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Who really said it

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted

Written in The Gospel of Matthew Greek original c. 80–90 AD · English wording from the King James Version, 1611
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Matthew 5:4, the second Beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount, where the words are spoken by Jesus. This exact English wording is the King James Version’s, published in 1611, and is confirmed word for word in the Project Gutenberg KJV text ↗.

Last verified 1 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted” Matthew 5:4, King James Version (1611)

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Evoking the world of The Gospel of Matthew — Anonymous Gospel, traditionally credited to Matthew the Apostle. Theme: "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Work
The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, 5:4
Passage
Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–12)
Translation
King James Version, published 1611
Original language
Koine Greek: “μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται”

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:1–5, King James Version, as transcribed in the Project Gutenberg edition.

Matthew 5:3–5 (KJV) at Bible Gateway

How we confirmed it

Public domain

The wording is the King James Version, published in 1611, so it is public domain in the United States. In the UK the KJV is still under the Crown’s perpetual rights; Wikipedia ↗ describes it as “Perpetually copyrighted in UK” and “De facto public domain elsewhere.” Modern translations of this verse are separate works and may be under copyright.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Who else gets the credit

The line is genuine scripture, but the credit for it travels in a few different directions depending on who is quoting it.

Jesus Correct as speaker

In Matthew’s narrative these are Jesus’s words. He opens his mouth and teaches his disciples on the mountain (Matthew 5:1–2, KJV ↗). Crediting Jesus names the speaker, and crediting Matthew names the written source. Both are fair.

William Tyndale Translator, not author

Quotewise ↗ credits the line to Tyndale and names no edition. Tyndale did translate the verse into English (“Blessed are they that morne: for they shalbe conforted,” BibleStudyTools ↗), and the KJV wording follows his closely. But he translated the Gospel; he did not write the saying.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” Same verse, different wording

Newer Bibles word the verse differently. The World English Bible has “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Wikipedia ↗). These are the same verse, not separate quotations. The “they that mourn” form is the KJV’s.

Luke 6:21 Parallel saying

Luke’s Sermon on the Plain has a related Beatitude, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Wikipedia ↗). It is a different wording, and “they that mourn” comes from Matthew.

The exact words “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted” are Matthew 5:4 in the 1611 King James Version, where Jesus speaks them in the Sermon on the Mount (Bible Gateway ↗).

Context

Why it matters

This is the second of the Beatitudes, the blessings that open the Sermon on the Mount. Wikipedia’s Matthew 5:4 article ↗ notes that some scholars read the verse against Isaiah 61, and that in several early versions verses 4 and 5 appear in reverse order.

The familiar English cadence is older than the King James Version. Tyndale’s translation already had “Blessed are they that morne: for they shalbe conforted,” and the 1611 translators kept it nearly unchanged. Scholars cited by Wikipedia ↗ say the KJV owed most of its New Testament to Tyndale.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

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Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Hope Kindness Mortality

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Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

The King James Version of the Biblegutenberg.org

Full public-domain KJV text (eBook #10); Matthew 5:4 appears word for word.
Matthew 5:3–5 (KJV)biblegateway.com

The verse in context, with other translations one click away.
Bible (King James)/Matthewwikisource.org

Wikisource transcription of the KJV Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 5:4wikipedia.org

Greek text, several translations, the Luke 6:21 parallel and scholarly notes on the verse.
Sermon on the Mountwikiquote.org

Wikiquote lists the line among the Beatitudes, cited as Matthew 5:3–12 (KJV).
Tyndale Bible, Matthew 5biblestudytools.com

Tyndale's earlier English wording of the verse, in original spelling.

The author

About The Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew

c. 80–90 AD · Anonymous Gospel, traditionally credited to Matthew the Apostle

The first book of the New Testament, written in Koine Greek. According to Wikipedia ↗, it was written “in the last quarter of the first century anonymously by a Jewish author,” and tradition credits it to Matthew the Apostle. Its first long discourse is the Sermon on the Mount, which opens with the Beatitudes.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Cite this page

The Holy Bible, King James Version (London: Robert Barker, 1611), Matthew 5:4. Text as reproduced in The King James Version of the Bible, Project Gutenberg eBook #10.

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted’?” Last verified 1 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/blessed-are-they-that-mourn-for-they-shall-be-comforted/

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