Topic
Dumb
28 passages cited, from 2 classic reference works.
These works date from 1897–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Matthew 9:32Easton · ISBE
¶ As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
- Matthew 12:22Easton · ISBE
¶ Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.
- Luke 11:14Easton · ISBE
¶ And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.
- Exodus 4:11Easton
And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
- Leviticus 10:3Easton
Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
- Psalms 38:13ISBE
But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
- Psalms 39:1–13ISBE
I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I…
- Psalms 39:2–9ISBE
I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I…
- Psalms 39:9Easton
I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
- Proverbs 31:8Easton
Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
- Isaiah 53:7ISBE
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
- Isaiah 56:10ISBE
His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Show 16 more
- Ezekiel 3:26 ISBE
- Ezekiel 24:27 ISBE
- Ezekiel 33:22 ISBE
- Daniel 10:15 ISBE
- Habakkuk 2:18 ISBE
- Habakkuk 2:19 ISBE
- Matthew 9:33 Easton
- Matthew 15:30 ISBE
- Matthew 22:12 ISBE
- Mark 7:32 ISBE
- Mark 7:37 ISBE
- Mark 9:17 ISBE
- Luke 1:22 ISBE
- Acts 8:32 ISBE
- Acts 9:7 ISBE
- 1 Corinthians 12:2 ISBE
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 8 references
From natural infirmity (Ex. 4:11); not knowing what to say (Prov. 31:8); unwillingness to speak (Ps. 39:9; Lev. 10:3). Christ repeatedly restored the dumb (Matt. 9:32, 33; Luke 11:14; Matt. 12:22) to the use of speech.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 23 references
dum (alam, 'illem, literally, "tied in the tongue"; kophos): Used either as expressing the physical condition of speechlessness, generally associated with deafness, or figuratively as meaning the silence produced by the weight of God's judgments (Ps 39:2-9; Da 10:15) or the oppression of external calamity (Ps 38:13). As an adjective it is used to characterize inefficient teachers destitute of spirituality ("dumb dogs," Isa 56:10). The speechlessness of Saul's companions (Ac 9:7) was due to fright; that of the man without the wedding garment was because he had no excuse to give (Mt 22:12). Idols are called mute, because helpless and voiceless (Hab 2:18,19; 1Co 12:2). The dumbness of the sheep before the shearer is a token of submission (Isa 53:7; Ac 8:32).
Temporary dumbness was inflicted as a sign upon Ezekiel (3:26; 24:27; 33:22) and as a punishment for unbelief upon Zacharias (Lu 1:22). There are several cases recorded of our Lord's healing the dumb (Mt 15:30; Mr 7:37; Lu 11:14, etc.). Dumbness is often associated with imbecility and was therefore regarded as due to demoniac possession (Mt 9:32; 12:22). The evangelists therefore describe the healing of these as effected by the casting out of demons.
This is especially noted in the case of the epileptic boy (Mr 9:17). The deaf man with the impediment in his speech (Mr 7:32) is said to have been cured by loosening the string of his tongue. This does not necessarily mean that he was tongue- tied, which is a condition causing lisping, not stammering; he was probably one of those deaf persons who produce babbling, incoherent and meaningless sounds. I saw in the asylum in Jerusalem a child born blind and deaf, who though dumb, produced inarticulate noises.
In an old 14th-century psalter "dumb" is used as a verb in Ps 39: "I doumbed and meked and was ful stille."
Alexander Macalister
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.