6. Rabbi Meier said, “every work which was begun before the fourteenth day of Nisan may be finished on the fourteenth; but it must not be commenced on the fourteenth, even though it can be finished.” And the Sages say, “three trades can carry on business on the eves of the passovers for half a day; and these are they—the tailors, and the barbers, and the washers.” Rabbi José, the son of Judah, said, “also shoemakers.” 7. Persons may set hens on their nests on the fourteenth. “But if the hen ran off?” “They may return her to her place.” “And if she died?” “They may set another instead of her.” They may clear away from beneath the feet of beasts on the fourteenth. But on the holiday (or middle-days) they put it aside. They may carry to and bring vessels from the house of the trader, even though they be not necessary for the holiday. 8. The men of Jericho did six things, in three they were prohibited, and in three they were allowed. And these are they in which they were allowed: they engrafted dates the whole fourteenth day of Nisan, and they shortened the “Hear,”(142) and they reaped and stacked new corn before “the sheaf”(143) was offered; and they were allowed. And in these they were prohibited: they used the produce of what was consecrated, and they ate on the Sabbath the fruit that had fallen down from the trees, and they gave(144) (to the poor) the corners of the fields of vegetables. And the Sages prohibited them from these things.(145) 9. BEREITHA—EXTERNAL TRADITION.—Hezekiah the king did six things; to three the Sages consented, and to three they did not consent. He carried the bones of his father (Ahaz) on a rope bed,(146) and they consented. He powdered the brazen serpent,(147) and they consented. He concealed the book of medicines,(148) and they consented. And to three they did not consent: he cut off (the gold from) the doors of the temple(149) and sent it to the Assyrian king, and they did not consent. He stopped the waters of the upper Gihon,(150) and they did not consent. He introduced an intercalary Nisan, and they did not consent. Chapter V 1. The daily offering was slaughtered at half-past eight,(151) and offered at half-past nine. On the eve of the passover it was slaughtered at half-past seven and offered at half-past eight, whether the passover fell on a week-day or on the Sabbath. When the eve of the passover began on the eve of the Sabbath (Friday), it was slaughtered at half-past six, and offered at half-past seven, and the passover followed after it.