Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate.
- KJV Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
- NKJV Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
- NASB Open your mouth for the people who cannot speak, For the rights of all the unfortunate.
- NLT Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and for all the defenseless.
Overview
The mother charges her royal son to use his position and voice to advocate for the voiceless and destitute. Power is given not for self-indulgence but for the protection of the weak. This call echoes God's heart for the vulnerable and is perfectly fulfilled in Christ, who pleads our cause and defends the helpless.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 82:3–4Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
- Prov 24:11–12Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.
- Jer 38:7–10Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,
- Jer 26:24Nevertheless, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.
- Job 29:12–17because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
- Esth 4:13–16he sent back to her this reply: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews.
- Jer 26:16–19Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!”
- John 7:51“Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”
- Ps 79:11May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
- 1 Sam 19:4–7Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.
- 1 Sam 20:32“Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”
- 1 Sam 22:14–15Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s son-in-law, the captain of your bodyguard who is honored in your house?
- Prov 24:7Wisdom is too high for a fool; he does not open his mouth in the meeting place.
- Job 29:9The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 31:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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