From Jābir, he said: “I asked Abū Jaʿfar, peace be upon him, about something from the interpretation of the Qurʾān, and he answered me, then I asked a second time and he answered with other answer. Then I said: “May I be sacrificed for you! Did not you give me a different answer yesterday?” Then he said to me: “O Jābir! The Qurʾān has an esoteric interpretation, and there is a hidden meaning for the esoteric interpretation, and [similarly] there is an apparent meaning for the clear interpretation. And, O Jābir, there is nothing more distant from the intellects than the interpretation of the Qurʾān. In a [single] verse, the beginning is about something, the middle is about other thing, and the end is about something else, and it is a connected speech that deal with different contents.” [Bihar-ul-Anwar of Al-Majlisi, Volume 89 page 95 Hadith 48]

عن محمد بن مسعود عن جابر قال: سألت أبا جعفر عليه السلام عن شئ في تفسير القرآن فأجابني ثم سألته ثانية فأجابني بجواب آخر، فقلت: جعلت فداك كنت أجبت في هذه المسألة بجواب غير هذا قبل اليوم؟ فقال لي: يا جابر إن للقرآن بطنا، وللبطن بطن وله ظهر وللظهر ظهر، يا جابر وليس شئ أبعد من عقول الرجال من تفسير القرآن إن الآية لتكون أولها في شئ وآخرها في شئ، وهو كلام متصل يتصرف على وجوه