הַקּוֹרֵא אֶת הַמְּגִלָּה לְמַפְרֵעַ, לֹא יָצָא. קְרָאָהּ עַל פֶּה, קְרָאָהּ תַּרְגּוּם, בְּכָל לָשׁוֹן, לֹא יָצָא. אֲבָל קוֹרִין אוֹתָהּ לַלּוֹעֲזוֹת בְּלַעַז. וְהַלּוֹעֵז שֶׁשָּׁמַע אַשּׁוּרִית, יָצָא: With regard to one who reads the Megilla out of order, reading a later section first, and then going back to the earlier section, he has not fulfilled his obligation. If he read it by heart, or if he read it in Aramaic translation or in any other language that he does not understand, he has not fulfilled his obligation. However, for those who speak a foreign language, one may read the Megilla in that foreign language. And one who speaks a foreign language who heard the Megilla read in Ashurit, i.e., in Hebrew, has fulfilled his obligation.
קְרָאָהּ סֵרוּגִין, וּמִתְנַמְנֵם, יָצָא. הָיָה כוֹתְבָהּ, דּוֹרְשָׁהּ, וּמַגִּיהָהּ, אִם כִּוֵּן לִבּוֹ, יָצָא. וְאִם לָאו, לֹא יָצָא. הָיְתָה כְּתוּבָה בְּסַם, וּבְסִקְרָא, וּבְקוֹמוֹס וּבְקַנְקַנְתּוֹם, עַל הַנְּיָר וְעַל הַדִּפְתְּרָא, לֹא יָצָא, עַד שֶׁתְּהֵא כְּתוּבָה אַשּׁוּרִית, עַל הַסֵּפֶר וּבִדְיוֹ: If one read the Megilla at intervals, pausing and resuming, or while he is dozing off, he has fulfilled his obligation. If one was writing a Megilla, or expounding upon it, or correcting it, and he read all its words as he was doing so, the following distinction applies: If he had intent to fulfill his obligation with that reading he has fulfilled his obligation, but if not, he has not fulfilled his obligation. If one reads from a Megilla that was written not with ink but with sam or with sikra or with komos or with kankantom, or from a Megilla that was written not on parchment but on neyar or on diftera, a kind of unprocessed leather, he has not fulfilled his obligation. He does not fulfill his obligation unless he reads from a Megilla that is written in Ashurit, i.e., in the Hebrew language and using the Hebrew script, upon parchment and with ink.
בֶּן עִיר שֶׁהָלַךְ לִכְרַךְ וּבֶן כְּרַךְ שֶׁהָלַךְ לְעִיר, אִם עָתִיד לַחֲזֹר לִמְקוֹמוֹ, קוֹרֵא כִמְקוֹמוֹ. וְאִם לָאו, קוֹרֵא עִמָּהֶן. וּמֵהֵיכָן קוֹרֵא אָדָם אֶת הַמְּגִלָּה וְיוֹצֵא בָּהּ יְדֵי חוֹבָתוֹ, רַבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר, כֻּלָּהּ. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, מֵאִישׁ יְהוּדִי (אסתר ב ה). רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, מֵאַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה (אסתר ג׳:א׳): With regard to a resident of an unwalled town who went to a walled city, where the Megilla is read on the fifteenth of Adar, and conversely, a resident of a walled city who went to an unwalled town where it is read on the fourteenth, the following distinction applies: If he is destined to return to his original place, he reads it according to the halakha governing his own place, and if not, i.e., if he is not destined to return to his place, he reads with them, the residents of his current location. Beginning from where must a person read the Megilla in order to fulfill his obligation? Rabbi Meir says: He must read all of it. Rabbi Yehuda says: He need read only from “There was a certain Jew” (Esther 2:5). Rabbi Yosei says: From “After these things” (Esther 3:1).
הַכֹּל כְּשֵׁרִין לִקְרוֹת אֶת הַמְּגִלָּה, חוּץ מֵחֵרֵשׁ, שׁוֹטֶה, וְקָטָן. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה מַכְשִׁיר בְּקָטָן. אֵין קוֹרִין אֶת הַמְּגִלָּה, וְלֹא מָלִין, וְלֹא טוֹבְלִין, וְלֹא מַזִּין, וְכֵן שׁוֹמֶרֶת יוֹם כְּנֶגֶד יוֹם לֹא תִטְבֹּל, עַד שֶׁתָּנֵץ הַחַמָּה. וְכֻלָּן שֶׁעָשׂוּ מִשֶּׁעָלָה עַמּוּד הַשַּׁחַר, כָּשֵׁר: Everyone is fit to read the Megilla, except for a deaf person, an imbecile, and a minor. Rabbi Yehuda disagrees and says that a minor is fit to read the Megilla. One may not read the Megilla, nor perform a circumcision, nor immerse himself in a ritual bath, nor sprinkle water of purification to purify people and objects that had contracted ritual impurity through contact with a corpse until after sunrise. And also a woman who observes a clean day for each day she experiences a discharge, i.e., a woman who experienced one or two days of non-menstrual bleeding, and must now wait until a day has passed without any discharge of blood before regaining ritual purity, she too may not immerse herself until the sun has risen. And with regard to all these activities that are supposed to be performed during the day, if one did them after daybreak, i.e., after the appearance of the first light of the sun, even before sunrise, they are valid, as at this point it is already considered daytime.
כָּל הַיּוֹם כָּשֵׁר לִקְרִיאַת הַמְּגִלָּה, וְלִקְרִיאַת הַהַלֵּל, וְלִתְקִיעַת שׁוֹפָר, וְלִנְטִילַת לוּלָב, וְלִתְפִלַּת הַמּוּסָפִין, וְלַמּוּסָפִין, וּלְוִדּוּי הַפָּרִים, וּלְוִדּוּי הַמַּעֲשֵׂר, וּלְוִדּוּי יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, לַסְּמִיכָה, לַשְּׁחִיטָה, לַתְּנוּפָה, לַהַגָּשָׁה, לַקְּמִיצָה וְלַהַקְטָרָה, לַמְּלִיקָה, וְלַקַּבָּלָה, וְלַהַזָּיָה, וּלְהַשְׁקָיַת סוֹטָה, וְלַעֲרִיפַת הָעֶגְלָה, וּלְטַהֲרַת הַמְּצֹרָע: Although it is preferable to fulfill a particular day’s mitzva at the earliest possible hour, the entire day is a valid time for reading the Megilla; for reciting hallel; for sounding the shofar on Rosh HaShana; for taking the lulav and the other species on Sukkot; for the additional prayer recited on Shabbat and other occasions; and for the additional offerings sacrificed in the Temple on these occasions. And the entire day is also a valid time for the confession over the bulls brought by the Sanhedrin or by the High Priest to atone for mistakes they had made in their instruction to the people; for the declaration made on the last day of Passover in the fourth and seventh year of the Sabbatical cycle, stating that one’s obligations with regard to tithes have been properly fulfilled (see Deuteronomy 26:12–15); and for the confession of sins made by the High Priest on Yom Kippur over the special offerings brought on that day. The entire day is also a valid time for placing hands on the head of an offering; for slaughtering an offering; for waving those offerings that require waving in the Temple; for bringing meal-offerings near to the altar; for scooping out a fistful of flour from a meal-offering in order to burn it on the altar; and for burning the fistful of flour on the altar; for pinching the necks of the turtledoves and young pigeons sacrificed as offerings in the Temple; and for receiving the blood of an offering in a vessel; and for sprinkling blood on the altar and on the curtain separating between the Holy and the Holy of Holies. And the entire day is also a valid time for giving a woman suspected by her husband of having been unfaithful [sota] to drink from the bitter waters (see Numbers 5:11–31); for breaking the neck of the heifer as part of the procedure followed when a corpse is found outside a town and it is not known who caused his death (see Deuteronomy 21:1–9); and for all the steps in the purification process of the leper (see Leviticus 14:1–20).
כָּל הַלַּיְלָה כָּשֵׁר לִקְצִירַת הָעֹמֶר וּלְהֶקְטֵר חֲלָבִים וְאֵבָרִים. זֶה הַכְּלָל, דָּבָר שֶׁמִּצְוָתוֹ בַיּוֹם, כָּשֵׁר כָּל הַיּוֹם. דָּבָר שֶׁמִּצְוָתוֹ בַלַּיְלָה, כָּשֵׁר כָּל הַלָּיְלָה: Correspondingly, all the mitzvot that must be performed at night may be performed anytime during the night: The entire night is a valid time for reaping the omer of barley on the night following the first day of Passover, for burning the fats of offerings that had been brought during the preceding day, and for burning the limbs of burnt-offerings. This is the principle: Something that it is a mitzva to perform during the day is valid if performed anytime during the entire day; something that it is a mitzva to perform at night is valid if performed anytime during the entire night.