Exodus 4:11-12

4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave ¹  a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ²  4:12 So now go, and I will be with your mouth ³  and will teach you ⁴  what you must say.” ⁵ 

Exodus 4:15

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 ⁶  and with his mouth, ⁷  and I will teach you both ⁸  what you must do. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 1:7-9

1:7 The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ But go ¹⁰  to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 1:8 Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, ¹¹  for I will be with you to protect ¹²  you,” says the Lord. 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. ¹³ 

Matthew 10:19-20

10:19 Whenever ¹⁴  they hand you over for trial, do not worry about how to speak or what to say, ¹⁵  for what you should say will be given to you at that time. ¹⁶  10:20 For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Luke 12:11-12

12:11 But when they bring you before the synagogues, ¹⁷  the ¹⁸  rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you should make your defense ¹⁹  or what you should say, 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment ²⁰  what you must say.” ²¹ 

Luke 21:14-15

21:14 Therefore be resolved ²²  not to rehearse ²³  ahead of time how to make your defense. 21:15 For I will give you the words ²⁴  along with the wisdom ²⁵  that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

[4:11]  ¹ tn The verb שִׂים (sim) means “to place, put, set”; the sentence here more precisely says, “Who put a mouth into a man?”

[4:11]  ² sn The final question obviously demands a positive answer. But the clause is worded in such a way as to return to the theme of “I AM.” Isaiah 45:5-7 developed this same idea of God’s control over life. Moses protests that he is not an eloquent speaker, and the Lord replies with reminders about himself and promises, “I will be with your mouth,” an assertion that repeats the verb he used four times in 3:12 and 14 and in promises to Isaac and Jacob (Gen 26:3; 31:3).

[4:12]  ³ sn The promise of divine presence always indicates intervention (for blessing or cursing). Here it means that God would be working through the organs of speech to help Moses speak. See Deut 18:18; Jer 1:9.

[4:12]  ⁴ sn The verb is וְהוֹרֵיתִיךָ (vÿhoretikha), the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive. The form carries the instructional meaning because it follows the imperative “go.” In fact, there is a sequence at work here: “go…and/that I may teach you.” It is from יָרָה (yara), the same root behind תּוֹרָה (torah, “law”). This always referred to teaching either wisdom or revelation. Here Yahweh promises to teach Moses what to say.

[4:12]  ⁵ tn The form is the imperfect tense. While it could be taken as a future (“what you will say”), an obligatory imperfect captures the significance better (“what you must say” or “what you are to say”). Not even the content of the message will be left up to Moses.

[4:15]  ⁶ tn Or “I will help you speak.” The independent pronoun puts emphasis (“as for me”) on the subject (“I”).

[4:15]  ⁷ tn Or “and will help him speak.”

[4:15]  ⁸ 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.

[4:15]  ⁹ 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.”

[1:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “For you must go and say.” The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is likely adversative here after a negative statement (cf. BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.e). The Lord is probably not giving a rationale for the denial of Jeremiah’s objection but redirecting his focus, i.e., “do not say…but go…and say.”

[1:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “be afraid of them.” The antecedent is the “whomever” in v. 7.

[1:8]  ¹² tn Heb “rescue.”

[1:9]  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.

[10:19]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:19]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “how or what you might speak.”

[10:19]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “in that hour.”

[12:11]  ¹⁷ sn The saying looks at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to the rulers and the authorities suggests.

[12:11]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[12:11]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “about how or what you should say in your defense,” but this is redundant with the following clause, “or what you should say.”

[12:12]  ²⁰ tn Grk “in that very hour” (an idiom).

[12:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “what it is necessary to say.”

[21:14]  ²² tn Grk “determine in your hearts.”

[21:14]  ²³ tn This term could refer to rehearsing a speech or a dance. On its syntax, see BDF §392.2.

[21:15]  ²⁴ tn Grk “a mouth.” It is a metonymy and refers to the reply the Lord will give to them.

[21:15]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and wisdom.”