Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Yehoshua, and Yehoshua to the Elders, and the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples and make a fence for the Torah.

Antigonos, man of Sokho, received from Shimon the Righteous. He would say, "Do not be as servants who are serving the master in order to receive a reward, rather be as servants who are serving the master not in order to receive a reward; and may the fear of Heaven be upon you."

Yose ben Yoezer, man of Tsreida, and Yose ben Yochanan, man of Jerusalem, received from them. Yose ben Yoezer says, "May your house be a meeting house for Sages, become dirty in the dust of their feet and drink their words thirstily."

Yose ben Yochanan, man of Jerusalem, says, "May your home be open wide, may the poor be members of your household and do not increase conversation with the woman." They so stated with his wife; all the more so with the wife of his friend. From this, the sages said, "Any time that a man increases conversation with the woman, he causes evil to himself and neglects the words of Torah; and, in his end, he inherits Geihinam."

Yehuda ben Tabai and Shimon ben Shetach received from them. Yehuda ben Tabai says, "Do not make yourself like the judges' advisers; and when the litigants are before you, they should be like evildoers in your eyes; and when they are excused from before you, they should be meritorious in your eyes - when they have accepted the judgment."

Avtalyon says, "Sages, be careful with your words, lest you become obligated in an obligation of exile and are exiled to the place of evil waters, and the students who follow after you will drink, and thus the name of Heaven is profaned."

He would say, "Spread a name, lose his name. And one who does not increase [knowledge] ceases. And one who does not study is liable to die. And one who makes use of the crown [of learning] passes away."

Shimon, his son, says, "All my days I grew up among the Sages, and I did not find anything good for the body except silence. And the exposition [of Torah] is not what is essential, but the action. And whoever increases words brings sin."