Dumb

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

A — 1: Ἄλαλος (Strong'S #216 — Adjective — alalos — al'-al-os )

lit., "speechless" (a, negative, and laleo, "to speak"), is found in  Mark 7:37;  9:17,25 . In the Sept.,  Psalm 38:13 .

A — 2: Ἄφωνος (Strong'S #880 — Adjective — aphonos — af'-o-nos )

lit., "voiceless, or soundless" (a, negative, and phone, "a sound"), has reference to voice,  Acts 8:32;  1—Corinthians 12:2;  2—Peter 2:16 , while alalos has reference to words. In  1—Corinthians 14:10 it is used metaphorically of the significance of voices or sounds, "without signification." In the Sept.   Isaiah 53:7 .

A — 3: Κωφός (Strong'S #2974 — Adjective — kophos — ko-fos' )

denotes "blunted or dulled;" see Deaf.

B — 1: Σιωπάω (Strong'S #4623 — Verb — siopao — see-o-pah'-o )

from siope, "silence, to be silent," is used of Zacharias' "dumbness,"  Luke 1:20 . See Peace (hold one's).

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Isaiah 35:6 (a) Israel has no song while they are scattered over the world, and are subject to the rule of other nations. Individuals have no song while they are oppressed with sin, and are servants of Satan. Then, when the Lord gives deliverance and salvation, the song begins in the heart, and the soul rejoices afresh.

 Isaiah 53:7 (a) The Lord Jesus standing before His accusers would not reply to their accusations, for He was taking our place, He was our substitute. We were so very guilty that our substitute made no answer to His accusers. (See  Acts 8:32).

 Isaiah 56:10 (a) False leaders of GOD's people are described as dogs. They had no message for GOD's people; they were false prophets; they were wicked leaders; and they failed either to warn Israel, or to encourage, or to help them back to GOD.

 Ezekiel 3:26 (a) The Spirit of GOD for bade the prophet to speak to the people. The silence of the prophet was due to the commandment of GOD, the Spirit, and not to any failure of his own. (See also  Ezekiel 24:17-18, where GOD released his tongue; see also  Ezekiel 33:22). Paul had a similar experience. (See  Acts 16:7).

King James Dictionary

DUMB, a. Dum.

1. Mute silent not speaking.

I was dumb with silence I held my peace.  Psalms 34 .

2. Destitute of the power of speech unable to utter articulate sounds as the dumb brutes. The asylum at Hartford in Connecticut was the first institution in America for teaching the deaf and dumb to read and write. 3. Mute not using or accompanied with speech as a dumb show dumb signs.

To strike dumb, is to confound to astonish to render silent by astonishment or it may be, to deprive of the power of speech.

DUMB, To silence.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( a.) Not willing to speak; mute; silent; not speaking; not accompanied by words; as, dumb show.

(2): ( a.) Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color.

(3): ( a.) Destitute of the power of speech; unable; to utter articulate sounds; as, the dumb brutes.

(4): ( v. t.) To put to silence.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Exodus 4:11 Proverbs 31:8 Psalm 39:9 Leviticus 10:3 Matthew 9:32,33 Luke 11:14 Matthew 12:22

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

DUMB. —See Deaf and Dumb.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dum ( אלם , ālam , אלּם , 'illēm , literally, "tied in the tongue"; κωφός , kōphós ): 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 (  Psalm 39:2-9;  Daniel 10:15 ) or the oppression of external calamity ( Psalm 38:13 ). As an adjective it is used to characterize inefficient teachers destitute of spirituality ("dumb dogs,"  Isaiah 56:10 ). The speechlessness of Saul's companions ( Acts 9:7 ) was due to fright; that of the man without the wedding garment was because he had no excuse to give ( Matthew 22:12 ). Idols are called mute, because helpless and voiceless ( Habakkuk 2:18 ,  Habakkuk 2:19;  1 Corinthians 12:2 ). The dumbness of the sheep before the shearer is a token of submission ( Isaiah 53:7;  Acts 8:32 ).

Temporary dumbness was inflicted as a sign upon Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 3:26;  Ezekiel 24:27;  Ezekiel 33:22 ) and as a punishment for unbelief upon Zacharias ( Luke 1:22 ). There are several cases recorded of our Lord's healing the dumb ( Matthew 15:30;  Mark 7:37;  Luke 11:14 , etc.). Dumbness is often associated with imbecility and was therefore regarded as due to demoniac possession ( Matthew 9:32;  Matthew 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 ( Mark 9:17 ). The deaf man with the impediment in his speech ( Mark 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  Psalm 39:1-13 : "I doumbed and meked and was ful stille."

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( אַלֵּם , Illem ; but in  Habakkuk 2:9, דּוּמָם , Silent ; Gr. Κωφός , which also signifies deaf, since the two defects generally accompany each other; also Ἄλαλος , speechless,  Mark 7:37;  Mark 9:17;  Mark 9:25; Ἄφωνος , voiceless,  Acts 8:32;  1 Corinthians 12:2;  2 Peter 2:16; and Σιωπῶν ,  Luke 1:20), has the following significations:

(1.) One unable to speak by reason of natural infirmity ( Exodus 4:11).

(2.) One unable to speak by reason of want of knowing what to say, or how to say it; what proper mode of address to use, or what reasons to allege in his own behalf ( Proverbs 31:8).

(3.) One unwilling to speak ( Psalms 39:9). We have a remarkable instance of this venerating dumbness, or silence, in the case of Aaron ( Leviticus 10:3), after Nadab and Abihu, his sons, were consumed by fire. "Aaron held his peace;" did not exclaim against the justice of God, I but saw the propriety of the divine procedure, and humbly acquiesced in it. Christ restored a man who was dumb from daemoniacal influence ( Matthew 9:32-33;  Luke 11:14), and another who was both blind and dumb from the same cause ( Matthew 12:22). The man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech ( Mark 7:32-35), whom Christ restored, was not dumb, nor probably deaf by nature, but was one who had a natural impediment to enunciation, or who, having early lost his hearing, gradually lost much of his speech, and had become a stammerer. Such an impediment is either natural, arising from what is called a bos, or ulcer, by which any one is, as we say, tongue-tied, or brought on when, from an early loss of hearing, the membrane of the tongue becomes rigid and unable to perform its office. (See Deaf); (See Silence).