Matthew 8:20 is the 20th verse in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It reveals the homelessness of Jesus and his followers. Content In the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort this verse is: Καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσι, καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις· ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ. In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. The New International Version translates the passage as: Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 8:20. Analysis Jesus makes it plain to the inquiring man that worldly honours and riches were not to be expected. MacEvilly notes on the examples, that 1) "foxes" are generally hunted down, and 2) birds take no care for their provisions. A movement in the early church called Apostolic concluded from this passage that absolute poverty was required for salvation. This movement was labelled heretical. Many monks are nuns are required to take vows of poverty (see: Religious vows) even though they collectively may possess property and wealth. Why Christ uses the title "Son of Man" rather than "Son of God" is open to dispute. Lapide notes that some believe that he was born from the seed of Joseph, not the Holy Spirit, contrary to the New Testament witness. Others think that man is used in a gender-neutral sense and thus refers to the Virgin Mary. Some think it is because he is from the line of David, Abraham and the other men listed in his genealogy in Matthew 1. Finally, some believe that because he is, in a sense, a son of Adam, which in Hebrew means man. Church Father commentary Chrysostom: "So Christ answers him not so much to what he had said, but to the obvious purpose of his mind. Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head; as though He had said;" Jerome: "Why do you