Matthew 8:20 (LSB)

Passage

And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Nearby Context

Matthew 8:18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea.

Matthew 8:19 Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

Matthew 8:20 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Matthew 8:21 And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”

Matthew 8:22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "jesus", "said", "foxes", "holes", "birds", "nests", "nowhere", and "head". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jesus" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "Then a scribe came and said to..." into verse 21's "And another of the disciples said to...", so "jesus" and "said" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "jesus" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.