Isaiah 29:18

29:18 At that time ¹  the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,

and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. ² 

Isaiah 43:8

The Lord Declares His Sovereignty

43:8 Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes,

those who are deaf, even though they have ears!

Exodus 4:11

4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave ³  a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ⁴ 

Proverbs 20:12

20:12 The ear that hears and the eye that sees ⁵  –

the Lord has made them both. ⁶ 

Mark 7:34-37

7:34 Then ⁷  he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). ⁸  7:35 And immediately the man’s ⁹  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. ¹⁰  7:37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Luke 7:22

7:22 So ¹¹  he answered them, ¹²  “Go tell ¹³  John what you have seen and heard: ¹⁴  The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the ¹⁵  deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them.

Revelation 3:17-18

3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, ¹⁶  and need nothing,” but ¹⁷  do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, ¹⁸  poor, blind, and naked, 3:18 take my advice ¹⁹  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ²⁰  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ²¹  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ²²  to put on your eyes so you can see!

[29:18]  ¹ tn Or “In that day” (KJV).

[29:18]  ² tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”

[4:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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).

[20:12]  ⁵ sn The first half of the verse refers to two basic senses that the Lord has given to people. C. H. Toy, however, thinks that they represent all the faculties (Proverbs [ICC], 388). But in the book of Proverbs seeing and hearing come to the fore. By usage “hearing” also means obeying (15:31; 25:12), and “seeing” also means perceiving and understanding (Isa 6:9-10).

[20:12]  ⁶ sn The verse not only credits God with making these faculties of hearing and sight and giving them to people, but it also emphasizes their spiritual use in God’s service.

[7:34]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:34]  ⁸ sn The author’s parenthetical note gives the meaning of the Aramaic word Ephphatha.

[7:35]  ⁹ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the man who had been a deaf mute) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:36]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[7:22]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the relationship to Jesus’ miraculous cures in the preceding sentence.

[7:22]  ¹² tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation to “he answered them.”

[7:22]  ¹³ sn The same verb has been translated “inform” in 7:18.

[7:22]  ¹⁴ sn What you have seen and heard. The following activities all paraphrase various OT descriptions of the time of promised salvation: Isa 35:5-6; 26:19; 29:18-19; 61:1. Jesus is answering not by acknowledging a title, but by pointing to the nature of his works, thus indicating the nature of the time.

[7:22]  ¹⁵ 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.

[3:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (ploutew, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.

[3:17]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:17]  ¹⁸ tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

[3:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

[3:18]  ²² sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).