Proverbs 31:8

to hear the groans of the prisoner; to free those who are condemned to death;

Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.

He who answers before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,

A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.

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?”

His ways are prosperous at all times. He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.

But the governor said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they cried out exceedingly, saying, “Let him be crucified!”

You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”

and you are told, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel,

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?

for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

“Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”

For Yahweh hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people.

In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience, but he who restrains his lips does wisely.

“If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have thought evil, put your hand over your mouth.

Yahweh, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.

to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.

they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home. So he lived among the people.

Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’

He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has this man done? I have found no capital crime in him. I will therefore chastise him and release him.”

I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to give up any man to destruction before the accused has met the accusers face to face and has had opportunity to make his defense concerning the matter laid against him.

Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

“ ‘Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain based on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify alone against any person so that he dies.

At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

He said to them, “Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness.” They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle.

They said to him, “Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us. Be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?”

and Saul threw the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” David escaped from his presence twice.

If he says, ‘It is well,’ your servant shall have peace; but if he is angry, then know that evil is determined by him.

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die!”

This thing isn’t good that you have done. As Yahweh lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, Yahweh’s anointed. Now see where the king’s spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.”

Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.”

Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hands of the workmen who have the oversight of Yahweh’s house.”

As for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair Yahweh his God’s house.

The king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,

The children of the captivity did so. Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers’ households, after their fathers’ houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

“If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?

His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,

“Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

Your righteousness also, God, reaches to the heavens; you have done great things. God, who is like you?

Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry.

A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this:

The path of life leads upward for the wise, to keep him from going downward to Sheol.

Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court;

Don’t befriend a hot-tempered man, and don’t associate with one who harbors anger:

Evil men don’t understand justice; but those who seek Yahweh understand it fully.

Her husband is respected in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.

Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media’s sighing.

who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.

The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?

When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to Yahweh’s house; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house.

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.

by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). It said:

Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the book in Yahweh’s house, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house, in the ears of all the people.

Now while he had not yet gone back, “Go back then,” he said, “to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right to you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him food and a present, and let him go.

To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,

Seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel stood before them. In the middle of them Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan stood, every man with his censer in his hand; and the smell of the cloud of incense went up.

They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

“Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened.

Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to judge me according to the law, and command me to be struck contrary to the law?”

When a great argument arose, the commanding officer, fearing that Paul would be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.

For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to also specify the charges against him.”

Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.

But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stopped them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should throw themselves overboard first to go toward the land;

quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.

The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth.

Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”

The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.

Wisdom is too high for a fool. He doesn’t open his mouth in the gate.

I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.