▼ The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (v^eshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.

▼ Heb “gates.”

▼ Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

▼ Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”

▼ Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”

▼ Heb “justice, justice.” The repetition is emphatic; one might translate as “pure justice” or “unadulterated justice” (cf. NLT “true justice”).