מִשְׁפָּט
mishpat · justice, judgment
Hebrew word · Strong’s number H4941 · appears 422 times in the Bible
What is the Strong number?
Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.What it means
mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “justice, judgment”.
What is right and the decision that establishes it: the judgment of a judge, someone's right, a rule or ordinance, a custom. "Do righteousness and justice" is to treat each one as is due.
How to say it
mish·pat
Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.
Its senses in the Bible
- The decision a judge gives on a case.
- What is right and fair.
- What is due someone: what the orphan should receive.
- Each of the rules the law gives for concrete cases of life.
- The usual practice, the way to do something.
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)
Word study
What is right and the decision that establishes it. BDB defines it first as a verdict pronounced by a judge, and from there justice, a person's right (by law or by custom) and even the manner of doing something. It comes from the verb שָׁפַט, “judge”.
- Justice, what is right: “doing righteousness and justice” Genesis 18:19Amos 5:24
- Someone's right: of the orphan and the widow; “the right of the king” Deuteronomy 10:181 Samuel 8:91 Samuel 8:11
- Judgment, the act of judging Deuteronomy 1:17
- The rules of the law Exodus 21:1
- Custom, the usual way of acting 2 Kings 17:331 Samuel 27:11
Historical and cultural background
1 Samuel 8:11-17 lists “the right of the king”: what a king would take from the people (their sons, their fields, a tenth of their flocks).
How we translate it
“Justice” 131 times, “rules” 93, “judgment” 83, “rule” 29, “judgments” 26, “right” 20, “custom” 11. This edition uses “justice” for what is right, “judgment” for the act of judging, “rules” (in the plural, beside “statutes”) for the ordinances of the law, “right” for what is due to someone, and “custom”. The pair צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט is translated “righteousness and justice”, so that the two words are told apart.
How it is translated
The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.
- justice ×131
- rules ×93
- judgment ×83
- rule ×29
- judgments ×26
- right ×20
- custom ×11
- sentence ×4
- case ×3
- ordinance ×3
- others ×19
Related words
Comes from
Words that come from it
Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.
Where it appears
- Genesis×3
- Exodus×11
- Leviticus×14
- Numbers×19
- Deuteronomy×37
- Joshua×3
- Judges×3
- 1 Samuel×7
- 2 Samuel×5
- 1 Kings×18
- 2 Kings×11
- 1 Chronicles×9
- 2 Chronicles×13
- Ezra×2
- Nehemiah×5
- Job×23
- Psalms×65
- Proverbs×20
- Ecclesiastes×6
- Isaiah×42
- Jeremiah×32
- Lamentations×2
- Ezekiel×43
- Daniel×1
- Hosea×6
- Amos×4
- Micah×5
- Habakkuk×4
- Zephaniah×4
- Zechariah×2
- Malachi×3
- Genesis 18:19
For I have known him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of YHWH by doing righteousness and justice, so that YHWH may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him.”
- Genesis 18:25
Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare like the wicked! Far be it from you! Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?”
- Genesis 40:13
Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, after the former manner when you were his cupbearer.
- Exodus 15:25
He cried out to YHWH, and YHWH showed him a tree; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them.
- Exodus 21:1
“These are the rules that you are to set before them:
- Exodus 21:9
And if he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom for daughters.
- Exodus 21:31
Whether it gores a son or gores a daughter, it shall be done to him according to this rule.
- Exodus 23:6
You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his dispute.
- Exodus 24:3
Moses came and told the people all the words of YHWH and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that YHWH has spoken we will do.”
- Exodus 26:30
Then you shall set up the dwelling according to its plan that you were shown on the mountain.
- Exodus 28:15
You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skilled craftsman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, blue, purple, scarlet yarn, and fine twisted linen you shall make it.
- Exodus 28:29
Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the Holy Place, as a memorial before YHWH continually.
- Exodus 28:30
You shall put in the breastpiece of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on the heart of Aaron when he goes in before YHWH; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the sons of Israel on his heart before YHWH continually.
- Leviticus 5:10
The second he shall offer as a burnt offering according to the regulation. So the priest shall make expiation for him for his sin that he has committed, and he will be forgiven.
- Leviticus 9:16
He presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the regulation.
- Leviticus 18:4
You shall do my rules and keep my statutes, walking in them. I am YHWH your Elohim.
- Leviticus 18:5
So you shall keep my statutes and my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. I am YHWH.
- Leviticus 18:26
But you shall keep my statutes and my rules, and you shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native nor the resident alien who resides among you
- Leviticus 19:15
You shall not do injustice in judgment: you shall not show favor to the poor and you shall not honor the great; in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
- Leviticus 19:35
You shall not do injustice in judgment, in measure of length, in weight, or in measure of capacity.
- Leviticus 19:37
And you shall keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them. I am YHWH.”
- Leviticus 20:22
So you shall keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live in it does not vomit you out.
- Leviticus 24:22
You shall have one rule: the resident alien shall be like the native; for I am YHWH your Elohim.”
- Leviticus 25:18
So you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and do them, and you shall live on the land securely.
- Leviticus 26:15
and if you reject my statutes, and if your soul loathes my rules, so that you do not do all my commandments, and you break my covenant,
- Leviticus 26:43
But the land will be abandoned by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the payment for their iniquity, because, yes, because they rejected my rules and their soul loathed my statutes.
- Leviticus 26:46
These are the statutes and the rules and the instructions that YHWH made between himself and the sons of Israel on Mount Sinai through Moses.
- Numbers 9:3
On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and according to all its rules you shall keep it.”
- Numbers 9:14
And if a resident alien resides among you and keeps the Passover to YHWH, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so he shall keep it; you shall have one statute, both for the resident alien and for the native of the land.’”
- Numbers 15:16
One instruction and one rule shall be for you and for the resident alien who resides with you.’”
- Numbers 15:24
then if it was done by oversight, without the knowledge of the community, all the community shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to YHWH, with its grain offering and its libation according to the rule, and one male goat for a sin offering.
- Numbers 27:5
Moses brought their case before YHWH.
- Numbers 27:11
And if there are no brothers of his father, you shall give his inheritance to his relative who is nearest to him from his family, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the sons of Israel a statute of justice, as YHWH commanded Moses.”
- Numbers 27:21
And before Eleazar the priest he shall stand, and he shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before YHWH. At his command they shall go out, and at his command they shall come in, he and all the sons of Israel with him, the whole community.”
- Numbers 29:6
besides the burnt offering of the month and its grain offering, and the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their libations, according to their rule, for a pleasing aroma, a fire offering to YHWH.
- Numbers 29:18
and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the rule;
- Numbers 29:21
and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the rule;
- Numbers 29:24
their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the rule;
- Numbers 29:27
and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the rule;
- Numbers 29:30
and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the rule;
And 382 more times.