Dumb

Dumbness (muteness) in Scripture occurs both as a natural condition from birth or illness and as a specific miraculous sign. Exodus 4:11 establishes God as the creator of the mute and the deaf alongside those who see—affirming divine sovereignty over human physical limitations. Proverbs 31:8 calls on those with voice to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves." The servant of the LORD is portrayed in Isaiah 53:7 as like a sheep before its shearers—"silent" (dumb) under suffering.

In the New Testament, Jesus healed numerous people who were mute: a demon-possessed man unable to speak (Matt. 9:32–33), a blind and mute man (Matt. 12:22; Luke 11:14). Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, was struck dumb by the angel Gabriel as a sign of his unbelief and could not speak until the naming of John (Luke 1:20–22, 64)—a dumbness that broke into both speech and praise at the moment of obedient naming. Jesus's own silence before Herod (Luke 23:9) is presented as a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:7.