Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Parallel translations
- WEB Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate.
- BSB Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.
- 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 poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
- Prov 24:11–12If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
- Jer 38:7–10Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
- Jer 26:24Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
- Job 29:12–17Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
- Esth 4:13–16Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.
- Jer 26:16–19Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
- John 7:51Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
- Ps 79:11Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
- 1 Sam 19:4–7And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:
- 1 Sam 20:32And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done?
- 1 Sam 22:14–15Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king’s son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house?
- Prov 24:7Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.
- Job 29:9The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
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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