What Does Luke 11:14 Mean in the King James?

And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.

Luke 11:14 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Speech is revealed when the obstruction leaves; the voice does not have to be added.

THE MEANING

The verse shows a silenced capacity becoming audible when the demon departs. The voice appears with the obstruction gone, and the people witness the change.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Silence does not prove that no voice is there; it can mean that expression is obstructed.

THE ROOT

κωφός

kōphos

GROWS FROM

κωφ

kōph

Dull or blunted; used of deafness and muteness.

English “dumb” narrows the word to speech, while ⁨κωφός⁩ (kōphos) also carries the sense “deaf.” One Greek word holds together what English separates: blocked expression and blocked hearing.

ALSO GROWS

kōphos: Deaf; unable to hear.

κωφός

This sense shows that the word’s reach extends beyond speech, joining silence with impaired hearing.

kōphoō: To make deaf, mute, or dull.

κωφόω

The related verb carries the same idea of dulling or closing off a capacity, giving the muteness here a wider root-level context.

ἐκβάλλω

ekballō

GROWS FROM

βαλλ

ball

To throw or cast.

“casting out” in this verse is ekballō. The verb names an outward movement: something is cast out, and speech follows. The sequence makes release the turning point at which the silenced capacity becomes audible.

ALSO GROWS

ballō: To throw or cast.

βάλλω

This is the core action within ⁨ἐκβάλλω⁩, the casting that makes the outward movement explicit.

ekbolē: A casting out or ejection.

ἐκβολή

This noun makes the same throwing-out action a thing in itself, echoing the demon’s departure before speech returns.

THE PATTERN

When an obstruction is removed, a capacity that seemed absent becomes visible in expression.

O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

Psalm 51:15 · KJVThe opening of the lips makes the voice’s expression possible.

Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

Isaiah 35:6 · KJVThe tongue that was silent sings as the scene turns toward renewed movement and flowing waters.

And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

Mark 7:35 · KJVOpened ears and a loosened tongue show capacities returning as what held them closed is released.

THE THREAD

Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

Matthew 12:22 · KJV

Matthew’s “dumb” uses the same Greek word, ⁨κωφός⁩ (kōphos), as Luke’s. Its wider sense includes deafness, so the shared word gathers muted expression and impaired hearing into one image of capacity restored.

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