Hebrew: mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט) – judgment, justice, ordinance
Mishpatim is plural

Define

• Civil or judicial laws with clear rationales, governing social interactions (e.g., laws on property, justice).

Related words

• Commandments
• Penalties/Consequence: Many commands lack specific penalties in Deuteronomy, with consequences often tied to the general curses of Deut. 28:15-68 or specific punishments like death (e.g., for idolatry, adultery, murder) or curses (Deut. 27). Some penalties are drawn from related Torah passages (e.g., Exodus, Leviticus).
  • Deuteronomy 28:15-68 (Deut-28#v15)
• Ransom: Atonement is rarely specified in Deuteronomy, except for cases like the heifer ritual (Deut. 21:1-9) or purification processes (e.g., Deut. 23:11, Lev. 14:1-32 for leprosy). Most violations lack explicit atonement instructions in Deuteronomy, often implying repentance or adherence to general sacrificial laws in Leviticus.
• Offerings

Connections

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It seems initially the Passover Lamb of the Passover Offering could be applied just as the Hebrews in Egypt applied the blood to their door posts. The emphasis is on seeking fellowship with God and gratitude for His redemption. This graphs one into the Congregation of Israel, becoming one of Yah-God's people, brought out of bondage and set free. Jesus became our Passover Lamb offering.

Jesus as an Offering

• Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. 28 A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

• John 14:15: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments (mitzvah)."

• John 14:21: "Whoever has my commandments (mitzvah) and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

• John 15:10: "If you keep my commandments (mitzvah), you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments (mitzvah) and abide in his love."

• 1 John 5:2-3: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments (entolē). For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments (mitzvah). And his commandments (entolē) are not burdensome."

List of Judgments (Mishpatim) in Deuteronomy

1. Release of Hebrew Slaves

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 15:12-15
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty for non-compliance, but failure to release or provide for the slave violates the covenant, implying divine judgment (general covenant curses in Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; the act of freeing and providing for the slave fulfills the command.

2. Debt Cancellation Every Seven Years

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 15:1-3
• Scripture Text (WEB): “At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. This is the way it shall be: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother, because Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but covenant violation risks divine curses (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; debt release is the commanded action.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.

3. Lending to the Poor

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 15:7-11
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he lacks.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but refusal risks divine disfavor (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None; generosity fulfills the command.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.

4. Treatment of Female Captives

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 21:10-14
• Scripture Text (WEB): “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God delivers them into your hands and you carry them away captive, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her, and desire to take her as your wife, then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head, and trim her nails. She shall take off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she desires; but you shall not sell her at all for money. You shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but mistreatment (selling or enslaving her) violates the command, risking covenant curses (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; humane treatment and freedom if divorced fulfill the command.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.

5. Rights of the Firstborn

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 21:15-17
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If a man has two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated, then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn; but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but denying the firstborn’s rights violates the law, implying divine judgment (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; granting the double portion fulfills the command.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.

7. Hanging on a Tree

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 21:22-23
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. That way you shall not defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Death (for the underlying sin); body must be buried same day to avoid defiling the land.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; burial fulfills the command to avoid land defilement.

8. Returning Lost Property

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:1-3
• Scripture Text (WEB): “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother. If your brother isn’t near to you, or if you don’t know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother looks for it, and you shall restore it to him. So you shall do with his donkey, and so you shall do with his garment, and so you shall do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found. You shall not hide yourself.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but failure risks covenant violation (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None; returning the property fulfills the command.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.

9. Helping with Fallen Animals

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:4
• Scripture Text (WEB): “You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift them up again.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but failure risks covenant violation (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None; assisting fulfills the command.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?

11. Bird’s Nest Law

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:6-7
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If a bird’s nest is found before you in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young. You shall surely let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but compliance brings blessing (long life); violation risks covenant curses (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None; letting the hen go fulfills the command.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.

12. Building a Parapet

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:8
• Scripture Text (WEB): “When you build a new house, then you shall make a railing around your roof, so that you don’t bring blood on your house if anyone falls from there.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Bloodguilt if someone falls due to negligence.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; building the parapet prevents guilt.

13. Adultery with a Betrothed Woman

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:23-24
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If there is a young lady who is a virgin pledged to be married to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones: the young lady, because she didn’t cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Death by stoning for both.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; no atonement provided. Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

14. Rape of a Betrothed Woman in the Country

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:25-27
• Scripture Text (WEB): “But if the man finds the lady who is pledged to be married in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die; but to the young lady you shall do nothing. There is in the young lady no sin worthy of death; for as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter; for he found her in the field, the pledged to be married lady cried, and there was no one to save her.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Death for the man; woman is innocent.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

15. Rape of an Unbetrothed Virgin

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:28-29
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If a man finds a lady who is a virgin, who is not pledged to be married, and lays hold of her, and lies with her, and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the lady’s father fifty shekels of silver. She shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not put her away all his days.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Man must pay 50 shekels and marry her without divorce option.
• Offering or Ransom: Payment of 50 shekels and marriage serve as restitution.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Sin Offering?: Emphasis on purification from defilement. Unintentional sins against the commandments of God which are not to be done. Primarily those that defile the sinner or the sanctuary requiring purification.

16. Incest with Father’s Wife

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:30
• Scripture Text (WEB): “A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty in Deuteronomy, but Leviticus 20:11 prescribes death for this act.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified (Lev. 20:11 offers no atonement).
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Sin Offering?: Emphasis on purification from defilement. Unintentional sins against the commandments of God which are not to be done. Primarily those that defile the sinner or the sanctuary requiring purification.

17. False Accusation of Unchastity

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 22:13-19
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, hates her, and accuses her of shameful things, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I didn’t find in her the tokens of virginity,’ then the young lady’s father and mother shall take and bring the tokens of the young lady’s virginity to the elders of the city in the gate… If this thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young lady, then they shall bring out the young lady to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done folly in Israel, to play the prostitute in her father’s house. So you shall remove the evil from among you.”
• Penalty or Consequence: If false, husband is fined 100 shekels, whipped, and cannot divorce her (22:19); if true, wife is stoned (22:21).
• Offering or Ransom: For false accusation, 100 shekels paid to the father; no atonement for guilty wife. Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

18. Divorce Regulations

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 24:1-4
• Scripture Text (WEB): “When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. If the latter husband hates her, and writes her a bill of divorce… or if the latter husband dies… her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled; for that is an abomination to Yahweh.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Remarriage to first husband is forbidden (abomination); no explicit penalty, but risks divine judgment (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; divorce certificate regulates the process.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Sin Offering?: Emphasis on purification from defilement. Unintentional sins against the commandments of God which are not to be done. Primarily those that defile the sinner or the sanctuary requiring purification.

19. Kidnapping

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 24:7
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Death.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; no atonement provided. Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

20. Fair Treatment of Lepers

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 24:8-9
• Scripture Text (WEB): “Be careful in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall observe to do. Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam, by the way as you came out of Egypt.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but Miriam’s leprosy (Num. 12:10) implies divine punishment for disobedience.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; priestly instructions (Lev. 13–14) include offerings for cleansing.

21. Pledges and Loans

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 24:10-13
• Scripture Text (WEB): “When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. You shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment and bless you. It shall be righteousness to you before Yahweh your God.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but failure risks divine disfavor (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None; returning the pledge fulfills righteousness.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.

#LoveNeighbor Payment of Wages Deuteronomy 24:14-15

• Judgments (Mishpatim)
• Outline:

  • A poor and needy hired servant

    • one of your brothers (member of your covenant community)
    • one of the Foreigners who are in your land within your gates

  • Do not

    • oppress #DoNot
    • let sun go down on his wages #DoNot

  • Do

    • in his day given him his wages #Dos

  • Because

    • he is poor
    • he sets his heart on it
    • if he cry against you to YHWH
      • it will be a sin to you
• Penalty or Consequence:
  • Cry of hired servant against you to YHWH
    • Cry qara (קָרָא) — or more precisely in this context tza'aq (צָעַק) — the same root used of Israel's cry under Egyptian oppression (Ex. 2:23; 3:7). Yahweh's response to that cry was not mediated through offerings. It was direct action.
  • Sin, with implied divine judgment (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom:
  • None; prompt payment avoids sin.
    • pay him that day. Once the sun sets, no sacrifice covers it, the debt is now before Yahweh.
  • James 5:1-4 echoes Deuteronomy 24 almost directly and adds no offering — only the warning that the cries have reached Yahweh Tzva'ot:
• Personal Observations
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.
• #Deuteronomy24 #05Deut

23. Individual Responsibility for Sin

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 24:16
• Scripture Text (WEB): “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Death only for the guilty individual’s sin.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; justice is the principle.

#LoveNeighbor Justice for the Vulnerable Deuteronomy 24:17-18

• Judgments (Mishpatim)
• Outline:

  • The

    • Foreigner
    • fatherless

  • Do not

    • deprive foreigner of justice #DoNot
    • take widows clothing in pledge #DoNot

  • Do

    • remember you were a slave in Egypt #Dos
    • remember YHWH redeemed you #Dos
• Penalty or Consequence:
  • No explicit penalty, but risks divine judgment (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom:
  • None; ensuring justice fulfills the command.
• Personal Observations
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.
    #Deuteronomy24 #05Deut

#LoveNeighbor Leaving Gleanings for the Poor Deuteronomy 24:19-22

• Judgments (Mishpatim)
• Outline:
  • When
    • you reap your harvest in your fields
    • have forgotten a sheaf in the field
    • beat your olive tree
    • harvest you vineyard
  • Do not
    • go again to get the sheaf #DoNot
    • go over the boughs again #DoNot
    • do not glean it after #DoNot
  • Do
    • the sheaf, bough, fruit will be for #Dos
      • the Foreigner
      • the fatherless
      • the widow
    • remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt #Dos
  • So that
    • YHWH may bless you in all the work of your hands
• Penalty or Consequence:
  • No explicit penalty, but compliance brings blessing; violation risks curses (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom:
  • None; leaving gleanings fulfills the command.
• Personal Observations:
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.
    #Deuteronomy24 #05Deut

#LoveNeighbor Limit on Flogging Deuteronomy 25:1-3

• Judgments (Mishpatim)
• Outline:

  • A controversy between men

    • they come to judgment
    • the judges judge them

  • Do

    • justify the righteous #Dos
    • condemn the wicked #Dos
      • if worth to be beaten
        • judge will
          • cause him to lie down
            • to be beaten before his face
            • according to his wickedness
              • by number
                • may sentence to no more than forty stripes

  • Do not

    • give the wicked more than forty stripes #DoNot

  • Because

    • if struck or beat more than forty stripes
      • your brother //the wicked one// will be degraded in your sight
• Penalty or Consequence:
  • Up to 40 stripes; exceeding risks degrading the person.
• Offering or Ransom:
  • None specified; limit ensures justice.
    #Deuteronomy25 #05Deut

27. Ox Not to Be Muzzled

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 25:4
• Scripture Text (WEB): “You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but risks covenant violation (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None; allowing the ox to eat fulfills the command.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Sin Offering?: Emphasis on purification from defilement. Unintentional sins against the commandments of God which are not to be done. Primarily those that defile the sinner or the sanctuary requiring purification.

28. Levirate Marriage

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 25:5-10
• Scripture Text (WEB): “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife… If the man doesn’t want to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel…’ Then the elders of his city shall call him… and she shall pull his sandal off his foot, and spit in his face… His name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’”
• Penalty or Consequence: Public humiliation (sandal removal, spitting) for refusing.
• Offering or Ransom: None; marriage or public act resolves the obligation.

29. Unfair Fighting

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 25:11-12
• Scripture Text (WEB): “When men strive together one with another, and the wife of one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts out her hand, and grabs him by his private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.”
• Penalty or Consequence: Hand amputation.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; no atonement provided.

30. Honest Weights and Measures

• Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 25:13-16
• Scripture Text (WEB): “You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, a great and a small. You shall not have in your house diverse measures, a great and a small… For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God.”
• Penalty or Consequence: No explicit penalty, but labeled an “abomination,” implying divine judgment (Deut. 28:15-68).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.

#LoveNeighbor Number of Witnesses Required/False Witness Deuteronomy 19:15-21

• Judgments (Mishpatim)
• Outline:

  • When rising up against a man for

    • any iniquity
    • or any sin that he sins

  • Do

    • establish the matter
      • at the mouth of
        • two witnesses #Dos
        • or three witnesses
    • if an Unrighteous witness testifies #Dos
      • against him of wrongdoing
        • both the men (man accused of iniquity or sin and the unrighteous witness)
          • stand before
            • YHWH
            • the Priest
            • the judges
          • the judges shall make diligent inquisition
            • if the witness is a false witness
              • has testified falsely against his brother (fellow member of his covenant community)
              • do to him as he thought to do to his brother (the man accused of iniquity or sin)
              • remove the evil from among you
      • those who remain shall #Dos
        • hear
        • fear
        • never again commit any such evil (false witness) among you

  • Do not

    • your eyes shall not pity: #DoNot
      • life for life
      • eye for eye
      • tooth for tooth
      • hand for hand
      • foot for foot
• Penalty or Consequence:
  • A single witness testimony is insufficient to establish guilt; the matter cannot be legally confirmed.
  • The investigation itself is the mechanism that exposes false witnesses; failure to investigate diligently enables injustice.
  • Whatever punishment the false witness sought to bring upon the accused falls upon the false witness instead.
• Offering or Ransom:
  • None specified; the punishment is the ransom
• Personal Obersvations
  • remove evil from = "you will burn out"
  • life for life, eye for eye, etc = measure for measure - meaning the punishment should fit the crime not to be taken literally [^1]
  • Matthew 18:15-17
    • Go to them privately - because you can not make a public accusation without having at least one other person.
    • Take one or two others along - because you have to have two or three witnesses to establish guilt.
    • Tell the assembly - because at this point, there has to be an investigation - not just into the person you are accusing - but into you as well to determine if your witness is truth.
    • Treat them as an unbeliever - remove them from the assembly. If you are a false witness, you will be removed.
      #05Deut #Deuteronomy19

Judgments (Mishpatim) in Exodus

1. Release of Hebrew Slaves

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:2–6
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;' then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever."
• Penalty or Consequence: Failure to release implies covenant violation; the servant who refuses freedom is permanently bound (ear-boring ritual).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

2. Rights of a Female Slave

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:7–11
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do. If she doesn't please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights. If he doesn't do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money."
• Penalty or Consequence: She goes free without payment if her rights are withheld.
• Offering or Ransom: None; freedom itself is the remedy.

3. Death Penalty for Murder

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:12–14
• Scripture Text (WEB): "One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death, but not if God delivers him into his hand; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee. If a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, you shall take him even from my altar, that he may die."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death; no altar refuge for premeditated murder.
• Offering or Ransom: None permitted for intentional murder (cf. Num. 35:31).

4. Death Penalty for Striking a Parent

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:15
• Scripture Text (WEB): "Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

5. Death Penalty for Kidnapping

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:16
• Scripture Text (WEB): "Anyone who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

6. Death Penalty for Cursing a Parent

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:17
• Scripture Text (WEB): "Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

7. Injury from a Fight — Compensation for Lost Time

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:18–19
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn't die, but is confined to bed; if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed."
• Penalty or Consequence: Compensation for lost time and medical costs.
• Offering or Ransom: Restitution payment.

8. Injury to a Slave by Their Master

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:20–21
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property."
• Penalty or Consequence: Punishment if the slave dies immediately; no penalty if the slave recovers within two days.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

9. Injury Causing Miscarriage or Further Harm

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:22–25
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no further injury follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow. But if any injury follows, then you must take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise."
• Penalty or Consequence: Fine if no lasting harm; lex talionis (life for life, etc.) if lasting injury results.
• Offering or Ransom: Monetary fine determined by husband and judges; or equivalent physical restitution.

10. Injury to Eye or Tooth of a Slave

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:26–27
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. If he strikes out his male servant's tooth, or his female servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake."
• Penalty or Consequence: Slave goes free.
• Offering or Ransom: Freedom serves as restitution.

11. Death Caused by a Goring Ox

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:28–32
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible. But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him. Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned."
• Penalty or Consequence: Bull stoned; owner liable to death or ransom if ox was a known danger; 30 shekels for a killed slave.
• Offering or Ransom: Ransom amount set by the injured party; 30 shekels for a slave.

12. Liability for an Uncovered Pit

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:33–34
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his."
• Penalty or Consequence: Full restitution to the animal's owner; the dead animal becomes the pit owner's property.
• Offering or Ransom: Market value restitution.

13. One Ox Killing Another

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 21:35–36
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If one man's bull injures another's bull so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal. Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own."
• Penalty or Consequence: Shared loss if the ox had no prior record; full replacement if it did.
• Offering or Ransom: Restitution of equivalent animal.

14. Theft of Ox or Sheep — Restitution

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:1
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep."
• Penalty or Consequence: Fivefold restitution for an ox; fourfold for a sheep.
• Offering or Ransom: Multiplied restitution.

15. Self-Defense Against a Thief

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:2–3
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him. If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt of bloodshed for him. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft."
• Penalty or Consequence: No penalty if thief is killed at night; blood guilt if killed in daylight. If thief cannot repay, he is sold.
• Offering or Ransom: Full restitution required; enslavement if insolvent.

16. Restitution for Grazing Damage

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:5
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten, and lets his animal loose so that it grazes in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard."
• Penalty or Consequence: Restitution from the offender's best produce.
• Offering or Ransom: Equivalent or superior produce as restitution.

17. Restitution for Fire Damage

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:6
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution."
• Penalty or Consequence: Full restitution for damaged crops.
• Offering or Ransom: Restitution payment.

18. Liability for Property Left in Another's Care

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:7–13
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man delivers to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief isn't found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out if he hasn't put his hand on his neighbor's goods... If it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn."
• Penalty or Consequence: Double restitution if thief is found; oath before God if thief unknown; no liability if animal was torn by beasts (with evidence).
• Offering or Ransom: Double restitution or sworn oath.

19. Borrowed Animal That Is Injured or Dies

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:14–15
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man borrows anything of his neighbor's, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a hired thing, it came for its hire."
• Penalty or Consequence: Full restitution if owner was absent; no penalty if owner was present; none if hired (cost covered by hire fee).
• Offering or Ransom: Restitution of the animal's value.

20. Seduction of an Unbetrothed Virgin

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:16–17
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If a man entices a virgin who isn't pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins."
• Penalty or Consequence: Full bride price paid regardless of whether marriage occurs.
• Offering or Ransom: Monetary payment equivalent to a bride price.

21. Death Penalty for Sorcery

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:18
• Scripture Text (WEB): "You shall not allow a sorceress to live."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

22. Death Penalty for Bestiality

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:19
• Scripture Text (WEB): "Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

23. Death Penalty for Sacrificing to Other Gods

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:20
• Scripture Text (WEB): "He who sacrifices to any god, except to Yahweh only, shall be utterly destroyed."
• Penalty or Consequence: Total destruction (cherem — devotion to destruction).
• Offering or Ransom: None permitted.

24. Protection of the Stranger, Widow, and Orphan

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:21–24
• Scripture Text (WEB): "You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child. If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless."
• Penalty or Consequence: Divine judgment — death by sword; families left as widows and orphans.
• Offering or Ransom: None; divine retribution is the consequence.

25. Lending and Interest Among Israelites

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:25–27
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor; neither shall you charge him interest. If you take your neighbor's garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What else will he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious."
• Penalty or Consequence: Divine hearing of the poor man's cry implies divine response against the creditor.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified; relational and covenantal obligation.

26. Judges and Leaders Not to Be Cursed

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:28
• Scripture Text (WEB): "You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people."
• Penalty or Consequence: Not explicitly stated here; implied by covenantal context (cf. Lev. 24:15–16).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

27. Firstfruits and Firstborn Obligations

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:29–30
• Scripture Text (WEB): "You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me. You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. It shall be seven days with its mother, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me."
• Penalty or Consequence: Not explicitly stated; delay implies covenant unfaithfulness.
• Offering or Ransom: Firstborn sons redeemed (cf. Exod. 13:13); firstborn animals given on the eighth day.

28. Prohibition on Eating Torn Meat

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 22:31
• Scripture Text (WEB): "You shall be holy men to me, therefore you shall not eat any meat that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs."
• Penalty or Consequence: Not explicitly stated; violation defiles holiness status.
• Offering or Ransom: None; the meat is discarded.

29. Prohibition of False Reports and Unjust Verdicts

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 23:1–3
• Scripture Text (WEB): "You shall not spread a false report. Don't join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice; neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause."
• Penalty or Consequence: Not explicitly stated; justice itself is the standard upheld.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified.

30. Return of an Enemy's Lost Animal

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 23:4–5
• Scripture Text (WEB): "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don't leave him; you shall surely help him with it."
• Penalty or Consequence: Not explicitly stated; obligation is moral and covenantal.
• Offering or Ransom: None.

#LoveNeighbor Justice for the Poor in Lawsuits Exodus 23:6-9

• Judgments (Mishpatim)
• Outline:

  • Do not

    • deny justice to poor people in lawsuit #DoNot
    • kill the innocent and righteous #DoNot
      • Because YHWH will not justify the wicked
    • take a bribe #DoNot
      • Because bribes
        • blind those who have sight
        • perverts the words of the righteous
    • oppress an Foreigner #DoNot
      • Because you know their heart since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

  • Do

    • keep far from a false charge #Dos
• Penalty or Consequence:
  • Yahweh will not acquit the one who justifies the wicked; bribery perverts justice.
• Offering or Ransom:
  • None; the prohibition is absolute.
    #02Exod #Exodus23

32. Protection of the Resident Alien

• Scripture Reference: Exodus 23:9
• Scripture Text (WEB): "You shall not oppress a foreigner, for you know the heart of a foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt."
• Penalty or Consequence: Not explicitly stated here; divine response implied (cf. Exod. 22:21–24).
• Offering or Ransom: None.

Judgement (Mishpatim) in Leviticus

#LoveNeighbor Provision for the Poor and Foreigner [Leviticus 19:9-10]

• Judgments (Mishpatim)
• Outline:

  • When you reap the harvest of your land ...

  • Do Not

    • wholly reap the corners of your field #DoNot
    • gather the gleanings of your harvest #DoNot
    • glean your vineyard #DoNot
    • gather the fallen grapes from your vineyard #DoNot

  • Do

    • leave //the corners of your field// for the Poor and the Stranger #Dos
    • leave //the gleanings of your harvest and vineyard for the poor and the Stranger #Dos
    • leave //the fallen grapes// for the poor and the stranger #Dos

  • Because

    • YHWH is your god
• Penalty or Consequence:
  • Not explicitly stated; the closing declaration — I am Yahweh your God — functions as both authority and implied accountability.
• Offering or Ransom:
  • None; the act of leaving the gleanings is itself the obligation.
• Personal Observations
  • Ruth 2:2–7
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.
    #Leviticus19 #03Lev

#LoveNeighbor Slander, False Witness Leviticus 19:16

• Judgments (Mishpatim)
• Outline:

  • Do not

    • go around being a slanderer #DoNot
    • endanger the life of your neighbor #DoNot

  • Because

    • I am YHWH
• Penalty or Consequence:
  • Not explicitly stated; the social and covenantal damage of slander is implied — it tears at the fabric of community Yahweh is building.
  • Violation leads to hatred, which breaks covenant love. (Leviticus 19:17-18)
  • The closing "I am Yahweh" functions as direct divine accountability — Yahweh himself is the witness.
• Offering or Ransom:
  • None specified
• Deuteronomy 19:15–21 — false witness there, endangering life here.
• James 4:11 Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
• Proverbs 18:21 — "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" — reflects the same understanding.
• Personal Observations
  • slandering is treated as something that could cost a life
    • False Witness which endangers a life - Death Sins Requiring Death - No Offering
  • "stand against the blood" — la'amod al dam (לַעֲמֹד עַל דָּם) — carries judicial weight. It likely refers to bearing false witness in a capital case, withholding testimony that could save a life, or taking action that leads to another's death. The connection to Deuteronomy 19:15–21 is direct — false witness there, endangering life here.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Guilt Offering?: Emphasis on restitution or resolving guilt. 1) Unintentional violations of holy/set apart things 2) Unintentional sins against specific commandments of God which are not to be done. 3) Intentional sins involving deceit.
    #Leviticus19 #03Lev