Laudator Temporis Acti

Matthew 13:35 (KJV):

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·
Ἀνοίξω ἐν παραβολαῖς τὸ στόμα μου,
ἐρεύξομαι κεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ καταβολῆς [κόσμου].

Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, 1975), pp. 33-34:

13.35 ἀπὸ καταβολῆς [κόσμου] {C}

It can be argued that the shorter reading, attested by representative witnesses of the Alexandrian, Western, and Eastern types of text, was original, and that κόσμου was added by scribes from 25.34, where the text is firm.

On the other hand, since the preponderance of the external evidence was taken to support the inclusion of κόσμου, a majority of the Committee was reluctant to drop the word from the text entirely and therefore decided to enclose it within square brackets.

From Joel Eidsath:

I think that the other interesting word, necessary to understand what Matthew is doing in 13:35 with ἐρεύγεσθαι, is καταβολή. My earlier translation of the verse ["I will belch/vomit up hidden things from the stuffing down"] wasn't all in jest, and "stuffing down" has some reasoning behind it.

Beginning with semitic Greek, καταβολή only occurs once in the LXX (meaning foundation there, presumably a buried gravel type for a house), but shows up in Philo frequently with the meaning of laying down (sowing) seed. This meaning only occurs once in the New Testament, at Heb. 11:11, referring to Sarah's pregnancy.

In the NT, καταβολή picks up a new usage with the frequent Christian phrase "καταβολὴ κόσμου" referring to the "foundation of the world". Again, remember that this usage dates from an age where foundations are buried gravel, and that the base meaning continues to be related. This phrase is so frequent in the NT that "κόσμου" even gets tacked on to Matthew 13:35 by the copist of Codex Vaticanus. Despite the phrase apparently not having any pre-Christian foundation [pun], καταβολὴ κόσμου is used by various authors of compositionally separate parts of the NT: Matthew, Luke, the John of the Gospel, Paul, the Hebrews author, Peter, and the John of Apocalypse. The phrase would therefore seem to date to the pre-NT early Christian community's shared vocabulary.

But Matthew 13:35 isn't καταβολή κόσμου, it's just καταβολή. And you can see why Matthew has chosen the word. It's highly alliterative to παραβολή earlier in the verse, where he does not update the LXX translation. And παραβολή is a rarer and more functional word prior to Matthew's (together with the other evangelists) popularizing of the term, causing the κατα- to rather contrast the παρα- in Matthew's translation. And καταβολή, whether indicating the creation through a buried gravel "foundation" or by an initial laying down or burying seed, is the perfect word to sharply highlight the "eruption" signalled by ἐρεύγεσθαι. Matthew has turned a Psalm about ancient secrets being uttered into a verse that poetically describes Jesus as personally causing hidden buried things to erupt, making it another example of the resurrection imagery the early Christians liked to see in the OT.

Gerhard Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, tr. Geiffrey W. Bromiley, Volume III (1966; rpt. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), pp. 620-621: Related post: I Will Belch Forth Things That Have Been Hidden.