1 Samuel 24:20

24:20 Now look, I realize that you will in fact be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.

1 Samuel 26:2

26:2 So Saul arose and

went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand select men of Israel, to look for David in the desert of Ziph.

Matthew 2:2-16

2:2 saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose ¹  and have come to worship him.” 2:3 When King Herod ²  heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, ³  he asked them where the Christ ⁴  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.’” ⁵ 

2:7 Then Herod ⁶  privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. 2:8 He ⁷  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 ⁸  the star they saw when it rose ⁹  led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. 2:10 When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. ¹⁰  2:11 As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down ¹¹  and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, ¹²  and myrrh. ¹³  2:12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, ¹⁴  they went back by another route to their own country.

The Escape to Egypt

2:13 After they had gone, an ¹⁵  angel of the Lord ¹⁶  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 ¹⁷  is going to look for the child to kill him.” 2:14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during ¹⁸  the night, and went to Egypt. 2:15 He stayed there until Herod ¹⁹  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ²⁰ 

2:16 When Herod ²¹  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ²²  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ²³  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.

Matthew 27:40-42

27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ²⁴  If you are God’s Son, come down ²⁵  from the cross!” 27:41 In ²⁶  the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ²⁷  and elders ²⁸  – were mocking him: ²⁹  27:42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ³⁰  now from the cross, we will believe in him!

Mark 15:29-32

15:29 Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 15:30 save yourself and come down from the cross!” ³¹  15:31 In the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ³²  – were mocking him among themselves: ³³  “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! 15:32 Let the Christ, ³⁴  the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ³⁵ 

John 12:10-11

12:10 So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too, ³⁶  12:11 for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem ³⁷  were going away and believing in Jesus.

Acts 4:16-18

4:16 saying, “What should we do with these men? For it is plain ³⁸  to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable miraculous sign ³⁹  has come about through them, ⁴⁰  and we cannot deny it. 4:17 But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more ⁴¹  to anyone in this name.” 4:18 And they called them in and ordered ⁴²  them not to speak or teach at all in the name ⁴³  of Jesus.

[2:2]  ¹ tn Or “in its rising,” referring to the astrological significance of a star in a particular portion of the sky. The term used for the “East” in v. 1 is ἀνατολαί (anatolai, a plural form that is used typically of the rising of the sun), while in vv. 2 and 9 the singular ἀνατολή (anatolh) is used. The singular is typically used of the rising of a star and as such should not normally be translated “in the east” (cf. BDAG 74 s.v. 1: “because of the sg. and the article in contrast to ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, vs. 1, [it is] prob. not a geograph. expr. like the latter, but rather astronomical…likew. vs. 9”).

[2:3]  ² sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:4]  ³ 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.

[2:4]  ⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:6]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Mic 5:2.

[2:7]  ⁶ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Grk “and behold the star.”

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

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

[2:11]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² sn Frankincense refers to the aromatic resin of certain trees, used as a sweet-smelling incense (L&N 6.212).

[2:11]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:13]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[2:13]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Herod the Great was particularly ruthless regarding the succession to his throne.

[2:14]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:15]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.

[2:16]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Or “soldiers.”

[2:16]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[27:40]  ²⁴ sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

[27:40]  ²⁵ tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[27:41]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:41]  ²⁷ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[27:41]  ²⁸ tn Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[27:41]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said.”

[27:42]  ³⁰ tn Here the aorist imperative καταβάτω (katabatw) has been translated as a conditional imperative. This fits the pattern of other conditional imperatives (imperative + καί + future indicative) outlined by ExSyn 489.

[15:30]  ³¹ sn There is rich irony in the statement of those who were passing by, “Save yourself and come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life. There is a similar kind of irony in the statement made by the chief priests and experts in the law in 15:31.

[15:31]  ³² tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22. Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[15:31]  ³³ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said among themselves.”

[15:32]  ³⁴ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[15:32]  ³⁵ sn Mark’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).

[12:10]  ³⁶ sn According to John 11:53 the Jewish leadership had already planned to kill Jesus. This plot against Lazarus apparently never got beyond the planning stage, however, since no further mention is made of it by the author.

[12:11]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem who had heard about the resurrection of Lazarus and as a result were embracing Jesus as Messiah. See also the note on the phrase “Judeans” in v. 9.

[4:16]  ³⁸ tn Or “evident.”

[4:16]  ³⁹ tn Here σημεῖον (shmeion) has been translated as “miraculous sign” rather than simply “sign” or “miracle” since both components appear to be present in the context. It is clear that the healing of the lame man was a miracle, but for the Sanhedrin it was the value of the miraculous healing as a sign that concerned them because it gave attestation to the message of Peter and John. The sign “speaks” as Peter claimed in 3:11-16.

[4:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “has been done by them.”

[4:17]  ⁴¹ tn Or “speak no longer.”

[4:18]  ⁴² tn Or “commanded.”

[4:18]  ⁴³ sn In the name of Jesus. Once again, the “name” reflects the person. The person of Jesus and his authority is the “troubling” topic that, as far as the Jewish leadership is concerned, needs controlling.