Luke 1:20

1:20 And now, ¹  because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, ²  you will be silent, unable to speak, ³  until the day these things take place.”

Exodus 4:15-16

4:15 “So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth ⁴  and with his mouth, ⁵  and I will teach you both ⁶  what you must do. ⁷  4:16 He ⁸  will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if ⁹  he ¹⁰  were your mouth ¹¹  and as if you were his God. ¹² 

Psalms 51:15

51:15 O Lord, give me the words! ¹³ 

Then my mouth will praise you. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 1:9

1:9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me. ¹⁵ 

Ezekiel 3:27

3:27 But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue ¹⁶  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, ¹⁷  for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel 29:21

29:21 On that day I will make Israel powerful, ¹⁸  and I will give you the right to be heard ¹⁹  among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Ezekiel 33:22

33:22 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me ²⁰  the evening before the refugee reached me, but the Lord ²¹  opened my mouth by the time the refugee arrived ²²  in the morning; he opened my mouth and I was no longer unable to speak. ²³ 

Matthew 9:33

9:33 After the demon was cast out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!”

Mark 7:32-37

7:32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. 7:33 After Jesus ²⁴  took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s ²⁵  ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. ²⁶  7:34 Then ²⁷  he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). ²⁸  7:35 And immediately the man’s ²⁹  ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly. 7:36 Jesus ordered them not to tell anything. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more. ³⁰  7:37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

¹ tn Grk “behold.”

² sn The predicted fulfillment in the expression my words, which will be fulfilled in their time takes place in Luke 1:63-66.

³ sn Silent, unable to speak. Actually Zechariah was deaf and mute as 1:61-63 indicates, since others had to use gestures to communicate with him.

⁴ tn Or “I will help you speak.” The independent pronoun puts emphasis (“as for me”) on the subject (“I”).

⁵ tn Or “and will help him speak.”

⁶ tn The word “both” is supplied to convey that this object (“you”) and the subject of the next verb (“you must do”) are plural in the Hebrew text, referring to Moses and Aaron. In 4:16 “you” returns to being singular in reference to Moses.

⁷ tn The imperfect tense carries the obligatory nuance here as well. The relative pronoun with this verb forms a noun clause functioning as the direct object of “I will teach.”

⁷ tn The word “he” represents the Hebrew independent pronoun, which makes the subject emphatic.

⁸ tn The phrase “as if” is supplied for clarity.

⁹ tn Heb “and it will be [that] he, he will be to you for a mouth,” or more simply, “he will be your mouth.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he will be to you for a mouth.”

¹¹ tn The phrase “as if” is supplied for clarity. The word “you” represents the Hebrew independent pronoun, which makes the subject emphatic.

¹⁰ tn Heb “open my lips.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

¹¹ tn Heb “and my mouth will declare your praise.”

¹³ tn Heb “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.” This is an example of the Hebrew “scheduling” perfect or the “prophetic” perfect where a future event is viewed as so certain it is spoken of as past. The Hebrew particle rendered here “assuredly” (Heb הִנֵּה, hinneh) underlines the certitude of the promise for the future. See the translator’s note on v. 6.

¹⁶ tn Heb “open your mouth.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “the listener will listen, the refuser will refuse.” Because the word for listening can also mean obeying, the nuance may be that the obedient will listen, or that the one who listens will obey. Also, although the verbs are not jussive as pointed in the MT, some translate them with a volitive sense: “the one who listens – let that one listen, the one who refuses – let that one refuse.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel.” The horn is used as a figure for military power in the OT (Ps 92:10). A similar expression is made about the Davidic dynasty in Ps 132:17.

²⁰ tn Heb “I will grant you an open mouth.”

²² tn The other occurrences of the phrase “the hand of the Lord” in Ezekiel are in the context of prophetic visions.

²³ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁴ tn Heb “by the time of the arrival to me.” For clarity the translation specifies the refugee as the one who arrived.

²⁵ sn Ezekiel’s God-imposed muteness was lifted (see 3:26).

²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁶ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the deaf man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁷ sn After spitting, he touched his tongue. It was not uncommon in Judaism of the day to associate curative powers with a person’s saliva. The scene as a whole reflects Jesus’ willingness to get close to people and have physical contact with them where appropriate. See W. L. Lane, Mark (NICNT), 267 n. 78.

²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

²⁹ sn The author’s parenthetical note gives the meaning of the Aramaic word Ephphatha.

³¹ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the man who had been a deaf mute) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁴ tn Grk “but as much as he ordered them, these rather so much more proclaimed.” Greek tends to omit direct objects when they are clear from the context, but these usually need to be supplied for the modern English reader. Here what Jesus ordered has been clarified (“ordered them not to do this”), and the pronoun “it” has been supplied after “proclaimed.”