judge
krites identifies a person who adjudicates disputes or exercises judgment, including the judge of all.
The attested use most often identifies a judicial official within a dispute or legal process; it also names the one exercising judgment over living and dead, all, or those facing judgment, and can describe human evaluators or leaders called judges.
Senses in use
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Judicial official in a dispute or proceeding · dominant
The noun identifies the official to whom a dispute is brought or who holds authority in a legal setting. In Matthew 5:25 and Luke 12:58, the APB renders a sequence in which an opponent hands someone to the judge and the judge to an officer or bailiff; Acts 18:15 presents a refusal to be a judge of contested matters, while Acts 24:10 addresses a governor as having been a judge over the nation.
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One with final judgment authority · common
The term identifies the figure whose judgment concerns persons broadly or decisively. In Acts 10:42, the APB renders one determined by God as judge of living and dead; Hebrews 12:23 names God as judge of all, and James 4:12 describes the one judge as able to save and destroy. In 2 Timothy 4:8, the righteous judge awards the crown on that day.
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Human evaluators or leaders called judges · occasional
The plural and singular forms can designate people described as judges outside a narrated courtroom procedure. Acts 13:20 says that judges were given until Samuel; Matthew 12:27 and Luke 11:19 call the hearers' sons their judges, and James 2:4 says that discriminatory treatment has made the readers judges of evil reasonings. James 4:11 contrasts being a doer of the law with setting oneself as its judge.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly presents the term as “judge,” including “righteous judge,” “unrighteous judge,” and “judge of all.” In Luke 12:14 it also has “judge or arbiter”; Its wording confirms the clauses' settings rather than supplying a separate lexical distinction.