📖 Biblical Definition
"Opening the mouth" is Scripture’s simple, frequent way of marking speech as worth marking — the verb foregrounded to signal that what follows is weighty. God opens His mouth to teach: "And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying" (Matthew 5:2) — the opening of the Sermon on the Mount. The Psalmist begs the LORD to open his lips: "O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise" (Psalm 51:15). The saint is to open his mouth wide for God to fill it: "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it" (Psalm 81:10). To open the mouth is the body’s preparation to speak deliberately. Christian men should open the mouth more often — for blessing, instruction, and witness.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Composite.) The deliberate beginning of speech, prayer, or testimony; the parting of the lips for utterance.
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Webster: open — “to unclose; to set or make accessible.”
The Hebrew idiom patach peh (open the mouth) frames speeches in Job (3:1; 33:2), Psalms (49:3; 78:2), and the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:2). To open the mouth announces that this speech matters.
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 51:15 — "O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise."
Psalm 81:10 — "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."
Matthew 5:2 — "And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying."
Ephesians 6:19 — "And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christians speak constantly and pray quietly; Scripture asks God to open the lips before they presume to speak.
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Psalm 51:15 is one of the great prayer-openers: O Lord, open thou my lips. The saint does not assume his own ability to speak rightly — he asks God to crack the seal.
Pair this with Psalm 81:10 (open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it) and prayer becomes a different motion: ask Him to open the mouth, then open it wide, then expect Him to fill it. The household that prays this way prays differently.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew pairs two verbs for the act and the organ.
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H6605 — פָּתַח (patach) — to open; the verb behind opening mouth, ear, hand.
H6310 — פֶּה (peh) — mouth; the speech-organ, also command (by the mouth of).
Usage
"Open thou my lips — before I speak, You speak."
"Open thy mouth wide; expect Him to fill it."
"Christ opened His mouth and taught: do not assume the gesture is incidental."