Ephphatha 1

BE OPENED

Mark 7:31–35 AMP

31 Soon after this, Jesus, coming back from the region of Tyre, passed through Sidon on to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of Decapolis [the ten cities]. 32 And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had difficulty in speaking, and they begged Jesus to place His hand upon him. 33 And taking him aside from the crowd [privately], He thrust His fingers into the man’s ears and spat and touched his tongue; 34 And looking up to heaven, He sighed as He said, Ephphatha, which means, Be opened! 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak distinctly and as he should.

Isaiah 35:5–7 NKJV

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. 7 The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Ephphatha

Ephphatha. Transliteration in the imperative voice of the Aramaic expression “be opened,” used by Jesus in the healing of a deaf mute (Mk 7:34). No attempt at establishing a magical word formula was intended; the author apparently desired simply to preserve the actual wording. A connection with Isaiah 35:5 may have been implied.