New Revised Standard Version
I was a father to the needy, and I championed the cause of the stranger.

Contemporary English Version
I was a father to the needy, and I defended them in court, even if they were strangers.

New American Bible
I was a father to the poor; the complaint of the stranger I pursued,

Douay-Rheims Bible
I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.

I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.

a father

Job 31:18 (For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother's womb:)

Esther 2:7 And he had brought up his brother's daughter Edissa, who by another name was called Esther: now she had lost both her parents: and was exceeding fair and beautiful. And her father and mother being dead, Mardochai adopted her for his daughter.

Psalm 68:5 Who is the father of orphans, and the judge of widows. God in his holy place:

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children:

James 1:27 Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.

the cause

Exodus 18:26 And they judged the people at all times: and whatsoever was of greater difficulty they referred to him, and they judged the easier cases only.

Deuteronomy 13:14 Inquire carefully and diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed,

Deuteronomy 17:8-10 If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall choose. . . .

1 Kings 3:16-28 Then there came two women that were harlots, to the king, and stood before him. . . .

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal the word, and the glory of kings to search out the speech.

Proverbs 29:7 The just taketh notice of the cause of the poor: the wicked is void of knowledge.