Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
mishpat
Justice, judgment, the right ordering of things, and also a legal decision.
Micah 6:8, in every translation this tool compares.
He has good judgment. The judgment went against him. English keeps both the faculty and the verdict in one word.
Because it pairs with righteousness constantly and English renders it judgment in a way that sounds like condemnation rather than like setting things right.
Versions read justice, judgment, or ordinance.
מִשְׁפָּט mishpat · H4941
Mishpat is from the verb to judge, and covers a legal ruling, the practice of justice, and the settled order that results. Paired with tsedaqah it is one of the standard prophetic demands.
English judgment leans toward condemnation, so a demand to do mishpat reads as a demand to condemn rather than to put right.
When two words appear as a fixed pair in the Prophets, study them together. They function as one demand.
Justice dominates modern versions; the King James often reads judgment.
- mishpat with tsedaqah: Amos 5:24; Isaiah 5:7
- Micah 6:8
- mishpatim as case laws: Exodus 21:1
