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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Dumb (Deafness, Mute)
Thompson Chain Reference
• Dumb Healed, the
Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Dumb
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Dumbness
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Dumbness
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Dumb
• Deaf and Dumb
King James Dictionary
• Dumb
Vines' Expository Dictionary
• Dumb
Wilson's Bible Types
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Webster Dictionary
• Dumbness
• Dumb-Waiter
• Dumb-Bell
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Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Deaf and Dumb
• Dumb Waiter
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Dumb
• Dumbness
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Dumb Ox
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Education of the Deaf and Dumb
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Deaf and Dumb in Jewish Law
• Dumb
Lexicons
• ܚܪܶܫ
• ܚܰܪܫܳܐ
• ἄλαλος
• ἄφωνος , ἄμορφος
• κωφός
•   (only first 3 shown)
• אָלַם , אָלַם
• אִלֵּם
• דוּמָּם

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."