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32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. 33 After Jesus[a] took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s[b] ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue.[c] 34 Then[d] he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”).[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 7:33 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  2. Mark 7:33 tn Grk “his”; the referent (the deaf man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  3. Mark 7:33 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.
  4. Mark 7:34 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
  5. Mark 7:34 sn The author’s parenthetical note gives the meaning of the Aramaic word Ephphatha.