Used also forensically in
Lu 22:30;
Ac 25:10; and applied to God in
Joh 5:22;
Heb 10:30. The judgments of God are the expression of His justice, the formal declarations of His judgments, whether embodied in words (
De 5:1 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "statutes"), or deeds (
Ex 6:6;
Re 16:7), or in decisions that are yet to be published (
Ps 36:6). Man's consciousness of guilt inevitably associates God's judgments as declarations of the Divine justice, with his own condemnation, i.e. he knows that a strict exercise of
justice means his condemnation, and thus "judgment" and "condemnation" become in his mind synonymous (
Ro 5:16); hence, the prayer of
Ps 143:2, "Enter not into judgment"; also,
Joh 6:29, "the resurrection of judgment" (the King James Version "damnation");
1Co 11:29, "eateth and drinketh judgment" (the King James Version "damnation").