This perusal brings a person to humility - in remembering from where he came. And his perusal of his end will bring him to disparage matters of the world. And his perusal of the greatness of the Commander will bring him to be quick to listen to His commandments. And when these three come into his hand, he will not sin at all.

His proof that any session wherein they did not speak words of Torah is called a session of scorners is from the end of the verse (the verse after the one he cites), wherein he states (Psalms 1:2), "But rather the Torah of the Lord, etc." [It is] as if he said that because his desire was in the Torah of the Lord, he [axiomatically] did not sit in the session of scorners within which there is no Torah of the Lord.

From where [is there proof that] that even [when there is only] one [person] sitting, etc.: In the first chapter of Berakhot 6a, it states in this language, "And from where is it derived that one who sits and engages in Torah [study], the Divine Presence is with him? As it is stated: 'In every place where I cause My Name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you' (Exodus 20:21); Since even one, was it necessary [to say] two? [With] two, their words are written in the book of remembrance; with one, his words are not written in a book of remembrance. And since even two, was it necessary [to say] three? Lest you say that judgment is merely peace, and the Divine Presence does not come. [Instead,] we understand that sitting in judgment is also Torah. And since even three, was it necessary [to say] ten? [With] ten, the Divine Presence precedes [them] and comes; [with] three, not until they sit." And the explanation of "he is silent (vayidom)" as being from the hidden speech is from "a still (demamah) small voice" (I Kings 19:12). And from this [idea] did the [Onkelos' Aramaic] translation explain, "And Aharon was silent" (Leviticus 10:3) [as] "And Ahaon praised." And his proof that he is like one that observed the entire Torah completely is from his saying, "since he takes it on himself" (Lamentations 3:28) - it is as if the giving of the entire Torah was only for his sake.

Idolatrous sacrifices are called the offerings of the dead, as the verse (Psalms 106:28) called it, as we explained in the third chapter of Idol Worship (Rambam Mishnah Avodah Zarah 3:8). And Yishayahu also called it "vomit and feces" to disgrace it, [just] like idolatry itself is called dung and abominations. And before this verse is a verse that indicates occupation with food and drink and ignoring Torah and its study, and because of this the tables are all as if they ate upon them dirty things and feces - meaning to say, idolatry. And that [verse] is his saying before this verse, "But these are also muddled by wine and misled by ale" (Isaiah 28:7).

The yoke of Torah: Constancy of reading [it].

the yoke of government: The exertion [imposed by] the king and his troops.

and the yoke of the way of the world (derekh erets): The exertion [imposed by] time. He said that as a reward for his taking the yoke of Torah, God, may He be blessed, will save him and lighten the exertion of time from upon him. And his saying, "casts from himself the yoke of Torah," [is] that he said, "The Torah is not from Heaven and I will not bear it." And they said (Eruvin 54a), "'Engraved (charut) on the tablets' (Exodus 32:16) [...] freedom (cheirut) on the tablets" - meaning to say, freedom from the events of time and the matters of kings [comes] to the one who accepts and does what is written upon the tablets.

"In the congregation of God": Behold, we have explained in the beginning of Sanhedrin (Rambam on Mishnah Sanhedrin 1:6), that a congregation does not apply to less than ten. And there we also explained that a court is no less than three and they are called elohim (powers) with regard to judgement. And the explanation of "band" (bundle) is that which a man bands [together] in his one hand. And the hand has five fingers in it. And the group of five fingers is also called a band.

Behold this thing is agreed upon by the philosophers as well: That habituation of the virtues - when it comes before [acquisition of] wisdom to the point that it is a strong possession, and he studies wisdom afterwards such that it will give him alacrity for those goods - will add joy and love to his wisdom and industriousness to increase upon it; since [wisdom] stimulates him to [do] that to which he is [already] accustomed. But when the acquisition of knowledge comes first, and he studies [the virtues]afterwards, his wisdom will prevent him from that which he desires according to his habit. [And so] wisdom will weigh upon him and he will leave it.

He said that these things prevent and remove the virtue of of a man until he leaves the world and is lost.

One who whitens the face of another: That is one who embarrasses his fellow.

One who reveals meanings (literally, faces) in the Torah: is one transgresses the laws of the Torah in public and that is the epitome of heresy, as God, may He be blessed, said (Numbers 15:30), "And the soul that does with a high hand (publicly)." And the matter of revealing faces is that he reveals his face and is brazen - and that is an expression of heresy. And so is it explained in the gemara (Talmud Yerushalmi Peah 1:1). They said one who reveals faces in the Torah is one that transgresses the words of the Torah in public, like Yohayakim the son of Yoshayahu.

nullifies the covenant: [This is] as its simple understanding. And there it said about all of the things that the sages said that the one who does them has no share in the world to come, "About what are we [speaking]? If when he repented, there is nothing that stands in front of repentance. Rather [it is] when he did not repent but he died with afflictions." It means to say that the weight of the sins - and these are the ones about which they said he has no share in the world to come - is greater than other sins, as for [the former exclusively,] afflictions with death do not atone.

Be yielding (literally, light) to an elder: [The meaning of] lightness is known.

And pleasant: This is calmness and ease. And he said with this command that when you are in front of a man of great standing, make yourself light towards him and serve him and stand in his presence if he wants and do not seek honor for yourself from him. But when you are with black hair - meaning to say one of young years - do not do this; but seek honor for yourself from him and do not be playful and do not be jocular with him. Afterwards he said, "You should not think that that which I have warned you from being jocular with someone of young years obligates that you should greet him with rage and with a choleric face. This is not the intention. Rather you need to greet every person - small or big, freeman or slave, every man of the human species - with joy." And this is more than that which Shammai said (Avot 1:15), "with a pleasant countenance." [The translator said it appears to me from the words of the teacher (Rambam) that he explains the word mekabel (literally, receive) from hakbelat panim (being across from the face) which is as if he is across. This is derived from (Exodus 26:5) "the loops across (makbilot)," which he translated from the Aramaic as across or facing. And also in Arabic one says about this matter an expression of meeting and being opposite - one says x met me happily or angrily. And with this type of expression did the teacher explain mekabel here - and know it.]

When a man makes vows and keeps them, the acquisition of keeping away from that which he wants to keep away from comes into his hand, and that acquisition is strengthened for him. And abstinence becomes easier for him, meaning to say guarding from impurities - as they said in Chagigah (Mishnah Chagigah 2:7), "The clothes of an am ha'arets [unlearned person] are midras (considered impure by treading) for the abstinent.

He would say that revelation of that which He benefited him a certain good is a separate benefit. As there are times when a man benefits [another] man by way of mercy and does not reveal the certain thing that he did for him because he is [too] lowly in his eyes.

This statement includes great things and [so] it is fitting that this statement would be of Rabbi Akiva. And this is its explanation in brief on condition that you know all that came before it in the earlier chapters. He said [that] all that is in the world is known to Him, may He be blessed and He comprehends it. And that is his saying, "Everything is foreseen." And afterwards he said [that] you should not think that in His knowing actions [in the future], it is obligated by necessity - meaning to say that a person is forced in his actions to [do one] action out of the [many] actions. The matter is not like this, but [rather] freewill is in the hand of a man as to what he will do. And this is his saying, "and freewill is given." He means to say that freewill is given to every man, as we elucidated in the eighth chapter (Eight Chapters 8). And he said that the judgement of God, may He be blessed, with people, however, is with kindness and good - not according to the judgement that befits them, as He, may He be blessed, explained (Exodus 34:6), "of great patience and much kindness and truth" - and the rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said "'of great patience' with the righteous and the evil." And the prophet (recounter) said (Psalms 145:9), "Good to all is the Lord." And afterwards he said that the virtues do not come to a man according to the quantity of the greatness of the deed, but rather according to the great number of good deeds. And this is that indeed the virtues arrive by repetition of the good deeds many times. And with this does a strong acquisition come - not when a man does one great deed from the good deeds; as from this alone, a strong acquisition will not come to him. And the parable with this is that when a man gives a thousand gold coins at one time to one man to whom it is fitting and he does not give anything to another man; the trait of generosity will not come into his hand with this great act, as [much as] it will come to one who donates a thousand gold pieces a thousand times and gives each one of them out of generosity. [This is] because this one repeated the act of generosity a thousand times and a strong acquisition of it came to him [in this way]. But [the other] only aroused his soul with a great arousal towards a good act, and afterwards it ceased from him. And so [too] with Torah, the reward of the one who redeems one captive with a hundred dinar or [gives] charity to a poor person with a hundred dinar which is enough for what he lacks is not like the one who redeems ten captives or fills the lack of ten poor people - each one with ten dinar. And in this comparison and this matter is that which he said, " in accordance to the majority of the deed" - and not in accordance to the greatness of the deed.

The shopkeeper grants credit: One who gives much time with a debt and does not request it immediately. And this parable is clear and its intention is known. And that which he said, "and everyone who wants to borrow can come and borrow," strengthens the earlier matter that there is no necessity [forcing actions], but with free choice does a man do what he wants to do. And his saying, "and the collectors go constantly" is a metaphor for death and other punishments that come to a man.

and everything is prepared for the feast: [This] is to say the ultimate intention of all this is life in the world to come.

He means to say with this that each of these two - each one of the two of them - helps the existence of the other and completes the other one. However his words about knowledge (daat) and understanding (binah) is a very subtle matter with the philosophers; and I will mention it [and] rely upon the understanding of the one that will investigate it. And that is that the knowledge that reaches us and that we acquire is, indeed, the comprehension of ideas that we comprehend if we separate the form and comprehend it or if we comprehend the separated forms in their [pristine] existence - without our making them knowledge, for they, themselves, are knowledge. And that comprehension is called understanding, and that is [the acquisition] of knowledge. And with knowledge, too, we understand [it] and it becomes possible to comprehend what we comprehend. And it is as if he said that if we do not comprehend an idea, we do not have knowledge; and if we do not have knowledge, we can not comprehend an idea - as we comprehend it with knowledge. And understanding this thing is very difficult - even from the books that are written about it, all the more so here. However, we are only straightening out the straight path to it. Any one whose deeds: We have already explained and elucidated these thing in this chapter in the words of Rabbi Chaninah ben Dosa (Rambam Pirkei Avot 3:9).