How is the Pesach roasted? A pomegranate spit is brought [and not one of other woods, for they exude water, rendering the Pesach quasi-cooked in water (which is interdicted by Scripture), and pomegranate wood does not exude water. And it is also not to be roasted on a spit of metal, as stated below, for metal, when part of it is hot, all of it is hot, so that the meat is roasted by the metal, whereas Scripture states (Exodus 12:9): "roasted in fire," and not roasted by something else.], and it (the spit) is stuck from the midst of its mouth until its bottom, and its legs and entrails are placed within it. These are the words of R. Yossi Haglili. R. Akiva says: This is a kind of cooking, [its entrails being cooked within it as within a pot.] Rather, they are suspended outside it. [They are suspended on the spit above the mouth of the lamb. The halachah is in accordance with R. Akiva.]

The Pesach is to be roasted neither on a spit (of metal) nor on a grill. R. Tzaddok said: Once R. Gamliel said to Tevi, his bondsman: "Go out and roast the Pesach for us on a grill. [Our Mishnah is incomplete. The complete version: "…and if the grill has holes, it is kasher. And R. Tzaddok said: Once, etc."] If the Pesach touched the clay of an oven, its place should be peeled. [He should peel from the Pesach the place that came in contact with the stove, it having been roasted there by the heat of the oven clay, so that it is not "roasted by fire."] If some of its juice dripped on the clay and returned to it [i.e., If the fats heated by the clay returned to the Pesach and were absorbed in it], its place should be removed. [It is not enough to peel it off, but about the thickness of a finger should be removed. For fats are well absorbed into it, and those fats are clay-roasted.] If some of its juice dripped onto flour [and the flour were heated, in which instance the juice is broiled by the flour and the juice in the flour may not be eaten, being broiled by something else (i.e., other than fire)], he should take a handful from its place [and burn that handful, as (one does with) other kodshim (consecrated foods) that become unfit.]

If it were anointed with oil of terumah, [it being permitted to anoint a Pesach with fruit juice] — if it were a company of Cohanim, they eat it. If Israelites, it is rinsed off, [for it was not absorbed.] And if it had been roasted, the outer layer is peeled off, [the oil having been absorbed.] If it were anointed with oil of ma'aser sheni, it should not be assessed for payment by the company, for ma'aser sheni is not redeemed in Jerusalem [even to eat it there in cleanliness, it being written (Deuteronomy 14:25): "Then you shall change it to money, and you shall bind the money in your hand, and you shall go to the place (Jerusalem)"].

Five things (i.e., offerings) come (i.e., may be offered) in uncleanliness, but are not eaten in uncleanliness. [There are no other communal offerings eaten (by the Cohanim) but these. And a communal offering overrides uncleanliness, this being derived from Pesach, in respect to which it is written (Numbers 9:2): "in its appointed time," and which overrides uncleanliness in an instance where the majority of the congregation is unclean, viz. (Numbers 9:10): "A man, if he become unclean" — a man is subject to postponement (until the second Pesach), but the populace is not subject to postponement. And in respect to communal offerings it is written (Numbers 29:39): "These shall you offer unto the L rd in your appointed times," just as it is written in respect to the Pesach, "in its appointed time." Our Mishnah apprises us that even though they are sacrificed in uncleanliness to satisfy the communal requirement, they are not eaten in uncleanliness. The reason we have "Five things" and not "Communal offerings" is to exclude all of the festival offerings, which are like communal offerings in that they come "in a crowd," in a gathering of fellows for the festival; yet they do not override uncleanliness, just as they do not override the Sabbath.] (The five things:) the omer, the two breads, the show-bread, the congregational peace-offerings [the atzereth (Shavuoth) lambs, there being no other congregational peace-offerings], and the Rosh Chodesh goats. [The festival goats are not mentioned, for since we are apprised of the congregational peace-offerings, which are types of payment and which are not eaten in uncleanliness, the same applies to all other types of payment. The only reason we must be apprised of the Rosh Chodesh goats is that "appointed time" is not written in that regard, so that we might think they do not override uncleanliness. For all of the communal offerings are derived from "appointed time," it being written in respect to all of them: "These shall you offer to the L rd in your appointed times."] The Pesach which comes in uncleanliness is eaten in uncleanliness; for it came in the beginning only for eating. [When the essential mitzvah of the Pesach was given, it was given only for eating, viz. (Exodus 12:4): "a man according to his eating." And when the Torah permitted bringing it in uncleanliness viz. (the derivation): "a man is subject to postponement, but not the populace," it did so in respect to eating.]

If the flesh became unclean and the fats were intact, he does not sprinkle the blood, [for the Pesach is essentially for human consumption]. If the fats became unclean and the flesh were intact, he sprinkles the blood. And with mukdashin (consecrated offerings) it is not so, but even if the flesh became unclean and the fats were intact, he sprinkles the blood.

If the congregation or the majority of it became unclean [with dead-body uncleanliness — for the Pesach is overridden (i.e., offered in uncleanliness) only with dead-body uncleanliness], or if the Cohanim were unclean and the congregation clean, it is offered in uncleanliness [even by individuals who had become unclean. For the clean ones themselves offer it in uncleanliness because of the Cohanim (who had become unclean). For no distinction is made in a communal offering that is brought in uncleanliness. Since the offering of the majority comes in uncleanliness, the individuals, too, offer it in uncleanliness.] If a minority of the congregation became unclean, the clean ones offer the first Pesach and the unclean ones, the second.

If the blood of a Pesach were sprinkled and afterwards it became known that it [the Pesach or the blood], was unclean, the tzitz [the high-priest's frontlet] atones [and he is exempt from Pesach sheni (the second Pesach offering)]. If his [the owner's] body became unclean [with dead-body uncleanliness], the tzitz does not atone [and he is subject to Pesach sheni, for at the time of the sprinkling he was not a Pesach offerer, Scripture having rejected him.] For they (the sages) said: With a Nazirite and with one who offers a Pesach, the tzitz atones for uncleanliness of the blood, but the tzitz does not atone for uncleanliness of the body. [Concerning a Nazirite it is written (Numbers 6:9): "and if one die on him… (12) then the first days shall fall off." If he becomes unclean through a dead body before he brings his offerings, his (previous) Naziritism is canceled. ("the tzitz atones for uncleanliness of the blood":) and his shaving is kasher, and he is permitted to drink wine and to become unclean for the dead. ("but the tzitz does not atone for uncleanliness of the body":) If he were unclean when he brought his offerings, everything is negated.] If he [i.e., his body] became unclean with "uncleanliness of the depths" (tumath hatehom), the tzitz atones. [All dead-body uncleanliness not known to anyone beforehand is called "tumath hatehom." It is a halachah to Moshe on Sinai that tumath hatehom was waived for them, since no one had ever known about the uncleanliness. If such uncleanliness became known to him after he had offered his Pesach, he need not offer the Pesach sheni. Likewise, if tumath hatehom became known to a Nazirite after he had brought his offerings, he need not bring an offering for uncleanliness. (Tumath hatehom obtains with dead-body uncleanliness alone)].

If all of it or most of it became unclean, it is burned before the birah. [The entire sanctuary is called "birah." It is burned there in order to shame them, that they take care not to come to uncleanliness again.] It is burned with the wood of the (altar) woodpile [so as not to shame those who have no wood.] If the lesser part of it became unclean and [likewise] nothar [i.e., if something were left over from a clean Pesach], it is burned in their courtyards or on their roofs with their own wood. The stingy burn it [that lesser part which became unclean and the nothar from a clean Pesach] before the birah in order to benefit from the wood of the woodpile.

If the Pesach went out [i.e., outside of the wall (of Jerusalem)] or became unclean, it is to be burned immediately [on the fourteenth, and he need not wait until the morning of the fifteenth for its appearance to have changed, i.e., to have become nothar. (In any event, he cannot burn it on the festival, it being forbidden to burn kodshim on a festival.)] If the owners became unclean or if they died, [so that its defect is not in itself, but externally caused], its appearance must change [i.e., He must wait until it becomes nothar] and he burns it on the sixteenth. R. Yochanan b. Beroka says: This, too, is to be burned immediately, for it has no eaters. [R. Yochanan b. Beroka differs with the first tanna only where the owners became unclean or died before the blood was sprinkled, in which instance the flesh, not having been fit for eating, is considered defective in itself. The halachah is not in accordance with R. Yochanan b. Beroka.]

The bones, [which he may not break, the breaking of a bone being forbidden, and in which marrow is left, which requires burning], and the sinews [which may not be eaten, but for which one is not Scripturally liable, such as the fats of the gid hanasheh (the thighbone sinew), which are permitted, but which "Israel, the holy ones" forbade to themselves; or else, the outer sinew, close to the flesh, which is forbidden but for which one is not liable (so that by Torah law, it is nothar, but it may not be eaten for the rabbis forbade it)], and nothar [left-over flesh of the Pesach, their having been lax in its eating] — these are to be burned on the sixteenth [on chol hamoed (the first intermediate day of the festival). Even though they became pasul (unfit) on the first morning, it is forbidden to burn them on the festival. For the burning of kodshim is an aseh (a positive commandment) and the festival is an aseh and a lo ta'aseh (a negative commandment), and an aseh does not override a lo ta'aseh and an aseh.] If the sixteenth falls out on Shabbath, they are to be burned on the seventeenth; for they override neither Shabbath nor a festival.

Everything which is eaten in a large ox [in which everything destined to harden has already hardened] is eaten in a soft kid [i.e., is fit to be eaten in an eight-day-old Pesach. But what is not eaten in a large ox is not "numbered" over in a Pesach, even though it be soft now (since it is destined to harden)] — the tops of the forelegs and the cartilages. [i.e., What is eaten in a large ox? The cartilaginous tops of the forelegs and other cartilages, such as the ear lobe, the breast cartilages, and the small ribs at the end of the spine. Since they are eaten in a large ox, boiled, they are eaten in a soft kid, roasted.] If one breaks a bone in a clean Pesach, he receives forty stripes. But if one leaves over in a clean Pesach or if he breaks (a bone) in an unclean Pesach, he does not receive forty stripes. [("But if one leaves over, etc.":) For it is written (Exodus 12:10): "And you shall not leave over anything of it until morning; and what is left over of it until morning, in fire shall you burn it." Scripture adduces an aseh (a positive commandment) after a lo ta'aseh (a negative commandment) by way of saying: If you have transgressed the lo ta'aseh, fulfill its related aseh and you will not receive stripes. Or else, it (leaving over) is a negative transgression not involving an act, which is not subject to stripes. ("Or if he breaks a bone in an unclean Pesach, etc.":) For it is written (Ibid. 46): "And a bone shall you not break in it" — One is exhorted vis-à-vis a kasher Pesach, and not vis-à-vis one that is pasul.]

If part of a limb [of the Pesach] went outside [its (permitted) partition, e.g., holy of holies that went outside of the azarah or lower-order offerings that went outside of Jerusalem, the flesh that went out is treifah and may not be eaten], he cuts [the flesh that went out all around until he reaches the bone], and he pares [the flesh that did not go out] until he reaches the joint [where the two bones are joined. He eats the flesh that he pared off, for it did not go out], and he cuts [the joint and discards the entire bone, part of which went out.] And with [other] consecrated offerings [aside from the Pesach], he cuts it off [the part of the limb that went out] with a hack; for the breaking of a bone is not interdicted in them [as it is in the Pesach]. From the agaf inside is like the inside. [The "agaf" is the space where the door shuts, where it "knocks against" when it is closed. ("From the agaf inside is like the inside":) And lower-order offerings may be eaten there.] From the agaf [i.e., the space where the door shuts] outside is like the outside. The windows [in the wall of Jerusalem] and the thickness of [the top of] the wall is like the inside.

If two companies were eating [one Pesach] in one house, these (i.e., the members of one company) may turn their faces in one direction and eat, and the others may turn their faces in the other direction and eat. [And even if this gives the impression of two companies on one Pesach, this does not concern us, for it is written (Exodus 12:7): "…of the houses in which they eat it," the implication being that two persons may eat one Pesach in two houses; but one person may not eat in two places. (Ibid. 46): "In one house shall it be eaten" is accordingly understood as meaning that one man may not eat it in two houses. And two companies turning their faces away from each other are like two houses.] And the boiler [for boiling water with which to mix wine may be placed] in the middle, so as to be easily accessible to both companies. And even though it intervenes between the companies, this does not concern us.] When the steward [serving both companies] arises [from one company with which he has begun to eat his Pesach] to pour [for the other company], he compresses his mouth and turns his face [towards his company, so that they not suspect him of eating with the other company, one person not eating with two companies, as stated above] until he returns to eat with his company. And a bride, [who is ashamed] may turn her face [to the other side] and eat, [for one Pesach may be eaten in two companies].