James 4:11

4:11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. ¹  He who speaks against a fellow believer ²  or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. ³ 

Job 21:27

Futile Words, Deceptive Answers

21:27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking, ⁴ 

the schemes ⁵  by which you would wrong me. ⁶ 

Psalms 58:1

Psalm 58 ⁷ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ⁸  a prayer ⁹  of David.

58:1 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? ¹⁰ 

Do you judge people ¹¹  fairly?

Psalms 82:2

82:2 He says, ¹²  “How long will you make unjust legal decisions

and show favoritism to the wicked? ¹³  (Selah)

Psalms 109:31

109:31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy,

to deliver him from those who threaten ¹⁴  his life.

Matthew 7:1-5

Do Not Judge

7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. ¹⁵  7:2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. ¹⁶  7:3 Why ¹⁷  do you see the speck ¹⁸  in your brother’s eye, but fail to see ¹⁹  the beam of wood ²⁰  in your own? 7:4 Or how can you say ²¹  to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 7:5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

John 7:24

7:24 Do not judge according to external appearance, ²²  but judge with proper ²³  judgment.”

[4:11]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[4:11]  ² tn See note on the word “believer” in 1:9.

[4:11]  ³ tn Grk “a judge.”

[21:27]  ⁴ tn The word is “your thoughts.” The word for “thoughts” (from חָצַב [khatsav, “to think; to reckon; to plan”]) has more to do with their intent than their general thoughts. He knows that when they talked about the fate of the wicked they really were talking about him.

[21:27]  ⁵ tn For the meaning of this word, and its root זָמַם (zamam), see Job 17:11. It usually means the “plans” or “schemes” that are concocted against someone.

[21:27]  ⁶ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 321) distinguishes the verb חָמַס (khamas) from the noun for “violence.” He proposes a meaning of “think, imagine”: “and the ideas you imagined about me.”

[58:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 58. The psalmist calls on God to punish corrupt judges because a vivid display of divine judgment will convince observers that God is the just judge of the world who vindicates the godly.

[58:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 57, 59, and 75.

[58:1]  ⁹ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam) which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 56-57, 59-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[58:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Really [in] silence, what is right do you speak?” The Hebrew noun אֵלֶם (’elem, “silence”) makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some feel that this is an indictment of the addressees’ failure to promote justice; they are silent when they should make just decisions. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֵלִם (’elim), which in turn is understood as a defectively written form of אֵילִים (’elim, “rulers,” a metaphorical use of אַיִל, ’ayil, “ram”; see Exod 15:15; Ezek 17:13). The rhetorical question is sarcastic, challenging their claim to be just. Elsewhere the collocation of דָּבַר (davar, “speak”) with צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “what is right”) as object means “to speak the truth” (see Ps 52:3; Isa 45:19). Here it refers specifically to declaring what is right in a legal setting, as the next line indicates.

[58:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the sons of mankind.” The translation assumes the phrase is the object of the verb “to judge.” Some take it as a vocative, “Do you judge fairly, O sons of mankind?” (Cf. NASB; see Ezek 20:4; 22:2; 23:36.)

[82:2]  ¹² tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to indicate that the following speech is God’s judicial decision (see v. 1).

[82:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the face of the wicked lift up.”

[109:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “judge.”

[7:1]  ¹⁵ sn The point of the statement do not judge so that you will not be judged is that the standards we apply to others God applies to us. The passive verbs in this verse look to God’s action.

[7:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”

[7:3]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[7:3]  ¹⁸ sn The term translated speck refers to a small piece of wood, chaff, or straw; see L&N 3.66.

[7:3]  ¹⁹ tn Or “do not notice.”

[7:3]  ²⁰ sn The term beam of wood refers to a very big piece of wood, the main beam of a building, in contrast to the speck in the other’s eye (L&N 7.78).

[7:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “how will you say?”

[7:24]  ²² tn Or “based on sight.”

[7:24]  ²³ tn Or “honest”; Grk “righteous.”