Torah FeedParashat Mishpatim
Exodus 21:1 to 24:18, 118 verses. Next read on Shabbat, February 6, 2027.
Updated September 24, 2026
מִשְׁפָּטִים
- Book
- Exodus
- Reading
- 21:1 to 24:18
- Verses
- 118
- Position
- 18 of 54
Opening verse
וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר תָּשִׂים לִפְנֵיהֶם׃
Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
Read the full text from the start of the portion: Exodus 21 in Hebrew and English.
Summary
After the drama of Sinai, the Torah turns to law. The portion lays out the civil code of a society that has just left slavery: the treatment of Hebrew servants, damages for injury and negligence, theft, borrowed property, seduction, the stranger, the widow and the orphan, lending without interest, honest testimony, the Sabbatical year, Shabbat and the three pilgrimage festivals. The people are warned not to follow a crowd to do wrong. At the end the covenant is sealed with blood, the people declare "we will do and we will hear," and Moses ascends the mountain for forty days and nights.
Key moments
- The Hebrew servant and the ear at the doorpost (21:1 to 21:11)
- "You shall not wrong a stranger, for you were strangers in Egypt" (22:20 to 22:26)
- "We will do and we will hear" (24:1 to 24:18)
When is Mishpatim read?
Upcoming Shabbat readings in the Diaspora calendar:
- Saturday, February 6, 2027
- Saturday, February 26, 2028
- Saturday, February 10, 2029
In some years this portion is read together with its neighbor as a double portion. The dates above include those weeks.