This Mishnah illustrates the cases listed in the previous Mishnah, in which a woman must take an oath in order to collect her kesubah. The Mishnah goes through each case and explains its details.
The cases in which she collects only by taking an oath:
"Keitzad pogemes kesubasah?" - How does the case work in which a woman has already collected part of her kesubah? "Haysah kesubasah elef zuz, ve'amar lah: hiskabalti kesubaseich, vehi omeres: lo hiskabalti ela maneh" - the husband claims that he already paid her the full kesubah, and she responds that she received only a maneh, one hundred zuz out of the thousand, ten percent. "Lo tifra ela bishvuah" - she collects the balance only by taking an oath.
"Ed echad me'id shehi peruah keitzad?" - "Haysah kesubasah elef zuz, ve'amar lah: hiskabalti kesubaseich, vehi omeres: lo hiskabalti, ve'ed echad me'id shehi peruah" - here she denies it entirely and claims that she received no payment at all, but one witness supports the husband's position that the kesubah has already been paid. Even though she holds the kesubah document, "lo tifra ela bishvuah".
"Minechasim meshubadim keitzad?" - what is the law when she comes to collect from property that has been sold? "Machar nechasav la'acherim, vehi nifra'as min halakochos" - the husband sold his property to others, and she collects her kesubah from the buyers, because her lien on the property preceded theirs. In order to collect from them - "lo tifra ela bishvuah".
"Minichsei yesomim keitzad?" - "Meis vehiniach nechasav liyesomim" - the husband died and left his property to his heirs, and she comes to collect her kesubah from the orphans. "Lo tifra ela bishvuah".
"Shelo befanav keitzad?" - "Halach lo limedinas hayam, vehi nifra'as shelo befanav" - the husband went overseas and she collects in his absence. "Einah nifra'as ela bishvuah".
The view of Rabbi Shimon:
The continuation of the Mishnah sends us back to Mishnah 5. There we learned that if a husband wrote to his wife that he exempts her from an oath or from a vow, he cannot impose an oath on her, and neither can his heirs. Rabbi Shimon comes to point out that this exemption is of no help when it comes to collecting the kesubah from the orphans, and also to take issue with a further point mentioned earlier.
"Rabbi Shimon omer: kol zeman shehi tova'as kesubasah - hayorshin mashbi'in osah" - whenever she claims her kesubah, the heirs may impose an oath on her, even if the husband stipulated in advance that his heirs cannot compel her to swear. That exemption applies to other monetary matters, but not to the collection of the kesubah.
From here we return to Mishnah 4, where we learned that a husband may impose an oath on his wife at any time regarding a partnership between them, or regarding her management of his affairs. On this point Rabbi Shimon says: "Ve'im einah tova'as kesubasah - ein hayorshin mashbi'in osah" - they cannot obligate her to swear regarding any of these partnerships.
Rabbi Shimon used the term "heirs" here because in the first part of his statement he was dealing with heirs, since there it is relevant: after the husband's death the heirs can still compel her to swear in order for her to collect her kesubah. But the law applies equally to the husband himself: Rabbi Shimon disagrees with what was stated in Mishnah 4, that the husband may impose an oath on her regarding the guardianship that was in her hands, and in his view he may not.
The only time he can impose an oath on her regarding the guardianship is when he is administering an oath to her for the collection of the kesubah; at that very moment he can include the matters of guardianship in the oath as well. But without the collection of the kesubah he may not, and neither he nor the heirs can impose an oath on her regarding the guardianship.
In summary: This Mishnah spelled out the cases in which a woman collects only by taking an oath - she has collected part of her kesubah, one witness testifies that it has been paid, collecting from liened property, collecting from the property of orphans, and collecting in the husband's absence. We also learned the view of Rabbi Shimon: whenever she claims her kesubah the heirs impose an oath on her, even though the husband exempted her from the oath; and if she is not claiming her kesubah, neither the heirs nor even the husband can impose an oath on her regarding the guardianship.