Ephphatha

EPHPHATHA (ĕf'a-tha, Gr. Ephphatha from Aram. ’etpătah, passive imperative of the verb petah, be opened). A word occuring only in Mark.7.34. It was uttered by Jesus as he was healing a deaf man.

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EPHPHATHA ĕf’ ə thə (ἐφφαθά, G2395, be opened; Aram. passive imperative, ethpaal stem of פתח, to open, transliterated into Gr.). The word was spoken by Jesus to a deaf man and he was made to hear (Mark 7:34). This is one of the rare occasions that a Biblical author saw fit to quote from the Aram. the exact words which Jesus used, and the word is immediately tr. (διανοίχθητι). This may imply a connection with the words of Isaiah, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped” (Isa 35:5). The word “unstopped” trs. a form of the root פתח, which is the Heb. equivalent to the root of the Aram. word that Jesus used. A repetition of Christ’s actions, the Ephpheta ceremony, is included in the ritual of baptism of infants by the Roman Catholic Church (NCE, p. 462).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

ef’-a-tha, ef-a’-tha (Ephphatha):

Aramaic word used by Christ (Mr 7:34), the ’ethpa`al imperative of Aramaic pethach (Hebrew pathach), translated, "Be (thou) opened"; compare Isa 35:5. The Aramaic was the sole popular language of Palestine (Shurer, History of the Jewish People in the Time of [[Jesus Christ]], IIg, 9) and its use shows that we have here the graphic report of an eyewitness, upon whom the dialectic form employed made a deep impression. This and the corresponding act of the touch with the moistened finger is the foundation of a corresponding ceremony in the Roman Catholic formula for baptism.