Isaiah 48:8

48:8 You did not hear,

you do not know,

you were not told beforehand. ¹ 

For I know that you are very deceitful; ² 

you were labeled ³  a rebel from birth.

Exodus 4:11

4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave ⁴  a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ⁵ 

Job 33:16

33:16 Then he gives a revelation ⁶  to people,

and terrifies them with warnings, ⁷ 

Proverbs 20:12

20:12 The ear that hears and the eye that sees ⁸  –

the Lord has made them both. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 6:10

6:10 I answered, ¹⁰ 

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them? ¹¹ 

Their ears are so closed ¹² 

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, ¹³  what the Lord says is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all. ¹⁴ 

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 ¹⁵  took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s ¹⁶  ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. ¹⁷  7:34 Then ¹⁸  he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). ¹⁹  7:35 And immediately the man’s ²⁰  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. ²¹  7:37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Mark 9:25-26

9:25 Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked ²²  the unclean spirit, ²³  saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 9:26 It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out. The boy ²⁴  looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He is dead!”

Luke 7:20-23

7:20 When ²⁵  the men came to Jesus, ²⁶  they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ²⁷  ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” ²⁸  7:21 At that very time ²⁹  Jesus ³⁰  cured many people of diseases, sicknesses, ³¹  and evil spirits, and granted ³²  sight to many who were blind. 7:22 So ³³  he answered them, ³⁴  “Go tell ³⁵  John what you have seen and heard: ³⁶  The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the ³⁷  deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them. 7:23 Blessed is anyone ³⁸  who takes no offense at me.”

[48:8]  ¹ tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”

[48:8]  ² tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[48:8]  ³ tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[4:11]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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).

[33:16]  ⁶ tn The idiom is “he uncovers the ear of men.” This expression means “inform” in Ruth 4:4; 1 Sam 20:2, etc. But when God is the subject it means “make a revelation” (see 1 Sam 9:15; 2 Sam 7:27).

[33:16]  ⁷ tc Heb “and seals their bonds.” The form of the present translation, “and terrifies them with warnings,” is derived only by emending the text. Aquila, the Vulgate, Syriac, and Targum Job have “their correction” for “their bond,” which is what the KJV used. But the LXX, Aquila, and the Syriac have “terrifies” for the verb. This involves a change in pointing from יָחְתֹּם (yakhtom) to יְחִתֵּם (yÿkhittem). The LXX has “appearances of fear” instead of “bonds.” The point of the verse seems to be that by terrifying dreams God makes people aware of their ways.

[20:12]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[6:10]  ¹⁰ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”

[6:10]  ¹² tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”

[6:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”

[7:33]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:33]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the deaf man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:33]  ¹⁷ 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.

[7:34]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:34]  ¹⁹ sn The author’s parenthetical note gives the meaning of the Aramaic word Ephphatha.

[7:35]  ²⁰ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the man who had been a deaf mute) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:36]  ²¹ 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.”

[9:25]  ²² tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[9:25]  ²³ sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.

[9:26]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the boy) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[7:20]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[7:20]  ²⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:20]  ²⁷ tn Grk “to you, saying,” but since this takes the form of a question, it is preferable to use the phrase “to ask” in English.

[7:20]  ²⁸ tn This question is repeated word for word from v. 19.

[7:21]  ²⁹ tn Grk “In that hour.”

[7:21]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:21]  ³¹ tn Grk “and sicknesses,” 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.

[7:21]  ³² tn Or “and bestowed (sight) on.”

[7:22]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the relationship to Jesus’ miraculous cures in the preceding sentence.

[7:22]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ sn The same verb has been translated “inform” in 7:18.

[7:22]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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.

[7:23]  ³⁸ tn Grk “whoever.”