In the last Perek (chapter), we spoke about how the Sanhedrin could put somebody to death through stoning. We’ll now list the other three ways the Sanhedrin could put somebody to death. The Mishnah says that there are four types of execution that the court would give somebody as very harsh punishments. The methods of execution, from harshest to lightest, are stoning, burning, beheading, and strangulation.
Rabbi Shimon disagrees. He says no: burning is harsher than stoning, and that’s why he puts burning first. He also holds that strangling is harsher than beheading, so strangling goes before beheading. He disagrees with the Chachamim (Sages) on both of those points.
What we discussed in the last Perek is how somebody is executed by stoning. The other three ways of execution are going to be discussed in the next two Mishnayot (Mishnah passages).