Bible Strands
Proverbs 31:9
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The verse concludes a direct exhortation to a ruler or leader, immediately following a command to speak for the voiceless (v.8) and preceding a description of a wife of noble character (v.10). It functions as a specific directive within the wisdom instructions for just governance.
The words — פִּיךָ (Pi./kha) and שְׁפָט (she.fot) carry the core action, translating literally to "your mouth" and "judge." The verb פֶּתַח (pe.tach) commands the speaker to "open" it, while דִּין (Din) denotes pleading or defending a legal cause.
The thread — The command to defend the poor and judge without partiality runs directly into Isaiah 1:17 and Leviticus 19:15, which echo the same judicial mandate. Amos 5:11 provides the negative counterpart, warning against the oppression of the poor that this verse forbids.
Why it lands — The text demands active verbal intervention and impartial legal judgment on behalf of the economically vulnerable. It requires the reader to translate advocacy into concrete, unbiased rulings that protect the poor and needy from exploitation.
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, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
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.”
- Leviticus 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.
- Amos 5:11 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.
- Deuteronomy 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.
- Job 29:15 I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame.
- 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. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
- Proverbs 16:12 Wicked behavior is detestable for kings, for a throne is established through righteousness.
- 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.
- Jeremiah 5:28 They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.
- Daniel 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.”