Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate.
Parallel Translations
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Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate.
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Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
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Open thy mouth for the dumb, in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Proverbs 31:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 82:3-4 “Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”
- Proverbs 24:11-12 Rescue those who are being led away to death! Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter! If you say, “Behold, we didn’t know this,” doesn’t he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, doesn’t he know it? Shall he not render to every man according to his work?
- Esther 4:13-16 Then Mordecai asked them to return this answer to Esther: “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther asked them to answer Mordecai, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
- Job 29:12-17 Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him who I didn’t know. I broke the jaws of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
- Jeremiah 26:24 But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they didn’t give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
- Jeremiah 38:7-10 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Benjamin’s gate), Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, saying, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon. He is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.” Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.”
- Psalms 79:11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.
- Jeremiah 26:16-19 Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: “This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God.” Then certain of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, “Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “ ‘Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.’ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Yahweh, and entreat the favor of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? We would commit great evil against our own souls that way!”
- John 7:51 “Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”
- 1 Samuel 19:4-7 Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you; for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?” Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.” Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.
- 1 Samuel 20:32 Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
- 1 Samuel 22:14-15 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, “Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, captain of your body guard, and honored in your house? Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me! Don’t let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less or more.”
- Proverbs 24:7 Wisdom is too high for a fool. He doesn’t open his mouth in the gate.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Defend their cause that are not able to help…
Defend their cause that are not able to help themselves.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 31:8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in…
Pro 31:8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Ver. 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb,] i.e., Speak wisely and freely for those that either cannot or may not speak for themselves. Thus Nicodemus spoke for our Saviour; {Joh 7:21} Paphnutius in the council for the married clergy; Pliny to Trajan for the persecuted Christians; the Elector of Saxony for Luther, &c. Oecolampadius saith {a} that wise men only open their mouths, for a fool’s mouth is never but open. Hence, κεχηνοτες, gapers, are put for fools in Lucian and Aristophanes.
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{a} Oecolamp. in Job xxxiii.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Open thy mouth, speak freely and impartially, as becomes…
Open thy mouth, speak freely and impartially, as becomes a king and judge to do, for the dumb; for such as cannot speak in their own cause, either through ignorance and infirmity, or because of the dread of their more potent adversaries, or of the majesty of the king sitting in judgment.
Such as are appointed to destruction; who without such succour from the judge are like to be utterly ruined, whom therefore both justice and charity oblige thee to preserve.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Open thy mouth for the dumb,.... Not who are…
Open thy mouth for the dumb,.... Not who are naturally so, but who cannot speak in their own behalf, either through want of elocution, or knowledge of the laws; or who are bashful, timorous, and fearful, being overawed by the majesty of a court of judicature, or by their prosecutors; or who, as they have not a tongue, so not a purse, to speak for them, the fatherless and the widow; which latter has her name, in the Hebrew language, from dumbness. Here Lemuel's mother advises him to open his mouth freely, readily, boldly, and intrepidly, and plead for such persons. Even
in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction; whose destruction is resolved on by their accusers and prosecutors; and who are in danger of it, being charged with capital crimes; unless some persons of wisdom, power, and authority, interpose on their behalf. It may be rendered, "in the cause of all the children of change", or "passing away" (s); the children of the world, which passeth away with all things in it, as Kimchi; or orphans, whose help passeth away, as Jarchi; or rather strangers, as others, who pass from place to place and whose state and condition is liable to many changes who may be ignorant of the laws of the country where they are, and may stand in need of persons to plead for them.
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(s) "filiormn transitus", Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis; "transeuntis, sub. seculi", Vatablus, so Ben Melech; "filiorum mutationis loci", Piscator; "filii mutationis, h. e. hujus mundi", Baynus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The dumb - For such as cannot speak in…
The dumb - For such as cannot speak in their own cause, either through ignorance, or because of the dread of their more potent adversaries. Destruction - Who, without such succor from the Judges, are like to be utterly ruined.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb] For…
Verse 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb] For such accused persons as have no counsellors, and cannot plead for themselves.
Are appointed to destruction.] בני חלוף beney chaloph, variously translated, children of passage - indigent travellers; children of desolation - those who have no possessions, or orphans. I believe it either signifies those who are strangers, and are travelling from place to place, or those who are ready to perish in consequence of want or oppression.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 31:8. Open thy mouth — Speak freely and…
Pro 31:8. Open thy mouth — Speak freely and impartially, as becomes a king and a judge to do: for the dumb — For such as cannot speak in their own cause, either through ignorance, or because of the dread of their more potent adversaries. In the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction — Who, without such succour from the judges, are likely to be utterly ruined.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain In contrast with the two besetting sins of Eastern…
In contrast with the two besetting sins of Eastern monarchs stands their one great duty, to give help to those who had no other helper.
Such as are appointed to destruction - literally, “children of bereavement,” with the sense, either, as in the text, of those “destined to be bereaved of life or goods,” or of “bereaved or fatherless children.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain Very soundly does the wise mother inculcate mercy upon…
Very soundly does the wise mother inculcate mercy upon her royal son. This is one of the pillars of the king’s throne. (Pro 20:28 .) He must be the Father of his people, employing all his authority to protect those, who cannot protect themselves. (Psa 72:12-14 .) No case of distress, when coming to his knowledge, should be below his attention. Thus our law makes the judge the counsel for the prisoner, who is unable to plead for himself — opening his mouth for the dumb. Thus should magistrates more carefully consider, that no one should lose his just right from want of ability to defend it.†1 Those who are, or appear to be, appointed to destruction, should have their fair and open course to plead, and save their lives.†2
This it was, that made the difference between the prosperity of godly Josiah and the ruin of his wicked son. (Jer 22:15-19 .) How repeatedly did Jonathan open his mouth for his friend appointed for destruction!†3 How effectively did Esther plead the cause of her helpless and devoted people! (Est 7:3-4 .) To descend into lower ranks (for why should we restrict these wise injunctions within the narrow limits of royalty?) what a complete pattern of this mercy does Job exhibit! "Eyes as he was to the blind, and feet to the lame," doubtless he perfected his character as "a father to the poor, by being a mouth to the dumb." (Job 29:15-16 .) How was Ebedmelech honoured for this merciful advocacy of the condemned!†4 How awful is the threatened vengeance for the neglect of this mercy!†5 Alas! Jesus, though he had found an advocate in earlier times, yet stood as a sheep before his shearers —- dumb, appointed for destruction. None was found to open his mouth for the divine afflicted victim.†6 And yet how does he reverse this picture of pitiless neglect, in his powerful effectual pleading in the cause of those, whom the voice of justice so loudly, so justly appoints for destruction! Let his representatives on earth study the character of their king in heaven, and be conformed more fully to his image of forgiveness and love.
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Footnotes:
†1 Deu 16:18-20. Psa 82:3-4 .
†2 Contrast 1Ki 21:9-13, with Joh 7:51 .
†3 1Sa 19:4-7 ; 1Sa 20:32 ; 1Sa 22:14-15 .
†4 Jer 38:8-9; Jer 39:15-18 .
†5 Pro 24:11-12. Jer 5:28-29 .
†6 Isa 53:7. Mat 26:59, Mat 26:63 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Pass through life, or the country. (Calmet) --- Septuagint,…
Pass through life, or the country. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Open thy mouth and judge righteously. Render justice to the poor and weak." (Haydock) --- Doctrine is best received by those who are more ready to hear than to speak. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Open . . . cause--Plead for those who cannot…
Open . . . cause--Plead for those who cannot plead for themselves, as the orphan, stranger, &c. (compare Psa 72:12; Isa 1:17).
appointed to destruction--who are otherwise ruined by their oppressors (compare Pro 29:14, Pro 29:16).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. For the dumb — Not merely those deprived…
8. For the dumb — Not merely those deprived of speech, but also those who are unable from any cause to plead their own cause; defend the defenceless.
Such as are appointed to destruction — Sons of those passed away; that is, for every orphan. Be the patron of all the bereaved and helpless. “Favour the cause or right of all orphan children.” — Zockler and Conant.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. for the dumb] for all who cannot plead…
8. for the dumb] for all who cannot plead their own cause.
such as are appointed to destruction] Lit. the sons of passing away. We may understand this either of those who are in danger of ruin by being condemned to loss of life or goods; or of those who are left desolate (R.V. text), and have no one to plead their cause. Comp. “the fatherless children and widows, and all that are desolate and oppressed.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) Open thy mouth for the dumb.—Who cannot from…
(8) Open thy mouth for the dumb.—Who cannot from timidity or ignorance plead his own cause, and who would therefore be crushed by his antagonist.
Such as are appointed to destruction.—Certain to perish if left unaided. Comp. Job’s account of his exertions for victims of high-handed oppression, an ever recurring evil under weak despotic governments (Job_29:12, sqq.).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 8, 9. The third exhortation, admonishing the king…
Vers. 8, 9. The third exhortation, admonishing the king to judge righteously.
Open thy mouth for the dumb. The "dumb" is any one who for any reason whatever is unable to plead his own cause; he may be of tender age, or of lowly station, or ignorant, timid, and boorish; and the prince is enjoined to plead for him and defend him. (comp. Job_29:15) In the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction; literally, the sons of passing away; (Isa_2:18) i.e. not orphans, children whose parents have vanished from the earth, nor strangers from a foreign country, nor, generally, mortals, subjects of frail human nature (all of which explanations have been given), but persons who are in imminent danger of perishing, certain, if left unaided, to come to ruin.Septuagint, (comp. Job_29:12) "Open thy mouth for the Word of God, and judge all men soundly (ugiwv ).
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Vers. 8, 9. The function and the privilege of power.
God gives to some men place and power; they may inherit it, or they may win their way to it by the force of their talent or their merit. When they have reached it, what should be the use they make of it? We may look first at
I WHAT HAS BEEN ITS HABIT. Only too often the actual use that has been made of high station and of civil or military lower is that of
(1) indulgence; or
(2) appropriation; or
(3) oppression.
Men have used their elevation only to drink the sweet cup of pleasure; or to secure to themselves the spoils of high office, the treasures which law within their grasp; or to find a mean and despicable gratification in the enforcement of their own dignity and the humiliation of those beneath them. This is "human," if by human we understand that which is natural to man as sin has dwarfed and spoilt his nature, perverting his powers and degrading his delights. But of man as God meant him to be, and as a Divine Redeemer is renewing him, all this is utterly unworthy, let us see
II WHAT IS ITS TRUE FUNCTION. It is that of righteousness. A man is placed on high in order that he may "judge righteously." Whether he be the king, as in David"s and Solomon"s time; or whether he be the magistrate, as in our own time; or whether he be the teacher, or the manufacturer, or the farmer, or the master or father in the home; whatever be the kind or measure of authority enjoyed, the function of power is to judge righteously; it is to do justice; it is to see that innocency is acquitted and guilt condemned; it is to take pains and exercise patience in order that worth may be rewarded and that sin may be shamed; it is to be a tower of refuge to those who are conscious of rectitude, and to be a source of fear to those who know that they have been "doing evil;" it is to be a strength to the righteous and a terror to the guilty.
III WHAT IT SHOULD COUNT ITS PECULIAR PRIVILEGE; IT IS TO BEFRIEND THE FRIENDLESS. There are those who are too weak to be of much service to their neighbours; there are those who are too selfish to cherish the ambition; but the strong man who is the good man, the man in power who has in him the spirit of his Master, will rejoice in his power mainly because it enables him to help those who would otherwise go on and go down without a helper;
(1) those suffering from physical privation the blind, the deaf, the dumb;
(2) those lacking mental qualifications the weak minded, the timid, the reserved;
(3) those too poor to purchase the aid that is sometimes essential to justice and right;
(4) those over whom some great disaster, which is at the same time a cruel wrong, impends to destruction." To lift up those who have been wrongfully laid low, to befriend the unfortunate and the desolate, to stand by the side of those who cannot assert their own claims, to be eyes to the blind and a voice to the dumb, to "make the widow"s heart to sing for joy," to place the destitute in the path which leads up to competency and honor, to act in the spirit and to promote the cause of beneficence is the true privilege, as it is the brightest crown and the deepest joy, of power. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause…
Pro_31:8
Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
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The sin of cruelty to the brute creation
There is no necessary reference in this verse to the inferior animals. We use it merely for our accommodation. That there is such cruelty requires neither proof nor argument. What persuasions should urge to guard against this cruelty in every form?
1. The affecting consideration that the lower animals have not the power of expressing and complaining of their wrongs.
2. Their subserviency to the comfort and happiness of man.
3. They are the objects of Gods peculiar and providential care.
4. Cruelty to animals is utterly inconsistent with the spirit and law of Christianity. (David Runciman, M.A.)
Jobs example
Job was an excellent pattern to all princes. He was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, and a father to the poor, and no doubt he was a mouth also to the dumb. Such a prince the mother of Lemuel wishes her son to be. She exhorts him to do justice and judgment to all his people, but to regard with peculiar tenderness those unfortunate men that were in danger of losing their estates and lives by reason of accusations brought against them. If they were unable, through ignorance, or awkwardness, or fear, to plead their own cause, she would have him to be their advocate, and to plead everything that truth and equity would allow on their behalf. But charity to the poor, and clemency to the accused, must not interfere with the due administration of justice. It is the business of princes, in the administration of justice, to see that the poor do not suffer. (George Lawson, D.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Speak for those who cannot speak
Speak for those who cannot speak
Speaking is a metonym for using words to defend innocent people. AT: "Defend those who cannot defend themselves" (See: Idiom)
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for the causes of all who are perishing
The cause represents the person whose cause it is. AT: "so that people will treat all who are perishing justly" (See: Metonymy)
for the causes
The ellipsis can be filled in. AT: "speak for the causes" or "speak out for" (See: Ellipsis)
poor and needy people
These two words have basically the same meaning and are used together for emphasis. AT: "people who are poor and cannot get the things that they need" (See: Doublet)
translationWords
perish
judge
plea
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 31:8-9 Rather than opening his mouth to drink wine…
31:8-9 Rather than opening his mouth to drink wine (31:4-7), the king should speak up on behalf of the defenseless.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.