פְּתַח פִּ֥יךָ שְׁפָט צֶ֑דֶק וְ֝דִ֗ין עָנִ֥י וְאֶבְיֽוֹן
Open your mouth, judge righteously, And serve justice to the poor and needy."
World English Bible · Public Domain
Proverbs 31:9
Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Proverbs 31:9 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
English Translation
Open your mouth, judge righteously, And serve justice to the poor and needy."
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Compare translations 3
The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.
Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.
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World English Bible Public Domain
Open your mouth, judge righteously, And serve justice to the poor and needy."
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King James Version Public Domain
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Open your mouth, judge righteousness, and plead the legal case of the afflicted one and poor one.
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Show all 18 translations
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
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World English Bible Public Domain
Open your mouth, judge righteously, And serve justice to the poor and needy."
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Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.
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Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.
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King James Version Public Domain
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
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American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, And minister justice to the poor and needy.
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Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and minister judgment to the poor and needy.
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Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
Open thy mouth: iudge righteously, and iudge the afflicted, and the poore.
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Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
Open thy mouth, decree that which is just, and do justice to the needy and poor.
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Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, Both the cause of the poor and needy!'
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Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
Open your mouth, judge righteously, || Both the cause of the poor and needy!”
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Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
Speak out and judge by the measure of what is right and plead the cause of poor and needy people.
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Open your mouth, judge righteousness, and plead the legal case of the afflicted one and poor one.
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Darby Bible Public Domain
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and minister justice to the afflicted and needy.
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World Messianic Bible Public Domain
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.”
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Webster's Bible Public Domain
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
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Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the poor and destitute.
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Bible in Basic English Public Domain
Let your mouth be open, judging rightly, and give right decisions in the cause of the poor and those in need.
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JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
Word by word
More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →
Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →
וְ֝דִ֗ין
dîyn
H1777
“and · judge”
Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
- Appears 24× in the Hebrew Bible
- First appears at Genesis 6:3
- Part of Speech
- Conjunction + Verb
- Stem
- Qal
- Form
- Imperative
- Person
- 2nd Person
- Gender
- Masculine
- Number
- Singular
Full BDB Definition
to judge, contend, plead
- (Qal)
- to act as judge, minister judgment
- to plead a cause
- to execute judgment, requite, vindicate
- to govern
- to contend, strive
- (Niphal) to be at strife, quarrel
- פְּתַח pâthach H6605 “open” Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
- פִּ֥יךָ peh H6310 “mouth · your” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
- שְׁפָט shâphaṭ H8199 “judge” Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
- צֶ֑דֶק tsedeq H6664 “righteousness” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- וְ֝דִ֗ין dîyn H1777 “and · judge” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
- עָנִ֥י ʻânîy H6041 “poor” Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- וְאֶבְיֽוֹן ʼebyôwn H34 “and · needy” Conjunction + Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
About this verse
These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
- 7
- words
- 7
- distinct lemmas
- Wisdom
- section
Notable vocabulary
The rarest word here is וְ֝דִ֗ין to judge H1777 — appearing just 24 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.
Shared distinctive vocabulary
וְ֝דִ֗ין to judge H1777 occurs in 24 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:
Grammatical profile
- 3 verbs
- 2 nouns
- 2 adjectives
Verb forms
- פְּתַח Qal · Imperative
- שְׁפָט Qal · Imperative
- וְ֝דִ֗ין Qal · Imperative
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 15 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
In the original languages it is 7 Hebrew tokens and 11 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.
Cross-references
24Topical passages linked to Proverbs 31:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
- Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well. Seek justice, Relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, Plead for the widow."
- Leviticus 19:15 "'You shall do no injustice in judgment: you shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
- Amos 5:11–12 Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, And take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of hewn stone, But you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, But you shall not drink their wine.
- Deuteronomy 1:16 I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear [the causes] between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him.
- Job 29:15–16 I was eyes to the blind, And feet to the lame.
- Jeremiah 22:3 Thus says Yahweh: Execute you justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.
- Proverbs 16:12 It is an abomination for kings to do wrong, For the throne is established by righteousness.
- Isaiah 1:23 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don't judge the fatherless, Neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
- Jeremiah 5:28 They are grew fat, they shine: yes, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of the needy they don't judge.
- Daniel 4:27 Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if there may be a lengthening of your tranquillity.
- Deuteronomy 16:18–20 Judges and officers shall you make you in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
- Job 29:12 Because I delivered the poor who cried, And the fatherless also, who had none to help him.
- Psalms 72:1–2 God, give the king your justice; Your righteousness to the royal son.
- Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
- 2 Samuel 8:15 David reigned over all Israel; and David executed justice and righteousness to all his people.
- Proverbs 20:8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment Scatters away all evil with his eyes.
- Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he kill the wicked.
- Jeremiah 22:15–16 Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him.
- Zechariah 7:9 "Thus has Yahweh of Hosts spoken, saying, 'Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.
- Revelation 19:11 I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war.
- Psalms 58:1–2 Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
- Isaiah 32:1–2 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.
- John 7:24 Don't judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
- Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows."
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
ἀναοἴγω σός στόμα καί κρίνω δικαίως διακρίνω δέ πένης καί ἀσθενής
Open your mouth and judge justly, and plead the cause of the poor and weak.
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
Lesson kit
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
Proverbs, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 7 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is dîyn (“to judge”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Discussion questions
- How does “to judge” (dîyn) shape what this verse is saying?
- Genesis 6:3 shares the word «to judge» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
- The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
- The verb «פְּתַח» is Qal Imperative. How does its form color the action?
- Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?
Things to notice
- This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 11 Greek words.
- These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
- 7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.
Commentary
Notes on Proverbs 31:9 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Trapp's Complete Commentary
John Trapp
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.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne
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.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Daniel D. Whedon
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.