Matthew 15:30-31

15:30 Then ¹  large crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others. They ²  laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 15:31 As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.

Exodus 4:11-12

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  4:12 So now go, and I will be with your mouth ⁵  and will teach you ⁶  what you must say.” ⁷ 

Isaiah 35:6

35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow ⁸  in the desert,

streams in the wilderness. ⁹ 

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 ¹⁰  took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s ¹¹  ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. ¹²  7:34 Then ¹³  he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). ¹⁴  7:35 And immediately the man’s ¹⁵  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. ¹⁶  7:37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Luke 11:14

Jesus and Beelzebul

11:14 Now ¹⁷  he was casting out a demon that was mute. ¹⁸  When ¹⁹  the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute began to speak, ²⁰  and the crowds were amazed.

[15:30]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then.”

[15:30]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[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).

[4:12]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.

[35:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”

[35:6]  ⁹ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”

[7:33]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:33]  ¹¹ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the deaf man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:33]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:34]  ¹⁴ sn The author’s parenthetical note gives the meaning of the Aramaic word Ephphatha.

[7:35]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the man who had been a deaf mute) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:36]  ¹⁶ 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.”

[11:14]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[11:14]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “a demon that was mute” should probably be understood to mean that the demon caused muteness or speechlessness in its victim, although it is sometimes taken to refer to the demon’s own inability to speak (cf. TEV, “a demon that could not talk”).

[11:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here δέ (de) has not been translated either.

[11:14]  ²⁰ sn This miracle is different from others in Luke. The miracle is told entirely in one verse and with minimum detail, while the response covers several verses. The emphasis is on explaining what Jesus’ work means.