Matthew 2
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,
Jesus was born in Bethlehem [town] in Judea [province] during the time [MTY] that King Herod [the Great ruled there. Some time] after Jesus was born, some men who studied the stars and who lived in a [country] east [of Judea] came to Jerusalem.
2 “Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”
They asked [people], “Where is the one who has been born [in order that he might be] the king of [you] Jews? [We believe that your new king] has been born, because we have seen the star [that we believe indicated that] he has been [born]. [We saw it while we were in our country] east [of here]. So we have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
When King Herod heard [what those men were asking], he became worried [that someone else might be proclaimed] {[people might proclaim someone else]} [king of the Jews to replace him]. Many [of the people] of Jerusalem [MTY, HYP] [also] became worried [because they were afraid of what King Herod might do].
4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.
Then Herod gathered together all the ruling priests and men who taught the people the [Jewish] laws and he asked them where [the prophets had predicted that] the Messiah was to be born.
5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,
They said to him, “[He will be born] in Bethlehem, [here] in Judea [province], because it was written by the prophet [Micah] {the prophet [Micah] wrote} [long ago what God said]:
6 ‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come a governor who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’”
‘You [who live in] Bethlehem [APO], in Judea [province], your town is certainly very important [LIT], because a man from your [town] will become a ruler. He will guide my people [who live in] Israel.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.
Then [King] Herod secretly summoned those men who studied the stars. He asked them exactly when the star [first] appeared. [By what they told him, he was able to know the approximate age of the baby].
8 He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”
Then he [concealed what he really planned to do and] said to them, “Go to Bethlehem and inquire thoroughly [where] the infant is. When you have found him, [come back and] report to me so that I, myself, can go [there and] worship him, too.”
9 They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was.
After the men heard what the king [told them], they went [toward Bethlehem]. To their surprise, the star that they had seen while they were in the eastern [country] went ahead of them [again] until it stood above [the house] where the child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced greatly [and followed it].
11 They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
They [found] the house and entered it and saw the child and his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure [boxes] [MTY] and they gave gold, [costly] frankincense, and myrrh to him.
12 Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
[Because] God [knew that King Herod planned to kill Jesus], in a dream the men who studied the stars were warned {he warned the men who studied the stars} that they should not return to [King] Herod. So they returned to their country, [but instead of traveling back on the same road, they] went on a different road.
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
After the men who studied the stars left [Bethlehem], an angel [from] the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. He said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you [(sg) that you should leave], because [King] Herod is about [to send soldiers] to look for the child so that they can kill him.”
14 He arose and took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt,
So Joseph got up, he took the child and his mother [that] night, and they fled to Egypt.
15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
They stayed there until [King] Herod died, [and then they left Egypt]. By doing that, it was {they} fulfilled what the prophet [Hosea] wrote, which had been said by the Lord {which the Lord had said}, I have told my son to come out of Egypt.
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.
[While King] Herod [was still living], because he realized that he had been tricked by the men who studied the stars {the men who studied the stars had tricked him}, he became furious. Then, [assuming that Jesus was still in Bethlehem or the surrounding regions], Herod sent [soldiers there] to kill all the boy babies two years old and younger. [Herod calculated how old the baby was], according to what the men who studied the stars told him [about when the star first appeared].
17 Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
[Because Bethlehem and Ramah towns were in the area where the descendants of Jacob’s wife Rachel lived, when soldiers killed the infant boys], they fulfilled what Jeremiah the prophet wrote,
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”
[Women] in Ramah were weeping and wailing loudly. [Women who were the descendants] of Rachel, [the ancestor of the women there] [SYN], were grieving for [what happened to] their children. [Even though people tried to comfort them], they would not be comforted {stop mourning}, because their children were dead.
19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
After Herod died [and while Joseph and his family were still in Egypt], an angel that the Lord [had sent] appeared to Joseph in Egypt in a dream.
20 “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”
He said to Joseph, “Take the child and his mother and go back to Israel [to live], because the people who were looking for the child [in order to kill him] have died.”
21 He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
So Joseph took the child and his mother, and they went back to Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,
When Joseph heard that Archaelaus now ruled in Judea [district] instead of his father, [King] Herod [the Great], he was afraid to go there. Because he was warned {[God] warned Joseph} in a dream [that it was still dangerous for them to live in Judea], he [and Mary and Jesus] went to Galilee [District]
23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene.
to Nazareth [to live there]. The result was that what had been said by the ancient prophets {what the ancient prophets had said} [about the Messiah], that he would be called {people would call him} a Nazareth-man, was fulfilled {came true}.
