Isaiah uses the word “Judgment” 36 times and “Judgments” twice for a total of 38 uses. In Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary there are four different Hebrew words that have all been translated into “Judgment or Judgments.” They are 4941 [Mishpât] used 35 times, 1779 [Diyn/Duwn] = “JUSTICE” used once, 6415 [PeLIYLAH] = “JUSTICE used once and 6417 [PeLILIYAH] = “JUDICATURE” used once.
4941 [Mishpât] from “8199 = a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) especially a just sentence or formal decree of either human or divine law.”
When taking a class in Hebrew from Rabi Jacobovich at the University of Washington Institute of Religion, I asked him to elaborate on the Hebrew word, “Mishpât” as found in Isaiah. His first reaction was to point out that the word “judgment” has a negative connotation in the Western mind, but not in the Mideastern mindset. He explained that there are positive and/or negative judgments we make every day. He used the following example; a man is driving down the freeway and sees an elderly woman trying to change a flat tire. He has to make a “judgment.” He determines to stop and help the elderly woman change the tire. His judgment was just, it was “qâdôsh” or holy, a right thing to do that would please God. I said that we use the word “charity” to define a divinely pure love based in pure intent. He responded that Isaiah’s use of “mishpât” in verse 21 of Chaper One conveyed that same positive judgment of a just and holy choice based in a divinely pure love. From that point on I found it helpful to substitute the word “charity” for judgment throughout Isaiah.
Most scholars prefer the English word “Justice”[1] as the best translation of “mishpât.” This leads to the next question, which is, what is the best translation in English for the Hebrew word “Justice” [tsâdaq]? In Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary “Justice” as found in Isaiah represents numbers 6662, 6663, 6664, 6665 and 6666. All of these five words derive from the prime root “tsâdaq.” It means to “make right.” Most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are familiar with this Hebrew word, “Malkîy-Tsedeq” or Melek-Zadok or Melchizedek. The Bible Dictionary produced by the Church defines Melchizedek as “King of Righteous,”[2] not King of Justice. The Hebrew concept of [tsâdaq] means to be or to make right in a moral sense. It is not passive but requires that a person “turn to righteous (-ness.)”[3] In other words Just and Justice require “righteous” and holy actions. The English word for Justice is defined as “just behavior or treatment, synonyms: fairness, justness, fair play, fair-mindedness, equity, evenhandedness, impartiality, objectivity, neutrality, disinterestedness, honesty, righteousness, morals, morality.”[4] Among the English synonyms is found the word “righteousness.” Charity encompasses a divine motive of love and righteousness in one’s behavior which captures the true meaning of Isaiah’s use of the term “mishpât” or “Judgment.”
21 ¶ How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of (Charity) judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers…23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they (have not charity for) judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Most students and scholars may still prefer the English words “Judgment or Justice” in understanding “mishpât” in Isaiah, but they do so at the risk of ignoring the positive alternative of divine righteous motive as found in the word charity.
[1] Oxford Bible, NIV, Dummelow’s One Volume Bible Commentary, Amplified Bible, New American Standard
[2] Bible Dictionary p. 730.
[3] Strong’s Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of the Bible, p. 98
[4] https://www.google.com/search?ei=9hTWW4urHemPjwS0nqSQBw&q=justice+defined