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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 78:2

"I will open my mouth in a parable" and Matthew 13:35

The witnesses agree: "I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old." Matthew 13:35 quotes the verse of Jesus' parables, with a second line, "things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world," that differs from the Greek psalm.

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
  • Uncertain connection
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
New Testament quotation
  1. Greek New Testament (library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the psalm (which wording it followed is the question)

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. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Greek New Testament (library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the psalm (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος, “Ἀνοίξω ἐν παραβολαῖς τὸ στόμα μου, ἐρεύξομαι κεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου.”

    …that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.

    Matthew 13:35. KJV: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world."

  3. 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).

    Aperiam in parabolis os meum; loquar propositiones ab initio.

    Latin numbering: Psalm 77:2. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

  4. 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.

    אֶפְתְּחָ֣ה בְמָשָׁ֣ל פִּ֑י אַבִּ֥יעָה חִ֝יד֗וֹת מִנִּי־קֶֽדֶם׃

    I will open my mouth in a parable; I will pour out riddles from of old

    Hebrew numbering: Psalm 78:2.

  5. 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).

    I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

  6. 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.

    J’ouvrirai ma bouche en paraboles; je dirai les choses qui ont existé dès le commencement,

    Greek numbering: Psalm 77:2. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check); not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition (C check).

What changed, and why

Matthew's first line matches the Greek psalm ("I will open my mouth in parables"). His second line (ereuxomai kekrummena apo kataboles kosmou) does not follow the Greek ("I will utter things from the beginning"; Giguet "les choses qui ont existé dès le commencement") and is often thought to render the Hebrew hidot minni-qedem ("riddles from of old") independently. Matthew calls the psalm the word of "the prophet"; Asaph is called a seer in 2 Chronicles 29:30.

The Greek New Testament text shown is the library's edition (D check); manuscript variants in Matthew (some add "Isaiah") are a C check.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedMatthew 13:35 quotes Psalm 78:2.
  • Plausible, not confirmedMatthew's second line follows the Hebrew rather than the Greek.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Psalm 78: Things Our Fathers Have Told Us →"Give ear, O my people, to my law… I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us." In 72 verses the teacher retells the exodus, the plagues in "the field of Zoan," manna and quail, rebellion in the wilderness, the entry into the land, the fall of Shiloh and the ark's capture, and God's choice of Judah, Zion and David "his servant… from the sheepfolds." The lesson: that the children "might set their hope in God, and not forget."