Matthew 2:13-18

The Escape to Egypt

2:13 After they had gone, an ¹  angel of the Lord ²  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 ³  is going to look for the child to kill him.” 2:14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during ⁴  the night, and went to Egypt. 2:15 He stayed there until Herod ⁵  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ⁶ 

2:16 When Herod ⁷  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ⁸  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ⁹  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, ¹⁰ 

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she did not want to be comforted, because they were ¹¹  gone.” ¹² 

¹ 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 tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

³ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Herod the Great was particularly ruthless regarding the succession to his throne.

⁴ tn The feminine singular genitive noun νυκτός (nuktos, “night”) indicates the time during which the action of the main verb takes place (ExSyn 124).

⁵ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

⁶ sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.

⁷ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Note the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the angel in 2:13.

⁸ tn Or “soldiers.”

⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

¹⁰ 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).

¹¹ tn Grk “are”; the Greek text uses a present tense verb.

¹² sn A quotation from Jer 31:15.