Mark 7:31-37

Healing a Deaf Mute

7:31 Then ¹  Jesus ²  went out again from the region of Tyre ³  and came through Sidon ⁴  to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis. ⁵  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 ⁶  took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s ⁷  ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. ⁸  7:34 Then ⁹  he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). ¹⁰  7:35 And immediately the man’s ¹¹  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. ¹²  7:37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

[7:31]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:31]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:31]  ³ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[7:31]  ⁴ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[7:31]  ⁵ sn The Decapolis refers to a league of towns (originally consisting of ten; the Greek name literally means “ten towns”) whose region (except for Scythopolis) lay across the Jordan River.

[7:33]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

[7:33]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:34]  ¹⁰ sn The author’s parenthetical note gives the meaning of the Aramaic word Ephphatha.

[7:35]  ¹¹ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the man who had been a deaf mute) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:36]  ¹² 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.”