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How Matthew quotes the scripture: Analysis of the two old testament quotations in the Gospel of Matthew

Summary

This Serbian-language article in biblical studies asks how the author of the Gospel of Matthew adapts Old Testament wording to his own theological aims. It first sets up a typology of reuse: a marked quotation (introduced by a formula), an unmarked quotation, and an allusion. It then places Matthew's "fulfilment quotations" within his Davidic, messianic picture of Jesus. Two case studies follow, both from the Book of the Twelve (Minor Prophets): Micah 5:1 in Mt 2:6 and Zechariah 13:7 in Mt 26:31. For each, the author compares the Masoretic Text (MT), the Septuagint (LXX) and the Matthean text (NA28) word by word. For Zechariah he also brings in the Targum and the Damascus Document. The analysis shows that Matthew is not copying a single source. He reshapes the wording, for example by flipping Micah's "small" Bethlehem through a litotes, so the quotation fits a new context. This matters for understanding ancient textual transmission and how a quotation can be reframed.

Key points

  • Matthew uses the Minor Prophets explicitly ten times, through nine distinct quotations, including Mic 5:1 (Mt 2:6), Hos 11:1 (Mt 2:15), Zech 9:9 (Mt 21:5) and Zech 11:12–13 (Mt 27:9–10).
  • Across the New Testament, the Twelve are cited 33 times. Isaiah is cited 75 times, Jeremiah 10 and Ezekiel 5.
  • The LXX of Micah calls Bethlehem small among Judah's clans. Matthew reverses this with a litotes, "by no means least" among Judah's rulers, and adds the shepherd-leader clause.
  • Matthew's version of Zech 13:7 (shared with Mk 14:27) stands closer to the MT and the Damascus Document than to the LXX or the Targum. It is heavily shortened, yet philologically near a possible Hebrew Vorlage.
  • In Mt 26:31, Matthew adds a Christological reason ("ἐν ἐμοὶ") for the apostles' scattering, echoing Mt 11:6 and 13:56. He also pairs it with the prophecy of Peter's denial.

Interesting ideas

  • I1. The paper sorts text reuse into a formula-introduced quotation, a verbatim quotation without a formula, and a looser allusion, which gives a graded scale of how explicitly a source is invoked.
  • I2. The author lines up several independent textual witnesses (MT, LXX, Targum, Damascus Document) and asks which one the quoting text agrees with at each point, rather than assuming one source.
  • I3. A litotes ("by no means least") flips the polarity of the source statement ("small") while keeping its lexical frame, so the reuse changes meaning without changing topic.
  • I4. The study shows that quoted material is reshaped to serve the quoting context, by shortening, adding a causal phrase, or changing who acts. Comparing the quote with its source therefore exposes the quoter's intent.

For Mova

How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests:

  • I1 (frames): Reported-speech and citation frames could carry a similar explicitness grade (signalled quote / silent quote / echo), so the world model knows how strongly a claim is attributed to another voice.
  • I2 (learn): Silver-data agreement could be logged per token the same way, recording which witness parser each final decision follows, so systematic alignment with one parser becomes visible and explainable.
  • I3 (frames): The implicature module could treat negated-minimizer constructions as polarity reversals of an evaluative property, and test them against cases where the original positive form is also present.
  • I4 (world): When a text quotes or paraphrases an earlier statement, diffing the two event frames (roles added, dropped or reassigned) could yield an explicit record of the narrator's stance in the world of the text.

Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.

Fields: Linguistics & languages

Topics Hebrew & Aramaic

 Institutions

Also on the byline: University of Belgrade.

Cite

Cite as Ivić Branislav S. 2021. How Matthew quotes the scripture: Analysis of the two old testament quotations in the Gospel of Matthew. Reči (Beograd) 12.

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. DOI 10.5937/reci2114012i

@inproceedings{s2021how,
  title = {{How Matthew quotes the scripture: Analysis of the two old testament quotations in the Gospel of Matthew}},
  author = {Ivić Branislav S.},
  booktitle = {Reči (Beograd) 12},
  year = {2021},
  doi = {10.5937/reci2114012i},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5937/reci2114012i}
}

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