Bible Strands
Proverbs 31:8
Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The mother in Proverbs 31 addresses her son, the king, as she concludes her instructional poem about royal conduct. She speaks at the moment of final exhortation, shifting from personal discipline to public justice.
The words — The imperative פְּתַח (pe.tach) commands to "open" the פִּי (pi), or "mouth," indicating direct verbal intervention. This speech is directed לְאִלֵּם (le'illem), literally "for the mute," to advocate for those described as בְּנֵי חֲלוֹף (bene chalof), "sons of passing away."
The thread — The demand to defend the voiceless and dispossessed echoes in Psalms 82:3, which commands defending the weak and fatherless, and Proverbs 24:11, which orders rescuing those led to death. Esther 4:13 similarly warns against assuming safety while others face destruction.
Why it lands — The text demands active verbal advocacy for those who cannot speak for themselves rather than passive sympathy. It requires the reader to intervene directly in legal or social disputes where the vulnerable are being dispossessed.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Cross-references
- Psalms 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
- Proverbs 24:11 Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.
- Esther 4:13 he 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.
- Job 29:12 because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
- Jeremiah 26:24 Nevertheless, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.
- Jeremiah 38:7 Now 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,
- Psalms 79:11 May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
- Jeremiah 26:16 Then 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?”
- 1 Samuel 19:4 Then 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.