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).