for from my youth, I raised him as [his] father, and since the day I was born I guided the widow--

Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she didn't have a father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.

A father of the fatherless and a champion of widows is God in His holy dwelling.

Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.

Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

They judged the people at all times; the hard cases they would bring to Moses, but every minor case they would judge themselves.

you are to inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened among you,

"If a case is too difficult for you-- concerning bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults-- cases disputed at your gates, you must go up to the place the LORD your God chooses.

You must abide by the verdict they give you at the place the LORD chooses. Be careful to do exactly as they instruct you.

Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there.

She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him at her breast, and she put her dead son in my arms.

"No," the other woman said. "My son is the living one; your son is the dead one." The first woman said, "No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one." So they argued before the king.

The king continued, "Bring me a sword." So they brought the sword to the king.

The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. "My lord, give her the living baby," she said, "but please don't have him killed!" But the other one said, "He will not be mine or yours. Cut [him in two]!"

All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God's wisdom was in him to carry out justice.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to investigate a matter.

The righteous person knows the rights of the poor, but the wicked one does not understand these concerns.