Matthew 2:15

2:15 He stayed there until Herod ¹  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ² 

Matthew 2:17-18

2:17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud wailing, ³ 

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she did not want to be comforted, because they were ⁴  gone.” ⁵ 

Matthew 2:23

2:23 He came to a town called Nazareth ⁶  and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus ⁷  would be called a Nazarene. ⁸ 

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

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

[2:18]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Grk “are”; the Greek text uses a present tense verb.

[2:18]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Jer 31:15.

[2:23]  ⁵ sn Nazareth was a very small village in the region of Galilee (Galilee lay north of Samaria and Judea). The town was located about 15 mi (25 km) west of the southern edge of the Sea of Galilee. According to Luke 1:26, Mary was living in Nazareth when the birth of Jesus was announced to her.

[2:23]  ⁶ tn There is no expressed subject of the third person singular verb here; the pronoun “he” is implied. Instead of this pronoun the referent “Jesus” has been supplied in the text to clarify to whom this statement refers.

[2:23]  ⁷ tn The Greek could be indirect discourse (as in the text), or direct discourse (“he will be called a Nazarene”). Judging by the difficulty of finding OT quotations (as implied in the plural “prophets”) to match the wording here, it appears that the author was using a current expression of scorn that conceptually (but not verbally) found its roots in the OT.