Bible Strands
Luke 1:64
Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak, praising God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Zechariah speaks to God and the assembled community immediately after writing "His name is John" on a tablet. This occurs at the precise moment his enforced silence ends following his initial unbelief.
The words — παραχρῆμα (parachrēma) translates literally to "immediately," and Ἀνεῴχθη (Aneōchthē) means "was opened." These terms describe the sudden physical restoration that enables Zechariah to praise God.
The thread — The motif of divine mouth-opening appears in Luke 1:20, where silence was enforced for disbelief, and in Jeremiah 1:9, where God touches the prophet’s mouth to place His words within it. Exodus 4:15 similarly records God promising to teach what to speak.
Why it lands — The text states that physical speech follows divine restoration, not human initiative. It requires the reader to acknowledge that obedience and praise emerge only when God removes the barrier of unbelief.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
Cross-references
- Luke 1:20 And now you will be silent and unable to speak until the day this comes to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”
- Exodus 4:15 You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.
- Jeremiah 1:9 Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
- Ezekiel 33:22 Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.
- Psalms 51:15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
- Daniel 4:34 But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
- Mark 7:32 Some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and hardly able to speak, and they begged Jesus to place His hand on him.
- Psalms 30:7 O LORD, You favored me; You made my mountain stand strong. When You hid Your face, I was dismayed.
- Psalms 118:18 The LORD disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.
- Ezekiel 3:27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.