The weekly portion
פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ
One portion a week
The Torah is read straight through, a portion at a time, finishing and starting again each autumn. Fifty four portions, the whole scroll, every year. Here is all of it, in plain words — and the text itself, open.
Being read now
Nitzavim–Vayelech
Shabbat 5 September 2026 · next week Ha'azinu, 19 September 2026
New to this? You do not have to start in January or at chapter one. The cycle is a circle — join it this week, read the portion, and in a year you will have read the whole Torah without ever having to decide what to read next.
Genesis
בְּרֵאשִׁית12 portions- 01BereshitThe world is made and called good, and within a few pages people are already hiding, blaming and killing.Genesis 1:1–6:8
- 02NoachThe world is washed away and started again, and God promises never to do it a second time.Genesis 6:9–11:32
- 03Lech-LechaOne man is told to leave everything he knows for a land he has not been shown, and he goes.Genesis 12:1–17:27
- 04VayeraAbraham argues with God to save a city of strangers, then walks a mountain with his own son.Genesis 18:1–22:24
- 05Chayei SarahA grave is bought, a wife is found at a well, and one generation quietly hands over to the next.Genesis 23:1–25:18
- 06ToldotTwins struggle before they are born, and a family tears itself apart over a blessing.Genesis 25:19–28:9
- 07VayetzeiA man running for his life sleeps on a stone and finds that God is in the place he was fleeing through.Genesis 28:10–32:3
- 08VayishlachJacob wrestles all night with someone he cannot name, and walks away limping with a new name of his own.Genesis 32:4–36:43
- 09VayeshevA favoured son with a loud coat and louder dreams is thrown in a pit by his own brothers.Genesis 37:1–40:23
- 10MiketzA prisoner reads a king's dream and by evening is running the empire that jailed him.Genesis 41:1–44:17
- 11VayigashJudah offers himself in his brother's place, and the man he is pleading with breaks down and says who he is.Genesis 44:18–47:27
- 12VayechiJacob blesses his sons one by one, tells them the truth about themselves, and Genesis closes with a coffin in Egypt.Genesis 47:28–50:26
Exodus
שְׁמוֹת11 portions- 13ShemotA new king who never knew Joseph turns a family into a workforce, and God tells a shepherd his own name.Exodus 1:1–6:1
- 14Va'eraThe plagues begin, and a superpower discovers it does not control the river, the sky or the land.Exodus 6:2–9:35
- 15BoThe last plagues fall, and before the people are free they are given a meal to eat standing up and a night to remember for ever.Exodus 10:1–13:16
- 16BeshalachThe sea opens, the people sing, and three days later they are complaining about the water.Exodus 13:17–17:16
- 17YitroA foreign priest gives Moses the best management advice in the Bible, and then a mountain shakes and Ten Words are spoken.Exodus 18:1–20:23
- 18MishpatimStraight after the thunder comes the small print: oxen, pits, lost property, and how you treat someone who has nothing.Exodus 21:1–24:18
- 19TerumahGod asks for gifts, given willingly, to build a tent he can travel in.Exodus 25:1–27:19
- 20TetzavehA lamp that is never allowed to go out, and clothing designed so that a man cannot forget who he carries.Exodus 27:20–30:10
- 21Ki TisaWhile Moses is on the mountain the people build a calf, and the tablets are smashed at the bottom of it.Exodus 30:11–34:35
- 22VayakhelThe same people who built the calf now build the sanctuary, and bring so much that they have to be told to stop.Exodus 35:1–38:20
- 23PekudeiEvery item is accounted for in public, the tent is put up, and a cloud fills it.Exodus 38:21–40:38
Leviticus
וַיִּקְרָא10 portions- 24VayikraThe offerings begin — and the smallest, cheapest one is described with the same care as the largest.Leviticus 1:1–5:26
- 25TzavThe same offerings from the priests' side: who clears the ashes, who eats what, and a fire that must never go out.Leviticus 6:1–8:36
- 26SheminiOn the day everything finally works, two of Aaron's sons die, and their father says nothing.Leviticus 9:1–11:47
- 27TazriaChildbirth, skin conditions, and a priest whose main job is to look carefully and wait.Leviticus 12:1–13:59
- 28MetzoraHow someone shut out is brought back in — a whole ceremony for return.Leviticus 14:1–15:33
- 29Acharei MotThe Day of Atonement is set out: one day, one man, two goats, and a nation's wrongs sent away.Leviticus 16:1–18:30
- 30KedoshimThe centre of the Torah, and it is mostly about wages, harvests, courtrooms and how you speak about people.Leviticus 19:1–20:27
- 31EmorThe calendar of the year is laid out — every feast, in order, as fixed times God has set.Leviticus 21:1–24:23
- 32BeharEvery seventh year the land rests, and every fiftieth year debts are cleared and land goes home.Leviticus 25:1–26:2
- 33BechukotaiBlessing and its opposite, laid out plainly, and then a promise that even ruin is not the end.Leviticus 26:3–27:34
Numbers
בְּמִדְבַּר10 portions- 34BamidbarThe people are counted and camped in order, with the tent at the centre of everything.Numbers 1:1–4:20
- 35NasoThe longest portion in the Torah, and it contains the blessing most often said over children.Numbers 4:21–7:89
- 36Beha'alotchaThe journey starts, and almost at once the complaining does too — including from Moses.Numbers 8:1–12:16
- 37ShelachTwelve men go to look at the land. Ten come back afraid, and a generation loses forty years.Numbers 13:1–15:41
- 38KorachA rebellion led by a man with a very good argument, and the ground opens under it.Numbers 16:1–18:32
- 39ChukatMiriam dies, the water stops, Moses strikes a rock, and is told he will not enter the land.Numbers 19:1–22:1
- 40BalakA king hires a prophet to curse Israel, and every time he opens his mouth a blessing comes out.Numbers 22:2–25:9
- 41PinchasFive sisters walk up to Moses and ask for their father's land, and the law is changed.Numbers 25:10–30:1
- 42MatotVows, a hard war, and two tribes who want to settle before the job is finished.Numbers 30:2–32:42
- 43MaseiForty two stops are listed by name, and cities are set aside where someone who killed by accident can be safe.Numbers 33:1–36:13
Deuteronomy
דְּבָרִים11 portions- 44DevarimMoses begins his last speech by telling the story back to a generation that was not there.Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22
- 45Va'etchananMoses asks one last time to be allowed across, is refused, and then teaches the words Jews have said twice daily ever since.Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11
- 46EikevA warning about what comfort does to memory: when you have eaten and are full, do not forget.Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25
- 47Re'ehA choice is set out plainly, and then a long stretch on giving, lending, and releasing debts.Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17
- 48ShoftimCourts, kings, prophets and priests — and every one of them is put under limits.Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9
- 49Ki TeitzeiMore laws than any other portion, most of them about the small decencies nobody would notice you skipping.Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19
- 50Ki TavoA farmer brings his first fruit in a basket and has to say out loud where he came from.Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8
- 51NitzavimEveryone is standing here — including people not yet born — and the choice is put in the plainest words in the Bible.Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20
- 52VayelechThe shortest portion in the Torah. Moses hands over, and arranges for the whole nation to hear the law read aloud.Deuteronomy 31:1–30
- 53Ha'azinuMoses' last teaching is a poem, written in two columns, meant to be memorised and sung.Deuteronomy 32:1–52
- 54V'Zot HaBerachahMoses blesses each tribe, climbs a mountain, sees the whole land, and dies there. Nobody knows where he is buried.Deuteronomy 33:1–34:12