Parashat Mishpatim.

Exodus 21:1 to 24:18 · sixth portion of the book of Exodus

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When is it read?

diaspora and IsraelSaturday, February 6, 2027 Saturday, February 26, 2028 Saturday, February 10, 2029

Opening verses

וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תָּשִׂ֖ים לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃

21:1Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.

כִּ֤י תִקְנֶה֙ עֶ֣בֶד עִבְרִ֔י שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחָפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם׃

21:2If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

אִם־בְּגַפּ֥וֹ יָבֹ֖א בְּגַפּ֣וֹ יֵצֵ֑א אִם־בַּ֤עַל אִשָּׁה֙ ה֔וּא וְיָצְאָ֥ה אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ עִמּֽוֹ׃

21:3If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Masoretic text and JPS 1917 translation.

The seven aliyot

Aliyah	Verses	Opening
1	Exodus 21:1 to 19	Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
2	Exodus 21:20 to 22:3	And if a man smite his bondman, or his bondwoman, with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
3	Exodus 22:4 to 26	If a man cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall let his beast loose, and it feed in another man’s field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.
4	Exodus 22:27 to 23:5	Thou shalt not revile God, nor curse a ruler of thy people.
5	Exodus 23:6 to 19	Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
6	Exodus 23:20 to 25	Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
7	Exodus 23:26 to 24:18	None shall miscarry, nor be barren, in thy land; the number of thy days I will fulfil.
Maftir	Exodus 24:15 to 18	And Moses went up into the mount, and the cloud covered the mount.

Rashi on the first verse

וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים

Now these are the judgments. Wherever אלה, “these are”, is used it cuts off (פוסל) the preceding section from that which it introduces; where, however, ואלה “and these” is used it adds something to the former subject (i. e. forms a continuation of it). So also here: “And these are the judgments (i. e. these, also)”: What is the case with the former commandments (the עשרת הדברות)? They were given at Sinai! So these, too, were given at Sinai! (Mekhilta; Shemot Rabbah 30:3; cf. also Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim 3) If this be so, why is this section dealing with the “civil laws” placed immediately after that commanding the making of the altar? To tell you that you should seat (i. e. provide quarters for) the Sanhedrin in the vicinity of the Temple.

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Zion Torah's English rendering of Rashi's commentary, CC BY-SA 4.0.