Matthew has made two slight adjustments to the quoted text. Whereas the greater part of the textual tradition, particularly the Greek translation (LXX), says: “You are the smallest among the clans of Judah,” he writes “You are by no means least among the leading cities of Judah.” Both versions of the text, each in its own way, illustrate the paradoxical element in God’s way of acting, which runs through the whole of the Old Testament: greatness emerges from what seems in earthly terms small and insignificant, while worldly greatness collapses and falls.
