Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
World English Bible
Matthew 8:20
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
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WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓ - Modern English
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- LSV Literal Standard Version A modern, highly literal translation (2020) · CC BY-SA 4.0
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- MSB Majority Standard Bible A modern translation of the Majority/Byzantine text — the Berean counterpart to the critical-text BSB · Public Domain
- TCENT Text-Critical English New Testament A modern reasoned-eclectic New Testament (2022) · CC BY 4.0
- F35 Family 35 New Testament Wilbur Pickering's Byzantine-priority New Testament, with text-critical commentary notes · CC BY-SA 4.0
- OJB Orthodox Jewish Bible A Messianic-Jewish English Bible using transliterated Hebrew names and terms · CC BY 4.0
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- KJV King James Version Public Domain
- ASV American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
- GNV Geneva Bible (1599) The Reformation-era study Bible that preceded the King James · Public Domain
- DRA Douay-Rheims (1899) An English Catholic translation from the Latin Vulgate · Public Domain
- YLT Young's Literal Translation An extremely literal 19th-century rendering · Public Domain
- DBY Darby Bible A literal 19th-century translation by J. N. Darby · Public Domain
- WBT Webster's Bible Noah Webster's 1833 modernization of the King James Version · Public Domain
- TYNDALE Tyndale New Testament (1534) The pioneering early-modern English New Testament (New Testament only) · Public Domain
- JPS JPS Tanakh (1917) An early Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament only) · Public Domain
- RV Revised Version (1885) The 1885 British revision of the King James Version; parent of the American Standard Version · Public Domain
- LEESER Isaac Leeser Tanakh (1853) The first Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (1853, Old Testament only) · Public Domain
- KJVCP KJV Cambridge Paragraph Bible David Norton's critical Cambridge edition of the King James Version, set in paragraphs · Public Domain
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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What was Jesus H. Christ's real name?
The New Testament gives Jesus a long string of names and titles — Jesus, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, the Word, Son of Man, Son of the Highest, Son of David, Son of God, Holy One of God, Lord Our Righteousness, Alpha and Omega, the Amen, Lion of Judah, Faithful and True, Word of God, King of Kings, the Morning Star, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace — and Revelation 19:12 says no one knows his real name at all. The 'contradiction' as posed is largely a category error (these are titles, not legal names), but the underlying problem — competing Christological titles drawn from different prophetic streams — is real.
Critical scholarship: Usually considered reconciled.
Historical detail
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
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Was Jesus homeless?
Matthew 8:20 and Luke 9:58 have Jesus say *hai alōpekes phōleous echousin kai ta peteina tou ouranou kataskēnōseis, ho de huios tou anthrōpou ouk echei pou tēn kephalēn klinē* — 'foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' Mark 2:1 and 2:15 reference Jesus being *en oikō* (at home) in Capernaum and entertaining guests.
Critical scholarship: Usually considered reconciled.
Historical detail
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Other verses examined for the same kind of question or claim
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
Cite this page
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Matthew 8:20 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/matthew/8/20?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).