“It Shall Be Given You . . . What Ye Shall Speak”
Matthew 10:17–20
17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Elder James E. Talmage wrote:
“. . . [T]he Apostles . . . were told to expect persecution, not only at the hands of irresponsible individuals, but at the instance of the officials such as they who were at that moment intent on taking the life of the Lord Himself, and who would scourge them in the synagogues, deliver them up to hostile tribunals, cite them before rulers and kings, and even put some of them to death—all because of their testimony of the Christ. As they had been promised before, so again were they assured, that when they would stand before councils, magistrates, or kings, the words they should speak would be given them in the hour of their trial, and therefore they were told to take no premeditative thought as to what they should say or how they should meet the issues confronting them; ‘for,’ said the Master, ‘it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost’ [Mark 13:11; compare Matthew 10:19–20; Luke 12:11–12; 21:14–15].”
(Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 570.)
