Matthew 13:17

13:17 For I tell you the truth, ¹  many prophets and righteous people longed to see ²  what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Matthew 13:35

13:35 This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet: ³ 

“I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” ⁴ 

[13:17]  ¹ tn Grk “truly (ἀμήν, amhn) I say to you.”

[13:17]  ² sn This is what past prophets and righteous people had wanted very much to see, yet the fulfillment had come to the disciples. This remark is like 1 Pet 1:10-12 or Heb 1:1-2.

[13:35]  ³ tc A few important mss (א* Θ Ë^1,13 33) identify the prophet as Isaiah, a reading that is significantly harder than the generic “prophet” because the source of this prophecy is not Isaiah but Asaph in Ps 78. Jerome mentioned some mss that had “Asaph” here, though none are known to exist today. This problem is difficult because of the temptation for scribes to delete the reference to Isaiah in order to clear up a discrepancy. Indeed, the vast majority of witnesses have only “the prophet” here (א¹ B C D L W 0233 0242 Ï lat sy co). However, as B. M. Metzger points out, “if no prophet were originally named, more than one scribe might have been prompted to insert the name of the best known prophet – something which has, in fact, happened elsewhere more than once” (TCGNT 27). In light of the paucity of evidence for the reading ᾿Ησαΐου, as well as the proclivity of scribes to add his name, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic.

[13:35]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 78:2.