Judges Chapter 2 verse 16 Holy Bible
And Jehovah raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those that despoiled them.
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Then the Lord gave them judges, as their saviours from the hands of those who were cruel to them.
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Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the power of those who plundered them.
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Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
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Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
read chapter 2 in WBT
Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled them.
read chapter 2 in WEB
And Jehovah raiseth up judges, and they save them from the hand of their spoilers;
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 16. - Raised up judges. Hence the name of this book, which recites the names and exploits of those whom God raised up to deliver them out of the hand of their enemies. The title Judges (Hebrew, shophetim) is, as is well known, identical with the Carthagenian suffetes. Mark the riches of God's mercy.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) Nevertheless.--Rather, And.The Lord raised up judges.--Acts 13:20; 1Samuel 12:10-11. This is the key-note to the book. (See Judges 3:10; Judges 4:4; Judges 10:2; Judges 12:7, &c.; 15:20.) The word for Judges is Shophetim. The ordinary verb "to judge," in Hebrew, is not Shaphat, but dayyan. Evidently their deliverers (comp. Deuteronomy 17:8-9; Psalm 2:10; Amos 2:3) are of higher rank than the mere tribe-magistrates mentioned in Exodus 18:26; Deuteronomy 1:16, &c. Artemidorus (Judges 2:14) says that to judge (Krinein) signified among the ancients "to govern." Of the judges in this book some--e.g., Tola, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon--are not said to have performed any warlike deeds. They may, however, have been warriors, like Jair, whose exploits are only preserved in tradition. Samuel, though not himself a fighter, yet roused the military courage of his people. They received no salary, imposed no tributes, made no laws, but merely exercised, for the deliverance of Israel, the personal ascendency conferred upon them by "the Spirit of God." Perhaps they find their nearest analogy in the Greek Aisymnetai (elective princes) or the Roman Dictators. The name is evidently the same as that of the Ph?nician Suffetes, who succeeded the kings and were the Doges of Tyre after its siege by Nebuchadnezzar. (Jos. 100 Ap. i. 21.) Livy tells us that the Suffetes of Carthage had a sort of consular power in the senate (Liv. 30:7; 28:57; 33:46; 34:61). So, too, in the Middle Ages, Spanish governors were called "judges," and this was the title of the chief officer of Sardinia. The judges of Israel, at any rate in their true ideal, were not only military deliverers (Judges 3:9), but also supporters of divine law and order (Genesis 18:25). The abeyance of normally constituted authority during this period is seen in the fact that one of the judges is the son of a "stranger" (Judges 11:2), another a woman (Judges 4:4), and not one of them (in this book) of priestly or splendid birth. . . .
