Proverbs 31:9
in Proverbs 31Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, And minister justice to the poor and needy.
KJV
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
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This verse in Proverbs 31
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Open your mouth for those with no voice
on Proverbs 31:8-9
"Open your mouth for those with no voice" turns the charge from private caution to public duty. The command repeats, making advocacy for the powerless the substance of righteous judgment. A king sober enough to judge and willing to speak for the voiceless is the portrait his mother builds.
This site's exposition
Open your mouth, judge righteously
The command to open the mouth comes twice, first for the voiceless and now for the poor and needy. Judging righteously and pleading their cause are one act here. A king's justice is measured by his advocacy for the powerless.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Open your mouth, judge justly, etc. Just as in the previous verse he commanded to open the mouth for the cause and liberation of the poor, so in this one he admonishes to justly chastise and judge the poor themselves when they err. As Moses …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Open thy mouth, judge righteously,.... Having heard the cause, pronounce a righteous sentence; deliver it freely and impartially, with all readiness and boldness, not caring for the censures of wicked and unjust men; and plead the cause of the poor and needy; who are oppressed by the rich, cannot plead for themselves, nor fee others to plead for them; do thou do it freely and faithfully.
(2.) He must, in all matters that come before him, judge righteously, and, without fear of the face of man, boldly pass sentence according to equity: Open thy mouth, which denotes the liberty of speech that princes and judges ought to use in passing sentence. Some observe that only wise men open their mouths, for fools have their mouths always open, are full of words.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The proper use of such drinks is to restore tone to feeble bodies and depressed minds (compare Ps 104:15). Open . . . cause--Plead for those who cannot plead for themselves, as the orphan, stranger, &c. (compare Ps 72:12; Isa 1:17). appointed to destruction--who are otherwise ruined by their oppressors (compare Pr 29:14, 16).
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פְּתַח־ | petach- | open | H6605 → | 144 times |
| פִּ֥יךָ | pikha | mouth your | H6310 → | 498 times |
| שְׁפָט־ | shefot- | judge | H8199 → | 202 times |
| צֶ֑דֶק | tzedek | righteousness | H6664 → | 119 times |
| וְ֝דִ֗ין | vedin | and plead [the] cause of | H1777 → | |
| עָנִ֥י | ʾani | [the] poor | H6041 → | 73 times |
| וְאֶבְיֽוֹן׃ פ | veevyon | and [the] needy | H34 → | 61 times |
פְּתַח־open
petach-H6605 →144 times
פִּ֥יךָmouth your
pikhaH6310 →498 times
שְׁפָט־judge
shefot-H8199 →202 times
צֶ֑דֶקrighteousness
tzedekH6664 →119 times
וְ֝דִ֗יןand plead [the] cause of
vedinH1777 →
עָנִ֥י[the] poor
ʾaniH6041 →73 times
וְאֶבְיֽוֹן׃ פand [the] needy
veevyonH34 →61 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 1:17Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
it leads to
- Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Jeremiah 22:3
This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.…
- Psalms 82:3–4
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
- Isaiah 1:23
Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.
- Zechariah 7:9–10
“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.
- Micah 6:8
Through
Leviticus 19:15You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
it leads to
- Exodus 23:2–3
You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 1:17
Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I…
- Proverbs 24:23
These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- Exodus 23:2–3
Where this verse is studied
About Proverbs
This page draws on Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.