Mishnah - Chapters.

The division of the several treatises into chapters as well as the sequence of these chapters was the work of Rabbi himself (Letter of Sherira Gaon, l.c. p. 13). The portion discussed each day constituted an independent pereḳ; and this term was, therefore, applied elsewhere to a single discourse also (Ber. 11b; 'Er. 36b; on a statement in the "Seder Tanna'im we-Amora'im," to the effect that the Saboraim divided the treatises into chapters, see M. Lerner, "Die Aeltesten Mischna-Compositionen," in Berliner's "Magazin," 1886, p. 3, note 1). Generally speaking, the original division and sequence of the chapters have been preserved, as appears from various passages of the Talmud (R. H. 31b; Suk. 22b; Yeb. 9a; Ket. 15a; Niddah 68b; Zeb. 15a). The names of the chapters taken from the initial letters are likewise old, and some of them are mentioned even in the Talmud (B. M. 35b; Niddah 48a). In the course of time, however, various changes were made in the division, sequence, and names of the chapters; thus, for example, the division of Tamid into seven chapters is not the original one. On other variations in sequence see Frankel, l.c. pp. 264-265, and on the changes in the names see Berliner in "Ha-Misderonah," i. 40b.

There are altogether 523 chapters in the Mishnah, divided as follows: Zera'im 74 (Bikkurim 3), Mo'ed Ḳaṭan 88, Nashim 71, Neziḳin 73 (Abot 5), Ḳodashim 91, Ṭohorot 126. Some authorities reckon 524 chapters by adding a sixth chapter to Abot, while others count 525 by adding a sixth chapter to Abot and a fourth chapter to Bikkurim.

The division of the chapters into paragraphs, which is likewise very old, has not been preserved in its original form, the different recensions of the present Mishnah having a different division (comp. Frankel, l.c. p. 265). The several paragraphs are mostly cast in the form of the fixed Halakah without a Scripture passage (see Midrash Halakah), although Weiss (l.c. ii. 211, notes 1-6) has enumerated 217 passages in which the Halakah is given togetherwith the Scriptural text on which it is based, hence assuming the form of the Midrash. Some of these midrashic sentences in the Mishnah have the form of the earliest exegesis of the Soferim (comp. Frankel, l.c. p. 5), and there are also many passages modeled on the tannaitic Talmud (comp. Weiss, l.c. ii. 209-210).

The following is the list of the mishnaic orders with their treatises, according to Maimonides, the deviations in both Talmudim being given at the end of each order (for details see separate articles under the names of the respective orders and treatises; and on variations in certain editions of the Mishnah comp. Strack, l.c. pp. 9-12):