Shofetim or Shoftim (; the first word in the , ) is the 48th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the Book of Deuteronomy. It comprises Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9. The parashah provides a constitution—a basic societal structure—for the Israelites. The parashah sets out rules for judges, kings, Levites, prophets, cities of refuge, witnesses, war, and unsolved murders.
This parashah is allotted 5590 letters, 1523 words, 97 verses, and 192 lines in a . Jews generally read it in August or September.
Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven aliyot or "readings" (). In the Masoretic Text, Parashat Shofetim has four "open portion" (, petuchah) divisions (roughly equivalent to paragraphs, often abbreviated with the Hebrew letter pe). Parashat Shofetim has several further subdivisions, called "closed portions" (, setumah, abbreviated with the Hebrew letter samekh) within the open portion divisions. The short first open portion divides the first reading. The long second open portion goes from the middle of the first reading to the middle of the fifth reading. The third open portion goes from the middle of the fifth reading to the middle of the seventh. The final, fourth open portion divides the seventh reading. Closed portion divisions further divide the first, fifth, and sixth aliyot, and each of the short second and third aliyot constitutes a closed portion of its own.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2009), pages 111–35.
First reading—Deuteronomy 16:18–17:13 In the first reading, Moses directed the Israelites to appoint judges (, shophṭim) and officials for their tribes to govern the people with justice, with impartiality, and without bribes.. "Justice, justice shalt thou follow", he said. A closed portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 112.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses warned the Israelites against setting up a sacred post beside God's altar or erecting a baetylus.. A closed portion ends here with the end of chapter 16.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses warned the Israelites against the korban (sacrifice) of an ox or sheep with any serious congenital disorder.. Another closed portion ends here.
And as the reading continues, Moses instructed that if the Israelites found a person who worshiped other gods—the sun, the moon, or other astronomical object—then they were to make a thorough inquiry, and if they established the fact on the testimony of two or more witnesses, then they were to stone the person to death, with the witnesses throwing the first stones.. The first open portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 114.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses taught that if a legal case proved too baffling for the Israelites to decide, then they were promptly to go to the place where the sanctuary was located, appear before the kohenim or judge in charge, and present their problem, and carry out any verdict that was announced there without deviating either to the right or to the left.. They were to execute any man who presumptuously disregarded the priest or the judge, so that all the people would hear, be afraid, and not act presumptuously again.. The first reading and a closed portion end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 116.
Second reading—Deuteronomy 17:14–20 In the second reading, Moses instructed that if, after the Israelites had settled the Land of Israel, they decided to set a king over them, they were to be free to do so, taking an Israelite chosen by God.. The king was not to keep many horses, marry many wives, or amass excess silver and gold.. The king was to write for himself a copy of this Teaching to remain with him and read all his life, so that he might learn to revere God and faithfully observe these laws.. He would thus not act haughtily toward his people nor deviate from the law, and as a consequence, he and his descendants would enjoy a long reign.. The second reading and a closed portion end here with the end of chapter 17.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 118.
Third reading—Deuteronomy 18:1–5 In the third reading, Moses explained that the Levites were to have no territorial portion, but were to live only on offerings, for God was to be their portion.. In exchange for their service to God, the priests were to receive the shoulder, cheeks, and stomach of sacrifices, the firstfruits of the Israelites' cereal, wine, oil, and the first sheep shearing.. The third reading and a closed portion end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 120.
Fourth reading—Deuteronomy 18:6–13 In the fourth reading, Moses told that the country-based Levites were to be free to come from their settlements to the place that God chose as a shrine to serve with their fellow Levites based there, and there they were to receive equal shares of the dues.. A closed portion ends here.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses instructed that the Israelites were not to imitate the abhorrent practices of the nations that they were displacing, consign their children to fire, or act as an augur, soothsayer, diviner, sorcerer, one who casts spells, one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead, for it was because of those abhorrent acts that God was dispossessing the residents of the land.. The fourth reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 121.
Fifth reading—Deuteronomy 18:14–19:13 In the fifth reading, Moses foretold that God would raise a prophet from among them like Moses and the Israelites were to heed him.. When at Mount Horeb, the Israelites had asked not to hear God's voice directly; God created the role of the prophet to speak God's words, promising to hold to account anybody who failed to heed the prophet's words.. But any prophet who presumed to speak an oracle in God's name that God had not commanded, or who spoke in the name of other gods, was to die.. This was how the people were to determine whether God spoke the oracle: If the prophet spoke in the name of God and the oracle did not come true, then God had not spoken that oracle, the prophet had uttered it presumptuously, and the people were not to fear him.. A closed portion ends here with the end of chapter 18.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 123.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses instructed that when the Israelites had settled in the land, they were to divide the land into three parts and set aside three Cities of Refuge, so that any manslayer could have a place to which to flee.. And if the Israelites faithfully observed all the law and God enlarged the territory, then they were to add three more towns to those three.. Only a manslayer who had killed another unwittingly, without being the other's enemy, might flee there and live.. For instance, if a man went with his neighbor into a grove to cut wood, and as he swung an axe, the axe-head flew off the handle and struck and killed the neighbor, then the man could flee to one of the cities of refuge and live.. The second open portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 125.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses instructed that if, however, one who was the enemy of another lay in wait, struck the other a fatal blow, and then fled to a city of refuge, the elders of the slayer's town were to have the slayer turned over to the blood-avenger to be put to death.. The fifth reading and a closed portion end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 126.
Sixth reading—Deuteronomy 19:14–20:9 In the sixth reading, Moses warned that the Israelites were not to move their countrymen's landmarks, set up by previous generations, in the property that they were allotted in the land.. A closed portion ends here.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses instructed that an Israelite could be found guilty of an offense only on the testimony of two or more witnesses.. If one person gave false testimony against another, then the two parties were to appear before God and the priests or judges, the judges were to make a thorough investigation, and if they found the person to have testified falsely, then they were to do to the witness as the witness schemed to do to the other.. A closed portion ends here with the end of chapter 19.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 128.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses taught that before the Israelites joined battle, the priest was to tell the troops not to fear, for God would accompany them.. Then the officials were to ask the troops whether anyone had built a new house but not dedicated it, planted a vineyard but never harvested it, paid the bride price for a wife but not yet married her, or become afraid and disheartened, and all these they were to send back to their homes.. The sixth reading and a closed portion end with Deuteronomy 20:9.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 131.
Seventh reading—Deuteronomy 20:10–21:9 In the seventh reading, Moses instructed that when the Israelites approached to attack a town, they were to offer it terms of peace, and if the town surrendered, then all the people of the town were to serve the Israelites as slaves.. But if the town did not surrender, then the Israelites were to lay siege to the town, and when God granted victory, kill all its men and take as booty the women, children, livestock, and everything else in the town.. Those were the rules for towns that lay very far from Israel, but for the towns of the nations in the land—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the Israelites were to kill everyone, lest they lead the Israelites into doing all the abhorrent things that those nations had done for their gods.. A closed portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 132.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses instructed that when the Israelites besieged a city for a long time, they could eat the fruit of the city's trees, but they were not to cut down any trees that could yield food.. The third open portion ends here with the end of chapter 20.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy, page 133.
In the continuation of the reading, Moses taught that if, in the land, they found the body of a murder victim lying in the open, and they could not determine the killer, then the elders and judges were to measure the distances from the corpse to the nearby towns.. The elders of the nearest town were to take a heifer that had never worked down to an ever-flowing wadi and break its neck.. The priests were to come forward, and all the elders were to wash their hands over the heifer..