Matius 2:7-18

2:7 Then Herod ¹  privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. 2:8 He ²  sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.” 2:9 After listening to the king they left, and once again ³  the star they saw when it rose ⁴  led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. 2:10 When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. ⁵  2:11 As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down ⁶  and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, ⁷  and myrrh. ⁸  2:12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, ⁹  they went back by another route to their own country.

The Escape to Egypt

2:13 After they had gone, an ¹⁰  angel of the Lord ¹¹  appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod ¹²  is going to look for the child to kill him.” 2:14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during ¹³  the night, and went to Egypt. 2:15 He stayed there until Herod ¹⁴  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ¹⁵ 

2:16 When Herod ¹⁶  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ¹⁷  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ¹⁸  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. 2:17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud wailing, ¹⁹ 

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she did not want to be comforted, because they were ²⁰  gone.” ²¹ 

[2:7]  ¹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:8]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[2:9]  ³ tn Grk “and behold the star.”

[2:9]  ⁴ tn See the note on the word “rose” in 2:2.

[2:10]  ⁵ tn Grk “they rejoiced with very great joy.”

[2:11]  ⁶ tn Grk “they fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[2:11]  ⁷ sn Frankincense refers to the aromatic resin of certain trees, used as a sweet-smelling incense (L&N 6.212).

[2:11]  ⁸ sn Myrrh consisted of the aromatic resin of certain shrubs (L&N 6.208). It was used in preparing a corpse for burial.

[2:12]  ⁹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:13]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “behold, an angel.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[2:13]  ¹² sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Herod the Great was particularly ruthless regarding the succession to his throne.

[2:14]  ¹³ tn The feminine singular genitive noun νυκτός (nuktos, “night”) indicates the time during which the action of the main verb takes place (ExSyn 124).

[2:15]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:15]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.

[2:16]  ¹⁶ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Note the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the angel in 2:13.

[2:16]  ¹⁷ tn Or “soldiers.”

[2:16]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:18]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX of Jer 38:15 (31:15 ET) has “lamentation, weeping, and loud wailing”; most later mss (C D L W 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï) have a quotation in Matthew which conforms to that of the LXX (θρῆνος καὶ κλαυθμός καὶ ὀδυρμός; qrhno" kai klauqmo" kai odurmo"). But such assimilations were routine among the scribes; as such, they typically should be discounted because they are both predictable and motivated. The shorter reading, without “lamentation and,” is thus to be preferred, especially since it cannot easily be accounted for unless it is the original wording here. Further, it is found in the better mss along with a good cross-section of other witnesses (א B Z 0250 ˹ pc lat co).

[2:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “are”; the Greek text uses a present tense verb.

[2:18]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Jer 31:15.