דַּיָּן

From the study of Psalm 68:5

Range of meaning

Judge, adjudicator: one who hears a legal claim (din) and decides it. In Hebrew, "judging" someone's cause usually means deciding it in their favour: vindicating them, getting them their rights. The noun occurs in the Hebrew Bible only here and in 1 Sam 24:15. It is much more common in Aramaic and later Hebrew, where a dayyan is a judge of a Jewish court.

Against the English

KJV, YLT and NASB keep "judge". To modern ears that suggests an impartial or even threatening official. BSB, WEB and NIV have "defender", and ESV and NRSV "protector". These get across that God is on the widows' side, but they lose the courtroom picture: God as the judge who actually rules in their favour.

How it drifted

In modern law a judge is defined by neutrality, and in religious speech "God as judge" usually means God as the one who punishes. In Hebrew the judge's main task was to put things right for the wronged party.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Sam 24:15: "May the LORD be judge (dayyan) and judge between me and you, and see and plead my cause and vindicate me." Here dayyan sits alongside "plead my cause" and "vindicate". The root's use for the weak is constant: Jer 5:28 ("they do not judge the cause of the fatherless"), Jer 22:16 (Josiah "judged the cause of the poor"), Prov 31:8–9. Akkadian dayyānu ("judge") is the title of the sun-god Shamash, judge of heaven and earth. Ugaritic Aqhat uses the same root of Danel, who "judges the case (ydn dn) of the widow" (KTU 1.17 V 7–8).

From the study of 1 Samuel 24:15

Range of meaning

Someone who decides a case: a judge or arbiter who hears both sides and gives a binding ruling. It comes from the root d-y-n, 'to judge, plead, contend'. The related verb dîn often means to win justice for someone weak, as in 'he judged the cause of the poor and needy' (Jer 22:16).

Against the English

'Judge' is accurate. Modern English, though, tends to hear a neutral official handing down sentences. In the Bible, a dayyan who takes the side of the weak is exactly what a good judge is (Ps 68:5: 'father of the fatherless and dayyan of widows').

Used elsewhere in the period

In biblical Hebrew it occurs only here and in Psalm 68:5. The cognate Akkadian word dayyānu is the normal term for 'judge'. In Mesopotamian prayers the sun-god Shamash is called the dayyānu of heaven and earth, the god who sees everything and puts wrongs right. Later Aramaic and rabbinic Hebrew use dayyan for a judge of a Jewish court, a usage that continues today.