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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 34:20

"Not one of them is broken"

"He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken." The verse is stable across the versions, with one difference: the Hebrew says "his bones" (the righteous man's); the Greek and Latin say "their bones" and "the Lord keeps." John 19:36 says Jesus' legs were not broken to fulfil "A bone of him shall not be broken."

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

    The psalm as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

  2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

    Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Custodit Dominus omnia ossa eorum: unum ex his non conteretur.

    Latin numbering: Psalm 33:21. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    שֹׁמֵ֥ר כָּל־עַצְמוֹתָ֑יו אַחַ֥ת מֵ֝הֵ֗נָּה לֹ֣א נִשְׁבָּֽרָה׃

    He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken

    Hebrew numbering: Psalm 34:21. Hebrew counts the title as verse 1.

  4. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

  5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Le Seigneur garde tous leurs os, pas un seul ne sera broyé.

    Greek numbering: Psalm 33:20. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text; not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition.

What changed, and why

John's quotation (ostoun ou syntribēsetai autou) is close both to this psalm and to the Passover lamb law (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12, "neither shall ye break a bone thereof"). John's Gospel presents Jesus as the Passover lamb (John 1:29; 19:14), so many interpreters think both texts are in view.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedPsalm 34:20 is stable in the library's witnesses apart from "his"/"their."
  • Independently documentedJohn 19:36 quotes Psalm 34:20 or Exodus 12:46.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Psalm 34: O Taste and See →The title sets the psalm "when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed" (compare 1 Samuel 21:10–15, where the king is Achish of Gath). An acrostic thanksgiving: "I will bless the LORD at all times… This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him… The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him… O taste and see that the LORD is good." Then instruction: "Keep thy tongue from evil… seek peace, and pursue it." "He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken."