One whom Gentiles, or an evil spirit, have taken out [beyond the Shabbat border] has no more than four cubits [in which to move]. If they brought him back, it is as if he had never gone out. If they took him to another town, or if they put him in a pen or a sahar: Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah say he may move throughout the entire area; But Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva says: he has only four cubits [in which to move]. It once happened that they were coming from Brindisi and their ship sailed out to sea [on Shabbat]. Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah walked about throughout its area, but Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiba did not move beyond four cubits because they wanted to be stringent upon themselves.

Once they did not enter the harbor until dusk [on Shabbat eve]. They asked Rabban Gamaliel, “Can we disembark?” He said to them, “You may for I was already observing and we were already within the Shabbat limit before it grew dark.”

One who went beyond the Shabbat limit with permission and was then told that the act had already been performed, [he is allowed to move] within two thousand cubits in any direction. If he was within the Shabbat limit, it is as if he had not gone out. All who go out to save life may return to their original places.

One who sat down on the road [at dusk on Friday eve] and then got up and saw that he was near a town he may not enter it, since it had not been his intention to do so, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Judah says: he may enter it. Rabbi Judah said: it once actually happened and Rabbi Tarfon entered the town, even though this was not his intention [when Shabbat had begun].

If one slept on the road and was unaware that night had fallen, he may move two thousand cubits in any direction, the words of Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri. But the sages say: he has only four cubits within which to move. Rabbi Eliezer says: and the man is deemed to be in the middle of them. Rabbi Judah says: he may move in any direction he desires. And Rabbi Judah agrees that once chosen his direction he may not go back on it.

Two men, some of whose cubits enter into the cubits of the other, may bring their meals and eat them in the middle, provided that this one does not carry out anything from his limit into that of the other. If there were three men and the prescribed limit of the middle one overlapped with the limits of the others, he is permitted to eat with either of them and either of them is permitted to eat with him, but the two outer persons are forbidden to eat with one another. Rabbi Shimon said: To what is this similar? To three courtyards that open one into the other and also into a public domain: If they made an eruv for the outer ones with the middle one, the middle one is permitted with them and they are permitted with it, but the two outer ones are forbidden access to one another.

One who was on a journey and it became dark, and he recognized a tree or a fence and said, “Let my Shabbat place be under it”, he has said nothing. If he said, “Let my Shabbat place be at its root”, he may walk from the place where he stands to its root a distance of two thousand cubits, and from its root to his house another two thousand cubits. Thus he can walk four thousand cubits after dusk.

If he does not recognize [any tree or fence], or if he is not familiar with the halakhah, and said, “Let my present position be my Shabbat place”, his position acquires for him the right of movement two thousand cubits in any direction. In a circle, the words of Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus. But the sages say: the distances are square, in the shape of a square tablet, so that he may gain the area of the corners.

This is what [the rabbis] have said: “a poor man makes his eruv with his feet.” Rabbi Meir said: we can apply this law to a poor man only. Rabbi Judah says: it applies to both rich and poor; they only said that an eruv is prepared with bread in order to make it easier for the rich man, so that he does not have to go out and make the eruv with his feet.

One who left to go to a town with which [his home town is wished to be] connected by an eruv, but a friend of his returned him home, he himself is allowed to go to the other town but all the other townspeople are forbidden, the words of Rabbi Judah. Rabbi Meir says: whoever is able to prepare an eruv and neglected to do so is like one who is both a donkey-driver and a camel-driver.