she based her request on her being very young and their being very young, they feed her while she is in her father's house.

So long as she is in her father's house [and the heirs feed her there], she can always [i.e., whenever she wishes] claim her kethubah. So long as she is in her husband's house, she can claim her kethubah for twenty-five years; for there is in the twenty-five years (enough time) for her to do good against (the amount of) her kethubah. These are the words of R. Meir in the name of R. Shimon b. Gamliel. And the sages say: So long as she is in her husband's house, she can always claim her kethubah. So long as she is in her father's house, she can claim her kethubah for twenty-five years. [The twenty-five years were not mentioned to cause her to lose her kethubah because of the good she does from the property of the orphans, but (they were mentioned) in respect to "waiving" (the kethubah), i.e., since she remained silent and did not claim it all of these years, she has waived it. Therefore, so long as she is in her husband's house, her silence does not constitute "waiving," for since they honor her, she is ashamed to claim her kethubah. But in her father's house, if she remained silent for twenty-five years, this constitutes "waiving."] If she died, her heirs "mention" her kethubah for twenty-five years. [That is, they must claim her kethubah within twenty-five years. And this is only when she swore to (not having collected) her kethubah before she died. But if she had not sworn to her kethubah, her heirs collect nothing of it, for "a man does not bequeath an oath to his sons."]