But I, as a deaf man, heard not - I was as if I had been deaf, and did not hear them or know what they were about. I took no notice of what they did anymore than if I had not heard them. That is, he did not reply to them; he did not become angry; he was as calm and patient as if they had said nothing.
And I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth - As if I were a man that could not speak. I was perfectly silent under all this persecution. Compare 2 Samuel 16:10. How eminently true was this of the Saviour! Isa 53:7; 1 Peter 2:23; Matthew 26:63; Matthew 27:12, Matthew 27:14.