that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
Parallel Translations
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that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
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to fulfyll that which was spoke by the Prophet sayinge: I wyll open my mouth in similitudes and wyll speake forth thinges which have bene kepte secrete from the begynninge of the worlde.
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That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, and will vtter the thinges which haue beene kept secrete from the foundation of the worlde.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Matthew 13:35 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,
- Ephesians 3:9 and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ,
- Romans 16:25-26
- 1 Peter 1:20-21 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.
- 1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,
- John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
- Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
- Matthew 25:34 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
- Colossians 1:25-26 of which I was made a servant according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints,
- Ephesians 3:5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit,
- Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have happened and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”
- 2 Timothy 1:9-10 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News.
- Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.
- Titus 1:2-3 in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began; but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior;
- Matthew 13:14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:
- Psalms 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp.
- 1 Peter 1:11-12 searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them. To them it was revealed, that they served not to themselves, but to you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.
- Revelation 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present.
- Matthew 21:4-5 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
- Luke 10:14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you.
- Acts 15:18 “All of God’s works are known to him from eternity.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken…
35 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.
Ver. 35. I will utter things, &c.] I will freely and plentifully discuss with them, {a} as a fountain casteth out her waters constantly and without spare. Charity is no churl: true goodness is communicative, and accounts that it hath not that good thing that it doth not impart: {b} as that Bishop of Lincoln never thought he had that thing which he did not give. It is not pouring out, but want of pouring out, that dries up the streams of grace, as of that oil, 2Ki 4:6; "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself," Pro 11:25.
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{a} Eructabo, vel palam proloquar.
{b} Paulum sepultae distat inertiae Celata virtus. Horat.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He answered and said unto them,.... Being very ready…
He answered and said unto them,.... Being very ready to answer their request, and willing to communicate spiritual knowledge to them; thereby showing great condescension, and humility in himself, and great affection to them:
he that soweth the good seed, is the son of man; he that is signified by the man that sowed good seed in his field, is "the son of man"; by whom he means himself, the seed of the woman; and the son of David; who being anointed with the Holy Ghost without measure, went about Judea and Galilee, preaching the everlasting Gospel, to the conversion of sinners, thereby making them good seed; though this may be understood of him, as including his apostles and ministers, whom he makes use of as instruments for the good of souls, by preaching the Gospel.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Psalm lxxviii, 2.
Psalm lxxviii, 2.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 35. By the prophet] As the quotation is…
Verse 35. By the prophet] As the quotation is taken from Ps 78:2, which is attributed to Asaph, he must be the prophet who is meant in the text; and, indeed, he is expressly called a prophet, 1Ch 25:2. Several MSS. have ησαιου, Isaiah; but this is a manifest error. Jerome supposes that Asaph was first in the text, and that some ignorant transcriber, not knowing who this Asaph was, inserted the word Isaiah; and thus, by attempting to remove an imaginary error, made a real one.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain By the prophet. It is taken from Psalm lxxvii.…
By the prophet. It is taken from Psalm lxxvii. 2. St. Jerome remarks that many copies have, Isaias, the prophet, but supposes that the evangelist wrote, Asaph, the prophet, to whom the title of this psalm seems to attribute it; but it was probably chanted by Asaph, and composed by David, who is simply characterized under the name of prophet, because he prophesied in composing his canticles. (Bible de Vence)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by…
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying-- (Psa 78:2, nearly as in the Septuagint).
I will open my mouth in parables, &c.--Though the Psalm seems to contain only a summary of Israelitish history, the Psalmist himself calls it "a parable," and "dark sayings from of old"--as containing, underneath the history, truths for all time, not fully brought to light till the Gospel day.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 35. Might be fulfilled… by the prophet — Psalms…
35. Might be fulfilled… by the prophet — Psalms 78. That psalm is ascribed to Asaph, but the sentiment here expressed was fulfilled or exemplified by this mode of our Lord’s teachings. Kept secret — Or unrevealed by God. From the foundation of the world — That is, from the commencement of the creation, or the beginning of sublunary time.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 35. Psa_78:2. The quotation does not agree verbally with…
35. Psa_78:2. The quotation does not agree verbally with the LXX. It is a direct translation of the Hebrew. The psalm which follows these words is a review of the history of Israel from the Exodus to the reign of David. This indicates the somewhat wide sense given to “parables” and “dark sayings.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (35) I will open my mouth in parables.—The quotation…
(35) I will open my mouth in parables.—The quotation illustrates, much in the same way as those in 8:17, 12:17, St. Matthew’s peculiar way of dealing with the prophetic language of the Old Testament. He found the word “parable” at the opening of a Psalm (Psa_78:2). The Psalm itself was in no sense predictive, but simply an historical survey of God’s dealings with Israel from the days of the Exodus to those of David. But the occurrence of the word was enough for him. Here was One whose form of teaching answered to that which the Psalmist had described, who might claim the Psalmist’s words as His own; and excluding, as he did, the idea of chance from all such coincidences, he could use even here the familiar formula, “that it might be fulfilled.”
A remarkable various-reading gives, “by Esaias the prophet.” It is found in the Sinaitic MS., and had been used before the time of Jerome by a heathen writer (Porphyry) as a proof of St. Matthew’s ignorance. Old as it is, however, there is no reason for receiving it as the original reading. The mistake was probably that of a transcriber, misled by the word “prophet,” and writing the name after the precedent of Mat_8:17; Mat_12:17. If the mistake had been St. Matthew’s, it would stand on the same footing as the substitution of Jeremiah for Zechariah in Mat_27:9. The Psalm is assigned by the superscription to the authorship of Asaph.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain That it might be fulfilled (Mat_1:22, note) which was…
That it might be fulfilled (Mat_1:22, note) which was spoken by (through, Revised Version; Mat_1:22, note) the prophet; rather, Isaiah the prophet, according to the margin of Westcott and Hort, on the evidence of the original hand of the Sinaitic and a few cursive manuscripts, the Rushworth Latin Gospels, a manuscript of the Aethiopic Version, the Clementine Homilies, Porphyry as quoted by Jerome, and remarks by Eusebius. Dr. Herr ("Appendix") writes, "It is difficult not to think Hsaiou genuine. There was a strong temptation to omit it; (cf. Mat_27:9 Mar_1:2) and, though its insertion might be accounted for by an impulse to supply the name of the best known prophet, the evidence of the actual operation of such an impulse is much more trifling than might have been anticipated .... The erroneous introduction of Isaiah"s name is limited to two passages, and in each case to a single Latin manuscript." If it be genuine, it is a parallel case to the reading "Jeremiah" instead of "Zechariah" in Mat_27:9, for which no satisfactory explanation has yet been suggested. A simple error of memory (cf. Alford) on the part of one who shows himself so well acquainted with Hebrew customs and modes of thought as our evangelist does, is perhaps the most improbable of all solutions. Possibly, just as there were summaries of legal maxims current in our Lord"s time, (cf. Mat_5:21, note) so there were in Hebrew-Christian circles well known sets of quotations from the Old Testament, which were not expressly divided one from another, (cf. Rom_3:10-18) and which were ferreted to under the name of the author of the best known passage. (Observe that this would distinguish these summaries from liturgical quotations.) Thus Zechariah"s mention of the potter (Zec_11:13) was placed in connexion with Jeremiah"s visit to the potter"s house, and with his warning of the possible rejection of Israel; (Jer_18:1-6; cf. Jer_19:1-11) cf. further Pusey"s remarks on the passage in Zechariah, and Psa_78:2 (or perhaps 1-3), where Israel is bid listen to the lessons derived from their ancestors" behaviour, with the warning in Isa_6:9, 10 (cf. our vers. 34, 35 with ver. 14). We have an example of a similar connexion of passages in Mar_1:2, 3, where Mal_3:1 is closely joined to Isa_40:3. Observe that if St. Mark had copied his source (ex hypothesi) to the end of the quotation from Malachi, and for some reason omitted the next quotation, he might very easily have still retained the name "Isaiah" with which he introduces his double quotation. Had he done so, we should have had another parallel to our present verse and Mat_27:9. The prophet. If "Isaiah" be not genuine, this refers to "Asaph the seer", (2Ch_29:30) who was the recognized author of the psalm. So David is called "a prophet" in Act_2:30. Saying, I will open my mouth (Mat_5:2, note) in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. From Psa_78:1, Psa_78:2. The first clause of the quotation is verbally the same as the LXX, and fairly represents the meaning of the original (yp l hjtpa). The second clause is different from the LXX, the first verb being a literal translation from the Hebrew, and the rest a paraphrase. I will utter (ereuxomai : hyba): so the LXX in Psa_19:2; and cf. Psa_119:171 Psa_145:7. Things which have been kept secret (kekrummena); but the Hebrew is twdyj, i.e. "enigmatical sayings." From the foundation of the world. Apo katabolhv , for kosmou of the Received Text must be omitted. But the Hebrew ynm (i.e. "from of old") hardly, in the context of the psalm, refers further back than the be ginning of the national history of Israel, when the Israelites came out of Egypt. "Asaph... here recounts to the people their history from that Egyptaeo-Sinaitic age of yore to which Israel"s national indepen dence and specific position in relation to the rest of the world goes back He will set forth the history of the fathers after the manner of a parable and riddle, so that it may become as a parable, i.e. a didactic history, and its events as marks of interrogation and nota benes to the present age" (Delitzsch). What, however, is the exact connexion of thought in the gospel between the passage as it stands, and its context? The first clause evidently corresponds in meaning to ver. 34; Christ fulfils in a fresh sense the expression of the psalmist by speaking in parables (vide infra). But the second clause brings in a different thought, not found, save very indirectly, in ver. 34, namely, that Christ utters things that be fore were always hidden. What does the evangelist mean by this second clause?
(1) Truths never before revealed have now been revealed by Christ"s parables, especially by those two which have just been related. For in these it has been affirmed that outsiders, i.e. those belonging to other nations than the Jewish nation, shall seek the protection of the kingdom of heaven, and also that the whole world, including, therefore, these Gentile nations, shall become permeated with its principles. It may well be thought that the clause refers to the announcement of these great truths.
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(2) This interpretation, however, if taken alone, is not enough. For the evangelist is not speaking of Christ revealing truths to men generally. On the contrary, he says that Christ does not reveal them to the multi tudes, but to his disciples (cf. ver. 10, sqq.) a contrast which the emphatic language of ver. 34 (toiv ocloiv autoiv) would probably suggest, even though it is not expressly mentioned. It is, therefore, likely that it was this latter fact to which the evangelist specially wished to refer by his quotation of the second clause. Hence, to make his meaning clearer, he has modified its language. As he quotes it, not merely "enigmatical sayings," but "things hidden" (and that from the foundation of the world) are uttered by Christ; but these are now no longer "hidden" to those to whom he speaks them. This complete meaning of the clause revelation to his disciples of truths before hidden corresponds to the idea of musthrion in ver. 11 (where see note) and in St. Paul, (cf. especially Rom_16:25) and is merely another side of St. Mark"s phrase, "Privately to his own disciples he expounded all things" (cf. supra, vers. 16, 17). It is also possible that kekrummena , which is not merely negative, so as to mean "unrevealed," but implies a positive concealment, includes a reference to the thought of ekruqav in Mat_11:25, that God purposely hid these truths from those who were morally unfit to receive them. These, indeed, belonged in general to the times before Christ came, but also "the multitudes" came under this category. If it be asked What is the relation of the quotation in its context here to the verse in its original context? the easiest answer is that it is only superficial, that the "accidental" employment by the psalmist of the word "parable" was the only reason why the evangelist made the quotation. Yet it may not be quite so; for there was a real similarity between the psalmist teaching his contemporaries by history and Christ teaching his contemporaries by truths couched in narrative form. May we not go even further, and say that in both cases the message was, generally speaking, refused, though in both a remnant of those who heard it were saved? (cf. also Isa_6:9-13; vide supra)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.