⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak,^(A) praising God.

²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak^(A) until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

⁹ Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched^(A) my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.^(B)

²² Now the evening before the man arrived, the hand of the Lord was on me,^(A) and he opened my mouth^(B) before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer silent.^(C)

¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth;^(A) I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth^(B) and as if you were God to him.^(C)

³² There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk,^(A) and they begged Jesus to place his hand on^(B) him.

³³ After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit^(C) and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven^(D) and with a deep sigh^(E) said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.^(F)

³⁶ Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone.^(G) But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. ³⁷ People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

³³ And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”^(A)