63 Bible Verses about Judges

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

The LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not do so. When the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it grieved the LORD because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.read more.
But it happened, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them; they did not cease from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.

When the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. The Spirit of the LORD came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim. The land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. She lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, "Hasn't the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, 'Go and draw to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?read more.
I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.'" Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go." She said, "I will surely go with you: nevertheless, the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

It happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;

If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked; and it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number.

Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. He said, "Please, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."read more.
They said, "Stand back." They said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them." They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.

It happened on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from the morning to the evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, "What is this thing that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning to evening?" Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God.read more.
When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws." Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you do is not good. You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone. Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to God. You shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. Let them judge the people at all times. It shall be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves. So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share the load with you. If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all of these people also will go to their place in peace." So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard causes to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

"If a man delivers to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house; if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief isn't found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out if he hasn't put his hand to his neighbor's goods. For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, 'This is mine,' the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.

Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor."

I commanded your judges at that time, saying, "Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him.

If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 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 you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you. Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of you. Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

If one be found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it isn't known who has struck him; then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain:

He set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, "Consider what you do: for you do not judge for man, but for the LORD; and he is with you in the judgment. Now therefore let the fear of the LORD be on you. Take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes."

"'In a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall make my Sabbaths holy.

But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then, you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the church?read more.
I say this to move you to shame. Is not there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers?

I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as did not worship the beast nor his image, and did not receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived, and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.read more.
But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;' then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.

Let now our leaders represent the whole assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, until this matter is resolved."

When the governor had beckoned to him to speak, Paul answered, "Because I know that you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I cheerfully make my defense,

All Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, who carried the ark of the LORD's covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.

It happened after many days, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, that Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, "I am old and well advanced in years. You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you.read more.
Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun. The LORD your God will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from out of your sight. You shall possess their land, as the LORD your God spoke to you. Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left; that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them; but hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. For the LORD has driven great and strong nations out from before you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is the LORD your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you. Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God. Else if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you; know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you. Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it. It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which the LORD your God spoke to you, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you, when you disobey the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you." Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods. I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in its midst: and afterward I brought you out. I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Sea of Suf. When they cried out to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt: and you lived in the wilderness many days. I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan: and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you.

Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the ancestral houses. So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

He set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places. His return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel: and he built there an altar to the LORD.

If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which the LORD your God shall choose; and you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days: and you shall inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment.

Absalom said moreover, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice."

The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.

and it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed; lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then your brother should seem vile to you.

Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

saying, "There was a judge in a certain city who did not fear God, and did not respect man. A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' He would not for a while, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,read more.
yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her justice, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.'" The Lord said, "Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. Won't God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. David said, "Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of the LORD; six thousand were officers and judges;

Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were for the outward business over Israel, for officers and judges.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

You, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God who is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach him who doesn't know them.

then Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."

Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him in the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be cast into prison.

For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called "The Pavement," but in Hebrew, "Gabbatha."

For the LORD is our judge. The LORD is our lawgiver. The LORD is our king. He will save us.

I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong by making war against me. The LORD, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon."

May the LORD judge between me and you, and may the LORD avenge me of you; but my hand shall not be on you.

"If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swear before your altar in this house; then hear in heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.

Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.

so that men shall say, "Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth."

Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.

But I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

He who rejects me, and does not accept my words, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him on the last day.

to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the earth do right?"

God is a righteous judge, yes, a God who has indignation every day.

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

He commanded us to proclaim to the people and to testify that this is he who is appointed by God as the Judge of the living and the dead.

For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,

because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to 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 the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

I command you therefore before God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his Kingdom: