noun · masculine
kritos
Strong’sG2923
a judge
stem krit-19 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 books5 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
κριτής means a judge — someone who decides legal cases or disputes, whether a human legal official, an umpire arbitrating a matter, or God and Christ as the one who judges and passes final sentence 1234. In the New Testament it covers ordinary judges in everyday disputes, a Roman provincial governor acting as judge, God as judge, Christ as judge, and even, by extension, people whose own conduct or judgment serves as the standard by which others are measured 1.
The word also carries the older Old Testament sense of a ruler or leader in Israel, as in the period of the "judges" who governed the people 1.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
κριτής, -οῦ, ὁ
(< κρίνω), [in LXX chiefly for שֹׁפַט;]
SYN.: δικάστης, q.v.
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2923 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidkree-tace'
a judge (genitive case or specially)
Fromfrom G2919;
King Jamesjudge.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
vocative Refs 6th c.BC+: (κρίνω):—judge, umpire, Refs 5th c.BC+; κ. τῶν ἀληθῶν, opposed to δοξαστής, Refs 5th c.BC+; at Athens, usually of the judges in the poetic contests, LXX+5th c.BC+ Latin judex datus, Refs 2nd c.AD+ judex selectus, Refs 2nd c.AD+
2 κ. ἐνυπνίων interpreter of dreams, Refs 4th c.BC+
II κριτάς· ὀδόντας, Refs 5th c.AD+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | kritos10×κριτὴς | kritois3×κριταὶ |
| object accusative | kriton3×κριτὴν | kritoin1×κριτὰς |
| direct address vocative | kritor | kritoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | kritou | kritoiu |
| to, for dative | krito2×κριτῇ | kritoi |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
krito is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
19 occurrences, every one of them listed
kritos“judge”subjectnominative singular10×
Matthew 5:25… tos antidikos to krito, kai tos kritos to hupēreto, kai eis fulakan balisi;… may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you …
Luke 12:58… sin pros ton kriton, kai tos kritos sin paradōati to praktoro, kai tos …… off to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the …
Luke 18:2legarōntos; Kritos tinos ate en tina pola ton …… a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected …
Luke 18:6… de tos kurios; Akouavar tinem tos kritos tau adikiau legatō;… to the words of the unjust judge.
Acts 10:42… atō tos horizorēntos hupo tou theou kritos zōarōntoiu kai nekroiu.… the One appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.
Acts 18:15… nomou tou kata vin, horevi autois; kritos mis houteiu ouk boulomō arō.… yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”
2 Timothy 4:8… en ekeina ta hēmera, tos dikaios kritos, ouk monem de mi alla kai …… righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that …
James 4:11… krinasō, ouk asō poiētos nomou alla kritos.… practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.
James 4:12henos atō nomothetos kai kritos, tos dunorōntos sōzara kai apolara; sis …There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to …
James 5:9… allēloiu, hina mē kriniveia; idou tos kritos pro taiu thuraiu stēatē.… will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!
kriton“judge”objectaccusative singular3×
Luke 12:14… legata auto; Anthrōpor, tinos min katastēata kriton ē meriston epi vin?… Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed Me judge or executor between you?”
Luke 12:58… autou, mēpote katasurateiō sin pros ton kriton, kai tos kritos sin paradōati to …… may drag you off to the judge, and the judge may hand you …
Acts 24:10… legarō; Ek polleiu eteiu arōnton sin kriton te ethne houte epistorōntos euthumōs teim …… Knowing that you have been a judge over this nation for many years …
krito“judge”to, fordative singular2×
Matthew 5:25… mēpote sin paradōateia tos antidikos to krito, kai tos kritos to hupēreto, kai …… over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the …
Hebrews 12:23… ekklēsa prōtotokoiu apograforēntoiu en ouranoi, kai krito theo pantoiu, kai pneumei dikaioiu teleiorēntoiu,… You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of …
kritois“judges”subjectnominative plural3×
Matthew 12:27… en tino ekbalalō? dia houtem autois kritois eli vu.… So then, they will be your judges.
Luke 11:19… tino ekbalalō? dia houtem autois vu kritois eli.… So then, they will be your judges.
James 2:4ouk diakriniva en heautoi kai geneva kritois dialogismoiu ponēroiu?… not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
kritoin“judges”objectaccusative plural1×
Acts 13:20… kai pentēkonta. kai meta houteim dōata kritoin heōs Samouēl tou profētou.… years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the …