Jesus Heals Many People^(A)

²⁹ After leaving there, Jesus went along ·the shore of Lake Galilee [^Tthe Sea of Galilee]. He went up on ·a hill [or the mountain] and sat there.

³⁰ Great crowds came to Jesus, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, ·those who could not speak [the mute/deaf; ^Cthe word can refer to speech or hearing; v. 31 suggests it here means “mute”], and many others. They ·put [laid] them at Jesus’ feet, and he healed them. ³¹ The crowd was ·amazed [astonished; marveled] when they saw that ·people who could not speak before [the mute/deaf] were now able to speak. The crippled were ·made strong [well; whole]. The lame could walk, and the blind could see. And they ·praised [glorified] the God of Israel for this.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man^(A)

³¹ Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon to Lake Galilee [^Tthe Sea of Galilee], to the area of ·the Ten Towns [or Decapolis; ^Can area east of Lake Galilee that once had ten main towns; 5:20]. ³² While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and ·could not talk plainly [had a speech impediment]. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.

³³ Jesus led the man away from the crowd, by himself. He put his fingers in the man’s ears and then spit and touched the man’s tongue. [^CThe use of saliva is mentioned in other ancient accounts of healing, and elsewhere in the Gospels; see 8:23; John 9:6.] ³⁴ Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means [^Cin Aramaic], “Be opened.”) ³⁵ Instantly the man was able to hear and to use his tongue so that he spoke clearly.

³⁶ Jesus ·commanded [ordered; instructed] the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he ·commanded [ordered; instructed] them, the more they ·told about [proclaimed] it. ³⁷ They were completely amazed and said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And ·those who can’t talk [the mute] he makes able to speak.”