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In Deuteronomy there is a repeated triad that appears in its full form first in Deut 5:28:

‏וַאֲדַבְּרָה אֵלֶיךָ אֵת כָּל־הַמִּצְוָה וְהַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים

And I will tell you the whole commandment (miṣwâ) and the statutes (ḥuqqı̂m) and the rules (mišpāṭı̂m)

Revised Version Deut 5:31

But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandment, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

Greek LXX "εντολάς commandments, δικαιώματα ordinances, κρίματα judgments"

What is the difference between these words?

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  • What value does adding the translation from a Christian edition of the Bible give, on a Judaism Q&A site?
    – Tamir Evan
    May 12 at 13:42
  • Bec the JPS verse numbering is so odd varying from the mainstream english bibles. It took me a long time to find which verse he quoted. It is always necessary that u mention the default versions when theres a disparity in version numbering.
    – Michael16
    May 12 at 14:16
  • @Michael16 (When responding to someone's comment, it is best to put @<UserName> in your comment, like I did at the beginning of this comment for you. That way he gets informed of your comment.) "Bec the JPS verse numbering is so odd varying from the mainstream english bibles." It's not just the JPS. To my knowledge, almost all mainstream Jewish Bible (that use a chapter-and-verse scheme) use this same verse numbering. On a Jewish Q&A site, that is the default.
    – Tamir Evan
    May 12 at 16:00
  • @Michael16 If you just wanted to mention the difference in verse numbering, you could have added "(5:31 in the Revised Version)", right after "... first in Deut 5:28", and before the colon (":"), in the text of the question.
    – Tamir Evan
    May 12 at 16:01

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So the Netziv in Ha'amek Davar explains Mitzvos as being:

נכלל בזה מ״ע ול״ת שבתורה שבכתב וגם המשנה היינו קבלות בהלכות פסוקות המכונה בשם צווי כ״פ

So they include the positive and negative commandments that are in the Written Torah as well as the Mishnah that are received as halachos and posed in the format of commands.

On Chukim he says:

אלו כללי התורה איך לדרוש ולחדש מה שלא נאמר בפירוש

These are the rules of the Torah how to expound and provide novel insight for that which is not explicitly stated

Mishpatim are generally regarded as social or civil laws.

Refer to Sforno on the opening of Parshas Mishpatim 21:1 which also helps provide further clarity of the breakdown:

ואלה המשפטים, in the previous paragraph the Torah spoke about the prohibition of coveting property belonging to someone else (20,13). This did not involve action; by contrast ואלה המשפטים, now the Torah speaks about laws governing the concrete nature of “אשר לרעך,” tangible matters belonging to your fellow man. (Sefaria translation)

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  • The Netziv defines mishpatim there too.
    – Alex
    Apr 14, 2022 at 10:46

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