Matius 1:19

1:19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, ¹  was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her ²  privately.

Matius 1:24-25

1:24 When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord ³  told him. He took his wife, 1:25 but did not have marital relations ⁴  with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named ⁵  Jesus.

Matius 2:14

2:14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during ⁶  the night, and went to Egypt.

Matius 2:21-22

2:21 So ⁷  he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel. 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus ⁸  was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, ⁹  he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee.

[1:19]  ¹ tn Grk “husband.” See following note for discussion.

[1:19]  ² tn Or “send her away.”

[1:19]  sn In the Jewish context, “full betrothal was so binding that its breaking required a certificate of divorce, and the death of one party made the other a widow or widower (m. Ketub. 1:2; m. Sota 1:5; m. Git. passim…)” (R. H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art, 21).

[1:24]  ³ tn See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20. Here the translation “the angel of the Lord” is used because the Greek article (ὁ, Jo) which precedes ἄγγελος (angelos) is taken as an anaphoric article (ExSyn 217-19) referring back to the angel mentioned in v. 20.

[1:25]  ⁴ tn Or “did not have sexual relations”; Grk “was not knowing her.” The verb “know” (in both Hebrew and Greek) is a frequent biblical euphemism for sexual relations. However, a translation like “did not have sexual relations with her” is too graphic in light of the popularity and wide use of Matthew’s infancy narrative. Thus the somewhat more subdued but still clear “did not have marital relations” was selected.

[1:25]  ⁵ tn Grk “and he called his name Jesus.” The coordinate clause has been translated as a relative clause in English for stylistic reasons.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn The feminine singular genitive noun νυκτός (nuktos, “night”) indicates the time during which the action of the main verb takes place (ExSyn 124).

[2:21]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s instructions.

[2:22]  ⁸ sn Archelaus took after his father Herod the Great in terms of cruelty and ruthlessness, so Joseph was afraid to go there. After further direction in a dream, he went instead to Galilee.

[2:22]  ⁹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.