The sect of the scrolls was not content to observe the Torah as it stood. They read it, interpreted it, and extended it — closing loopholes, sharpening prohibitions, harmonising contradictions. Midrash Mishpatim is that project in action: a systematic halakhic expansion of the Exodus ordinances (mishpatim), laid out column by column, case by case, ruling by ruling.

The Midrash Mishpatim (4Q251) is a Cave 4 Hebrew halakhic text preserving a column-by-column expansion of biblical law. Seventeen fragments across at least seven columns cover the manslayer and cities of refuge, the heifer-breaking rite, assault and bodily injury laws, ox-goring liability, incest prohibitions expanded beyond Leviticus, first-fruits and firstborn offerings, priestly portions, and Sabbath restrictions. The manuscript dates to the late Second Temple period and belongs to the sectarian halakhic literature alongside the Damascus Document and 4QMMT. Primary publication: DJD XXXV (Baumgarten, Chazon, and Pinnick, 1999).

Column I — The Manslayer and the Heifer

[...] and he shall not return until the death of the [high] priest.

[...] all who are separated from among them [...] shall be removed from him.

But if he acts with premeditation against his fellow, so that he dies — he acted presumptuously [...]

[...] they shall take a heifer [...] and they shall bring it to a wadi [...] and they shall break the heifer's neck there in the wadi [...] the heifer whose neck was broken [...] and this is the atonement [...] all who are in that place [...] no blood guilt shall be upon them.

Column II — Assault, Slaves, and the Goring Ox

[...] So-and-so [...]

If a man strikes his fellow with a stone or with his fist and he does not die but takes to his bed: if he rises and walks about outside [...] only he shall rise; he shall pay for his lost time and shall provide for his healing.

And if a man strikes his slave or his maidservant [...] he shall be punished in court (פלילים). But if he survives a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.

And if an ox gores a man or a woman and they die, the ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. But if the ox was known to gore previously [...] and its owner was warned but did not restrain it [...] and it kills a man or a woman — the ox shall be stoned and the owner also shall die. If a ransom (כופר) is assessed upon him, he shall pay as redemption for his life whatever is assessed upon him.

Column III — Sexual Prohibitions

Concerning sexual prohibitions:

A man shall not take his father's wife and shall not uncover his father's skirt. A man shall not take [his brother's wife] [...] shall not reveal the nakedness of his brother's daughter or his daughter.

And a woman shall not approach the nakedness of her father's sister or her mother's sister, nor the nakedness of the daughters of her brother [...] nor her father's brothers and her mother's brothers.

A man shall not uncover nakedness [...].

A man shall not take [her] in their lifetimes.

Column IV — First Fruits, Firstborn, and Priestly Portions

No man shall eat grain or new wine before he gives to the priest the first of the crop (ראשית המלאה), the firstborn [...] A man shall not withhold the firstborn, for it is the first of the crop — it is a pledge (תרומה) to the LORD. And the loaves of the firstborn belong to him (the priest). The firstborn shall not eat [them]. No firstborn bread shall come on the day [of its firstborn status].

Every one who opens the womb, from the man and from the animals — you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man and of impure animals. But the firstborn of the flock and of the sanctuary-dedicated [animals] — you shall not redeem. The firstborn of pure animals belongs to the priest.

All shall be holy to the priest. Every tithe of grain [...] A tithe of twenty [gerahs to the shekel] [...] do not turn it to the priest wrongly — [and the] terumah shall be holy to the priest. All the heave-offerings [...] most holy (קדש קדשים).

Whatever is devoted (חרם) — which a man devotes [...] it shall be lifted to the LORD for the priest [...] and such a man [...]

Column V — Priests, Strangers, and the Sabbath

[...] for the food of a stranger who dwells [in Israel] shall belong to the priest. And every person in his household and his purchased servant: they shall eat only of his food; they shall not eat the holy things; this is an abomination.

[On the seventh day:] whoever sacrifices an ox or a sheep that has not yet completed [its] seven days — and if he does not complete [them] — he shall not eat of its flesh [...] an animal whose life has not [continued...].

And the carcass of the pure animal [...] he shall not sell a pure animal to a [foreigner] [...] he shall not draw from it [work] [...]

On the Sabbath day, let no man go out from his place — from inside to outside, from outside to inside — and to read in a book [is permitted]; only he shall inquire [in the Torah] on the Sabbath, and [the reading] shall be done for him on that day.

Every male born in Israel on the Sabbath day shall be circumcised [...]

Colophon

Translated from the Hebrew of 4Q251, using the Qimron Composite Text edition (Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, vol. 2 [Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2013], Zenodo CC BY 4.0 open-access release). Primary publication: DJD XXXV (Baumgarten et al., 1999). Reference consulted: Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, and Edward Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (San Francisco: HarperOne, 1996).

Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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