Proverbs 31:8

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Open thy mouth for the dumb, In the cause of all such as are left desolate.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

פְּתַח־פִּ֥יךָ לְאִלֵּ֑ם אֶל־דִּ֝֗ין כָּל־בְּנֵ֥י חֲלֽוֹף

Transliteration

pĕtaḥ-pîkā lĕʾillēm ʾel-dîn kol-bĕnê ḥălôp

Grammar Details

• *pĕtaḥ*: verb, Qal imperative masculine singular - open
• *pîkā*: noun, masculine singular with 2nd masculine singular suffix - your mouth
• *lĕʾillēm*: preposition *lə* + adjective masculine singular - for the mute/speechless
• *ʾel*: preposition - for/to/concerning
• *dîn*: noun, masculine singular construct - judgment/cause of
• *kol*: noun, masculine singular construct - all of
• *bĕnê*: noun, masculine plural construct - sons of
• *ḥălôp*: noun, masculine singular - passing away/changing/destruction

Word Meanings

• *pĕtaḥ*: open/speak up
• *ʾillēm*: mute/speechless/one who cannot speak
• *dîn*: judgment/legal claim/cause/rights
• *bĕnê* *ḥălôp*: sons of passing/children of death/those appointed to die/the defenseless

Referenced Verses

• Ps 82:3-4 : 3 Judge the poor and fatherless: Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. 4 Rescue the poor and needy: Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
• 1 Sam 22:14-15 : 14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who among all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into thy council, and is honorable in thy house? 15 Have I to-day begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute anything unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for thy servant knoweth nothing of all this, less or more.
• Prov 24:11-12 : 11 Deliver them that are carried away unto death, And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back. 12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not this; Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his work?
• Jer 26:16-19 : 16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy of death; for he hath spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God. 17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18 Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. 19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? did he not fear Jehovah, and entreat the favor of Jehovah, and Jehovah repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus should we commit great evil against our own souls.
• Jer 26:24 : 24 But 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.
• Jer 38:7-9 : 7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin,) 8 Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king, saying, 9 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; and he is like to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city. 10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
• John 7:51 : 51 Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth?
• Esth 4:13-16 : 13 Then Mordecai bade them return answer unto Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish: and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 15 Then Esther bade them return answer unto Mordecai, 16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast in like manner; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
• Job 29:9 : 9 The princes refrained from talking, And laid their hand on their mouth;
• Job 29:12-17 : 12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, The fatherless also, that had none to help him. 13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: My justice was as a robe and a diadem. 15 I was eyes to the blind, And feet was I to the lame. 16 I was a father to the needy: And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out. 17 And I brake the jaws of the unrighteous, And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
• Ps 79:11 : 11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee: According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to death;
• Prov 24:7 : 7 Wisdom is too high for a fool: He openeth not his mouth in the gate.
• 1 Sam 19:4-7 : 4 And 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: 5 for he put his life in his hand, and smote the Philistine, and Jehovah wrought a great victory for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice; wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause? 6 And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As Jehovah liveth, he shall not be put to death. 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as beforetime.
• 1 Sam 20:32 : 32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore should he be put to death? what hath he done?