shafat · judge

What it means

shafat (שָׁפַט) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “judge”.

Decide who is in the right and do him justice; also punish. Also rule, govern.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To judge and do justice, defend the weak.
2. To call to account, punish.
3. To rule the people, like Gideon or Samuel.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Judge: to decide between two parties and do justice to the one in the right; by extension, to govern. BDB: to judge, that is, pronounce sentence for or against; by implication, to vindicate or punish; by extension, to govern. From the same root comes מִשְׁפָּט, “justice, judgment”.

• “The Judge of all the earth” Genesis 18:25Psalms 96:13
• Judging the people's disputes Exodus 18:131 Kings 3:9
• The judges who governed Israel Judges 10:21 Samuel 8:5
• Doing justice to the weak Psalms 82:3

Historical and cultural background

The book of Judges takes its name from the participle of this verb: the שֹׁפְטִים, who “judged” Israel for years (Judges 10:2).

How we translate it

“Judge” 109 times, “judges” 43, “judged” 25; “enter into judgment” when God takes someone to court. “Judge” is kept also where the sense borders on governing, as in Solomon's request “to judge your people” (1 Kings 3:9), and in 1 Samuel 8:5.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• judge ×109
• judges ×43
• judged ×25
• judging ×6
• I will enter into judgment ×5
• enter into judgment ×2
• will enter into judgment ×2
• I entered into judgment ×1
• defend ×1
• do justice ×1
• others ×7

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×5
• Exodus×8
• Leviticus×1
• Numbers×2
• Deuteronomy×11
• Joshua×3
• Judges×21
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×15
• 2 Samuel×4
• 1 Kings×5
• 2 Kings×3
• 1 Chronicles×5
• 2 Chronicles×10
• Ezra×1
• Job×6
• Psalms×32
• Proverbs×4
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Isaiah×15
• Jeremiah×4
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×28
• Daniel×2
• Hosea×2
• Joel×2
• Amos×1
• Obadiah×1
• Micah×4
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×2

• Genesis 16:5

  Then Sarai said to Abram, “The wrong done to me be on you! I myself gave my slave woman into your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, I became of little account in her eyes. May YHWH judge between me and you.”

• Genesis 18:25

  Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare like the wicked! Far be it from you! Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?”

• Genesis 19:9

  But they said, “Step aside!” And they said, “This one came to reside as an alien, and he keeps acting as judge! Now we will do worse to you than to them.” And they pressed hard against the man, against Lot, and came near to break the door.

• Genesis 31:53

  May the Elohim of Abraham and the Elohim of Nahor judge between us, the Elohim of their father.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

• Exodus 2:14

  He said, “Who made you a man, a ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the thing is known.”

• Exodus 5:21

  And they said to them, “May YHWH look upon you and judge, because you have made us odious in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, putting a sword in their hand to kill us.”

• Exodus 18:13

  The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.

• Exodus 18:16

  When they have a matter, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of Elohim and his instructions.”

• Exodus 18:22

  Let them judge the people at all times; and every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so make it lighter for yourself, and they will bear the load with you.

• Exodus 18:26

  They judged the people at all times; the difficult matter they would bring to Moses, but every small matter they would judge themselves.

• Leviticus 19:15

  You shall not do injustice in judgment: you shall not show favor to the poor and you shall not honor the great; in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.

• Numbers 25:5

  Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal-peor.”

• Numbers 35:24

  then the community shall judge between the one who struck and between the avenger of blood according to these rules.

• Deuteronomy 1:16

  I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or his resident alien.

• Deuteronomy 16:18

  Judges and supervisors you shall appoint for yourself in all your gates that YHWH your Elohim is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

• Deuteronomy 17:9

  And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who is in those days, and you shall inquire, and they shall announce to you the word of judgment.

• Deuteronomy 17:12

  And the man who acts with arrogance so as not to listen to the priest who stands to minister there to YHWH your Elohim, or to the judge, that man shall die. So you shall remove the evil from Israel.

• Deuteronomy 19:17

  then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before YHWH, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.

• Deuteronomy 19:18

  And the judges shall inquire thoroughly, and look, if the witness is a false witness, if he has testified falsely against his brother,

• Deuteronomy 21:2

  then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure to the cities that are around the slain one.

• Deuteronomy 25:1

  If there is a dispute between men, and they come near to judgment, and they judge them, they shall declare righteous the righteous and declare wicked the wicked.

• Deuteronomy 25:2

  Then it shall be, if the wicked one deserves to be struck, that the judge shall make him lie down and have him struck before him according to his wickedness, by number.

• Joshua 8:33

  And all Israel, with its elders and supervisors and its judges, were standing on this side and on that side of the ark, in front of the priests, the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of YHWH, the resident alien as well as the native, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of YHWH had commanded, to bless the people of Israel at the first.

• Joshua 23:2

  that Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders, its heads, its judges, and its supervisors, and said to them, “I am old, advanced in days.

• Joshua 24:1

  And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders of Israel, its heads, its judges, and its supervisors; and they presented themselves before Elohim.

• Judges 2:16

  Then YHWH raised up judges, and they saved them from the hand of those who plundered them.

• Judges 2:17

  Yet even to their judges they did not listen, for they prostituted themselves after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked, listening to the commandments of YHWH; they did not do so.

• Judges 2:18

  Whenever YHWH raised up judges for them, YHWH was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for YHWH was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.

• Judges 2:19

  But when the judge died, they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them; they did not let go of any of their deeds or of their stubborn way.

• Judges 3:10

  The spirit of YHWH came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and YHWH gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hand, and his hand was strong over Cushan-rishathaim.

• Judges 4:4

  Now Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she was judging Israel at that time.

• Judges 10:2

  He judged Israel twenty-three years; then he died and was buried in Shamir.

• Judges 10:3

  After him arose Jair the Gileadite, and he judged Israel twenty-two years.

• Judges 11:27

  I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by fighting against me. May YHWH, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.”

• Judges 12:7

  Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

• Judges 12:8

  After him Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel.

• Judges 12:9

  He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he sent outside, and thirty daughters he brought for his sons from outside. He judged Israel seven years.

• Judges 12:11

  After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; he judged Israel ten years.

• Judges 12:13

  After him Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.

• Judges 12:14

  He had forty sons and thirty sons of his sons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel eight years.

And 162 more times.