Free Speech

Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.

Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.

Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.

For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.

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.

Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”

And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing. …

Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. …