Proverbs 31:9
7 Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
8 Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.
10 A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he lacks nothing of value.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.
- KJV
- Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
- WEB
- Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.”
- ASV
- Open thy mouth, judge righteously, And minister justice to the poor and needy.
- DARBY
- Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and minister justice to the afflicted and needy.
- BLB
- Open your mouth, judge with righteousness, and plead the cause of the poor one and needy one.
- ÅB
- Åpne din munn, døm rettferdig og hjelp armingen og den fattige til hans rett!
- OTB
- Tal opp, døm rettferdig, og forsvar de fattiges og trengendes rett.
- B1930
- Oplat din munn, døm rettferdig og hjelp armingen og den fattige til hans rett!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
Read in contextAmos 5:11–12
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
Read in contextLeviticus 19:15
You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
Read in contextJob 29:15–16
I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 1:16
At that time I charged your judges: “Hear the disputes between your brothers, and judge fairly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.
Read in contextJeremiah 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. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
Read in contextProverbs 16:12
Wicked behavior is detestable to kings, for a throne is established through righteousness.
Read in contextDaniel 4:27
Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”
Read in context