Aramaic word · H8200
שְׁפַט
shafetin
to judge
šāpəṭîn: 'those who judge,' officials who decide disputes and keep order (compare Hebrew šōpēṭ, a leader-judge). dayyānîn: professional judges who hear lawsuits, from dîn, 'judgment, legal case.'
A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?
Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to judge
1a) (P'al) judge (participle)
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
šāpəṭîn: 'those who judge,' officials who decide disputes and keep order (compare Hebrew šōpēṭ, a leader-judge). dayyānîn: professional judges who hear lawsuits, from dîn, 'judgment, legal case.'
- Against the English
Most versions say 'magistrates and judges.' Splitting the pair into two distinct offices is possible but not required. Many scholars read the two words together as one comprehensive phrase, 'judges and justices,' which is how 1 Esdras renders it.
- Used elsewhere in the period
dayyānu is a standard Akkadian legal term, and Aramaic papyri of the Persian period from Elephantine in Egypt refer to 'judges' of the king and of the province. šāpəṭ is a West Semitic term, familiar from the Hebrew Bible and also from Phoenician and Ugaritic usage.
Where it appears
Ezra · 1
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Ezra 7:25 שָׁפְטִ֞ין judges
And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God, which you possess, are to appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people west of the Euphrates—all who know the laws of your God. And you are to teach these laws to anyone who does not know them.
Here: Literally 'ones who judge.' The verb form is used as a noun for officials. The word is the same as the Hebrew shophet ('judge', as in the book of Judges): an official who decides cases and keeps order.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.