63 Bible Verses about Judges

And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they fornicated after other gods and bowed themselves unto them; they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers had walked hearing the commandments of the LORD; but they did not do so. And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of that judge; for the LORD repented because of their groanings by reason of those that oppressed them and afflicted them.read more.
But when the judge was dead, then they would return, and corrupt themselves more than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down unto them; they did not diminish from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.

And when the sons of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a saviour to the sons of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel and went out to war; and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim. And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.

And a woman judged Israel at that time, Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth. This Deborah dwelt under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim, and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh of Naphtali and said unto him, Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded thee, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun?read more.
And I will draw Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, unto thee to the river Kishon, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thy hands. And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee, but thy honour shall not be in the way that thou goest; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and he went up with ten thousand men on foot, and Deborah went up with him.

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

Such a passover had not been made since the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah.

If there is a controversy between persons and they come unto judgment and they are judged, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. And it shall be if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten in his presence, according to his fault, by a certain number.

And Lot went out at the door unto them and shut the door after him and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing, for they have come under the shadow of my roof.read more.
And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This fellow came in to sojourn and is he to lift himself up as judge? Now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they did great violence to the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.

And it came to pass another day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone and all the people stand before thee from morning unto evening? And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God.read more.
When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I declare unto them the statutes of God and his laws. Then Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou and this people that is with thee; for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people before God that thou may submit the causes unto God. And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and shalt show them the way in which they must walk and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt consider out of all the people men of virtue, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place princes over them, of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge, so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. And Moses chose men of virtue out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, princes over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens. And they judged the people at all seasons; the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

When a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house; if the thief is found, let him pay double. If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges to see whether he has put his hand unto his neighbour's goods. For all manner of fraud, whether it be for an ox, for an ass, for a sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challenges to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.

Then Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.

And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren and judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him.

When a false witness rises up against any man to testify rebellion against him, then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, who shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and, behold, if the witness is a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother,read more.
then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother; so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those who remain shall hear and fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

When one is found dead in the land which the LORD thy God gives thee to inherit, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him, then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is dead;

And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, Take heed what ye do, for ye do not judge for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the word of judgment. Therefore, now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it, for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.

And in controversy they shall stand to judge; and they shall judge it according to my rights; and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my solemn assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?

Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more the things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set as judges the most humble who are in the congregation .read more.
I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brothers?

And I saw thrones, and those who sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and who had not worshipped the beast neither its image neither had received its mark upon their foreheads or in their hands; and they shall live and reign with Christ the thousand years.

If thou should buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he was married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.read more.
And if the slave shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free. Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him forever.

Let our rulers of all the congregation now stand, and let all those who have taken strange women in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of each city and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter is turned from us.

Then Paul, after the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself;

And all Israel and their elders and officers and their judges stood on one side and on the other near the ark, before the priests the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the strangers, as well as the natural born among them, half of them over against Mount Gerizim and half of them over against Mount Ebal, as Moses, the slave of the LORD, had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

And it came to pass many days after the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. And Joshua called for all Israel and for their elders and for their princes and for their judges and for their officers and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age; and ye have seen all that the LORD your God has done with all these Gentiles in your presence; for the LORD your God has fought for you.read more.
Behold, I have divided unto you as inheritance unto your tribes all these Gentiles, those that remain as well as those that are destroyed, from the Jordan unto the great sea towards the going down of the sun. And the LORD your God, shall expel them from before you and drive them from out of your presence; and ye shall possess their lands, as the LORD your God has promised unto you. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses without turning aside to the right hand or to the left that ye not enter in among these Gentiles that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them, but cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day. For the LORD has driven out from before you great and strong Gentiles; and until now no one has been able to stand before your face. One man of you has chased a thousand; for the LORD your God, he himself has fought for you, as he has promised you. Therefore take heed for your souls that ye love the LORD your God. Because if ye do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of these Gentiles that remain among you and shall make marriages with them and go in unto them and they to you, know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no longer drive out any of these Gentiles from before you, but they shall be snares and traps unto you and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you. And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing has failed thereof. Therefore it shall come to pass that as all the good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you, so shall the LORD bring upon you all the evil things until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you when ye shall transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, going in and serving other gods and bowing yourselves to them. And the anger of the LORD shall be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he has given unto you. And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their princes and for their judges and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Long ago your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river, even Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his generation and gave him Isaac. And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them; and afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt; and when ye came to the sea, the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea. And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt; and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you, but I delivered them into your hands that ye might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you.

Then Solomon spoke unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every prince in all Israel, the chief of the fathers. So Solomon and all the congregation with him went to the high place that was at Gibeon, for there was the tabernacle of the testimony of God, which Moses the slave of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all the gates of thy cities, which the LORD thy God shall give thee throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with just (and righteous) judgment.

And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city,

And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh and judged Israel in all those places. Then he would return to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the LORD.

If a matter arises that is too difficult for thee in judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates, then thou shalt arise and go up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, and thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days and enquire, and they shall show thee the word of judgment.

And Absalom would say, Oh, that I were made judge in the land, that everyone who has any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!

And the man that will act presumptuously and will not hearken unto the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

And it shall be if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten in his presence, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him and not exceed lest if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should be despised before thee.

To complete the evil with their hands, the prince demands, and the judge judges for a reward; and the great man speaks the desires of his heart: and they confirm it.

saying, There was in a city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man; and there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Defend me from my adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God, nor regard man,read more.
yet because this widow troubles me, I will do her justice, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge says. And shall not God avenge his own elect who cry day and night unto him though he bears long regarding them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?

were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. Of which, twenty-four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the LORD, and six thousand were officers and judges;

Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were governors and judges over Israel.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the great ones, the assistants and captains, the judges, the treasurers, those of the council, presidents, and all the governors of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the statue which Nebuchadnezzar the king had raised up. Then the great ones, the assistants and captains, the judges, the treasurers, those of the council, presidents, and all the governors of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had raised up; and they stood before the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had raised up.

And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thy hand, set as judges and governors, who govern all the people that are on the other side of the river, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach those that do not know them.

Then wrote Rehum, the chancellor, and Shimshai, the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, and the Elamites,

When he was seated upon the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

Conciliate with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou may be delivered from him, lest he drag thee away to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.

Therefore when Pilate heard that word, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

For the LORD shall be our judge, the LORD shall be our lawgiver, the LORD shall be our king; he himself will save us.

Therefore, I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me; let the LORD, who is the Judge, judge this day between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.

The LORD judge between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee, but my hand shall not be upon thee.

When anyone shall have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath is laid upon him to cause him to swear and the oath comes before thy altar in this house, thou shalt hear from heaven and do and judge thy slaves, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he comes to judge the earth.

Who even though I am righteous, yet I would not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.

So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judges in the earth.

Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.

And I seek not my own glory; there is one that seeks it and judges.

He that rejects me and does not receive my words has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

to the congregation of the called out ones of the firstborn, who are registered in the heavens and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be treated as the wicked that are far from thee. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

God is he who judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is the judge. Selah.

And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he who is ordained of God to be the Judge of living and dead.

For the Father judges no man but has committed all judgment unto the Son

because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of whom he has given assurance unto all men in that he has raised him from the dead.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive according to that which they have done in the body, good or evil.

I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead in his appearing and in his kingdom: