[1] In most editions of the Talmud this treatise is the ninth in the mishnaic order of Seder Mo'ed, and is divided into four chapters containing thirty-four folio in all.

Especially noteworthy are the account of the origin of the priestly classes (4:2), the changes which affected them after the return from exile, and how they were again subdivided (2:1).

The following sayings from the Babylonian Gemara may be cited here: Among the narratives particular attention should be given to the story of Nicodemus b. Gorion (19b-20a) and to the legend of Honi the Circledrawer, who slept for seventy years (23a).

Noteworthy in Talmud Yerushalmi is the account of the three scrolls of the Law which were in the Temple in Jerusalem and which differed from one another in various passages.

It likewise relates how Simon bar Kokhba killed Eleazar of Modi'im, whom a Samaritan had falsely accused of treason.