Mishpatim (—Hebrew for "laws"; the second word of the parashah) is the eighteenth weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the sixth in the Book of Exodus. The parashah sets out a series of laws, which some scholars call the Covenant Code. It reports the Israelites' acceptance of the covenant with God. The parashah constitutes Exodus 21:1–24:18. The parashah is made up of 5,313 Hebrew letters, 1,462 Hebrew words, 118 verses, and 185 lines in a Torah scroll (, Sefer Torah).
Jews read it on the eighteenth Shabbat after Simchat Torah, generally in February or, rarely, in late January. As the parashah sets out some of the laws of Passover, one of the three Shalosh Regalim, Jews also read part of the parashah (Exodus 22:24–23:19) as the initial Torah reading for the second intermediate day (, Chol HaMoed) of Passover. Jews also read the first part of Parashat Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11–16) regarding the half-shekel head tax, as the maftir Torah reading on the special Sabbath Shabbat Shekalim, which often falls on the same Shabbat as Parashat Mishpatim (as it will in 2026, 2028, and 2029).
Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2008), pages 145–76.
First reading—Exodus 21:1–19 The first reading addresses laws on Hebrew indentured servants and slaves,. homicide,. striking a parent,. kidnapping,. insulting a parent,. and assault..
Second reading—Exodus 21:20–22:3 The second reading addresses laws on assault,. a homicidal animal,. damage to livestock,. and theft..
Third reading—Exodus 22:4–26 The third reading addresses laws on damage to crops,. bailment,. seduction,. sorcery,. bestiality,. apostasy,. wronging the disadvantaged,. lending, and taking someone's property as a pledge..
Fourth reading—Exodus 22:27–23:5 The fourth reading addresses laws on duties to God,. judicial integrity,. and humane treatment of an enemy and his property..
Fifth reading—Exodus 23:6–19 The fifth reading addresses laws concerning the disadvantaged,. false charges,. bribery,. oppressing the stranger,. the sabbatical year for crops (, Shmita),. the Sabbath,. the mention of other gods,. the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (, Shalosh Regalim),. sacrifice (, korban),. and firstfruits (, Bikkurim)..
Sixth reading—Exodus 23:20–25 In the short sixth reading, God promised to send an angel with the Israelites to bring them to the place God had prepared.. God directed the Israelites to obey the angel, for if they did, then God would be an enemy to their enemies.. The Israelites were not to serve other gods, but to serve only God..
Seventh reading—Exodus 23:26–24:18 In the seventh reading, God promised reward for obedience to God.. God invited Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 elders to bow to God from afar.. Moses repeated the commandments to the people, who answered: "All the things that the Lord has commanded we will do!". Moses then wrote the commandments down.. He set up an altar and some young Israelite men offered sacrifices.. Moses read the Book of the Covenant aloud to the people, who once again affirmed that they would follow it.. Moses took blood from the sacrifices and dashed it on the people.. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel then ascended, saw God, ate, and drank.. Moses and Joshua arose, and Moses ascended Mount Sinai, leaving Aaron and Hur in charge.. A cloud covered the mountain, hiding the Presence of the Lord for six days, appearing to the Israelites as a fire on the top of the mountain.. Moses went inside the cloud and remained on the mountain for 40 days and nights..
Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:See, e.g., Richard Eisenberg, "A Complete Triennial Cycle for Reading the Torah," in Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement: 1986–1990 (New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2001), pages 383–418. Year 1Year 2Year 32023, 2026, 2029 . . .2024, 2027, 2030 . . .2025, 2028, 2031 . . .Reading21:1–22:322:4–23:1923:20–24:18121:1–622:4–823:20–25221:7–1122:9–1223:26–30321:12–1922:13–1823:31–33421:20–2722:19–2624:1–6521:28–3222:27–23:524:7–11621:33–3623:6–1324:12–14721:37–22:323:14–1924:15–18Maftir21:37–22:323:14–1924:15–18
In ancient parallels The parashah has parallels in these ancient sources:
Exodus chapters 21–22 The laws in the parashah find parallels in several ancient law codes.See generally Bruce Wells, "Exodus," in John H. Walton, editor, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009), volume 1, pages 234, 236–39; Victor H. Matthews and Don C. Benjamin, Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East: Fully Revised and Expanded Third Edition (New York: Paulist Press, 2007), pages 103–04, 107–09, 111–14, 116–17, 124, 128, 130, 233, 355–56.
Topic of Law In Exodus 21–23 In Ancient ParallelsDebt SlaveryExodus 21:2: If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.Code of Hammurabi 117 (1750 BCE): If anyone fails to meet a claim for debt, and sells himself, his wife, his son, and daughter for money or gives them away to forced labor: They shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them, or the proprietor, and in the fourth year they shall be set free.Code of Hammurabi 117 (Babylonia, circa 1750 BCE), in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), pages 171–72.The Maid-Servant-WifeExodus 21:7–11: 7And if a man sells his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. 8If she does not please her master, who has espoused her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no power to sell her to a foreign people, seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9And if he espouses her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her conjugal rights. 11And if he does not give her these three, then she shall go out for nothing, without money.Code of Hammurabi 146–47 (1750 BCE): 146If a man takes a wife and she gives this man a maid-servant as wife and she bears him children, and then this maid assumes equality with the wife: because she has borne him children, her master shall not sell her for money, but he may keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the maid-servants. 147If she has not borne him children, then her mistress may sell her for money.Code of Hammurabi 146–47, in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, page 172.HomicideExodus 21:12–14: 12He who strikes a man, so that he dies, shall surely be put to death. 13And if a man does not lie in wait, but God causes it to come to hand; then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee. 14And if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; you shall take him from My altar, that he may die. Code of Ur-Nammu 1 (2100 BCE): If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed.Code of Ur-Nammu 1 (Ur, circa 2100 BCE), in, e.g., Marta T. Roth, Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor: 2nd edition (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997), page 17. Code of Hammurabi 206–208 (1750 BCE): 206If during a quarrel one man strikes another and wounds him, then he shall swear, "I did not injure him wittingly," and pay the physicians. 207If the man dies of his wound, he shall swear similarly, and if he (the deceased) was a free-born man, he shall pay half a mina in money. 208If he was a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a mina.Code of Hammurabi 206–208, in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, page 175.A FightExodus 21:18–19: 18And if men contend, and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he does not die, but keeps his bed; 19if he rises again, and walks abroad on his staff, then he who struck him shall go free; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.Code of Hammurabi 206 (1750 BCE): If during a quarrel one man strikes another and wounds him, then he shall swear, "I did not injure him wittingly," and pay the physicians.Code of Hammurabi 206, in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, page 175. Hittite Laws 10 (1500 BCE): If anyone injures a man so that he causes him suffering, he shall take care of him. Yet he shall give him a man in his place, who shall look after his house until he recovers. But if he recovers, he shall give him six shekels of silver. And to the physician this one shall also give the fee.Hittite Laws 10 (Hattusa, 1500 BCE), in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, page 189.Assault on a Debt SlaveExodus 21:20–21: 20And if a man strikes his bondman, or his bondwoman, with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21Notwithstanding if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property.Code of Hammurabi 115–116 (1750 BCE): 115If anyone has a claim for grain or money upon another and imprisons him; if the prisoner dies in prison a natural death, the case shall go no further. 116If the prisoner dies in prison from blows or maltreatment, the master of the prisoner shall convict the merchant before the judge. If he was a free-born man, the son of the merchant shall be put to death; if it was a slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina of gold, and all that the master of the prisoner gave he shall forfeit.Code of Hammurabi 115–116, in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, page 170.Harm to a Pregnant WomanExodus 21:20–25: 22And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follows, he shall surely be fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.Sumerian Code 1 (1800 BCE): If one father of one household accidentally strikes the daughter of another, other, and she miscarries, then the fine is ten shekels.Sumerian Code 1 (circa 1800 BCE), in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, page 525. Code of Hammurabi 209–214 (1750 BCE): 209If a man strikes a free-born woman so that she loses her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss. 210If the woman dies, his daughter shall be put to death. 211If a woman of the free class loses her child by a blow, he shall pay five shekels in money. 212If this woman dies, he shall pay half a mina. 213If he strikes the maid-servant of a man, and she loses her child, he shall pay two shekels in money. 214If this maid-servant dies, he shall pay one-third of a mina.Code of Hammurabi 209–214, in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, page 170.
Hittite Laws 17–18 (1500 BCE): 17If anyone causes a free woman to miscarry, [if] it is her tenth month, he shall pay 10 shekels of silver, if it is her fifth month, he shall pay 5 shekels of silver. He shall look to his house for it. 18If anyone causes a female slave to miscarry, if it is her tenth month, he shall pay 5 shekels of silver.Hittite Laws 17–18 (), in, e.g., James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, page 190.