Matthew 2:3-8

2:3 When King Herod ¹  heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, ²  he asked them where the Christ ³  was to be born. 2:5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:

2:6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,

for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” ⁴ 

2:7 Then Herod ⁵  privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. 2:8 He ⁶  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.”

Matthew 2:16

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.

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

² tn Or “and scribes of the people.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

³ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

⁴ sn A quotation from Mic 5:2.

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

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

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.