Matthew 2

The Visit of the Wise Men

¹ Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold visionaries¹ from the east arrived in Jerusalem ² saying: Where is the [one] having been brought forth, [the] king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the East and came to worship him. ³ Now having heard [this] Herod the king was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ And gathering all the chief-priests and scribes of the people he asked from them where the Christ would be born. ⁵ And they said to him: In Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the prophet²,

⁶ And you Bethlehem, land of Judah
In no way are you least among the rulers of Judah
For out of you shall come [a] ruler
Who will shepherd my people Israel.

⁷ Then Herod having secretly called the visionaries³, he exacted from them the time of the appearance of [the] star, ⁸ and having sent them to Bethlehem he said: Having gone, search out accurately concerning the child, and when you find him, report to me, so that I also, having come, may worship him. ⁹ So having heard [this] from the king, they went. And behold the star that they saw in the east led them until, having come, it stood above where the child was. ¹⁰ And having seen the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. ¹¹ And having come to the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and having fallen down they worshipped him, and having opened their treasures they brought to him gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in [a] dream not to return to Herod, by another road they withdrew to their own country.

The Escape to Egypt

¹³ Now when they returned, behold an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in [a] dream saying: Having arisen, be taking the child and his mother, and be fleeing to Egypt, and be there until I say [otherwise] to you. For Herod is about to be seeking the child to destroy him. ¹⁴ So having arisen he took the child and his mother by night and withdrew to Egypt. ¹⁵ And he was there until the death of Herod, in order that the [things] said by the Lord through the prophet be fulfilled when he says⁴:

Out of Egypt I called my son.

¹⁶ When Herod saw that he had been deceived by the visionaries⁵ he was extremely enraged, and having sent, he carried off all the [male] children in Bethlehem and all its environs from two years and under, according to the time he exacted from the visionaries. ¹⁷ Then the [things] said through Jeremiah the prophet were fulfilled when he says⁶:

¹⁸ A sound was heard in Rama,
Great wailing ⁷ and lamenting,
Rachel wailing for her children,
And she will not be comforted,
For they are no more.

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹ Now Herod having come to [his] end ⁸, behold [an] angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream in Egypt ²⁰ saying: Having arisen, be taking the child and his mother and go to the land Israel, for those seeking the psyche-life⁹ of the child have died. ²¹ So having arisen he took the child and his mother and entered into the land Israel. ²² And having heard that Archelaus was king of Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to depart from there. And having been warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³ and having gone he dwelt in [a] city being called Nazareth. In this manner the [things] said through the prophet were fulfilled that he will be called [a] Nazarene.

¹MAGOS (μαγoς ) In the Greek world in general this word was used to mean: a member of the Persian priestly caste, or a possessor and user of supernatural knowledge and power (namely, a magician).

The LXX has the term only in Dan.2:2 for those who have magical and religious arts in Babylon.

In Matt. the reference seems to be to those who have special wisdom in reading the stars ( Matt.2:1, Matt.2:7, Matt.2:16) Astronomy and astrology were inseparable in that day, and represented a very advanced education. Babylonian mathematics in particular was surprisingly advanced: they had calculated the value of sqrt(2) to 6 significant digits(!), and were able to solve quadratic and cubic equations. In Acts.13:6 and Acts.13:8 MAGOS is parallel to PSEUDOPROPHETES (`pseudo-prophets'), and seems to be a reference to a house philosopher, who is possibly tempted to use the name of God magically.

The verb form, MAGEUO `to perform magic' (μαγευω) only occurs in

Acts.8:9

(This footnote lists every appearance of MAGOS and MAGEUO).

²Mic.5:2

³MAGOS (μαγoς ) In the Greek world in general this word was used to mean: a member of the Persian priestly caste, or a possessor and user of supernatural knowledge and power (namely, a magician).

The LXX has the term only in Dan.2:2 for those who have magical and religious arts in Babylon.

The verb form, MAGEUO `to perform magic' (μαγευω) only occurs in

Acts.8:9

(This footnote lists every appearance of MAGOS and MAGEUO).

⁴Hos.11:1

⁵MAGOS (μαγoς ) In the Greek world in general this word was used to mean: a member of the Persian priestly caste, or a possessor and user of supernatural knowledge and power (namely, a magician).

The LXX has the term only in Dan.2:2 for those who have magical and religious arts in Babylon.

The verb form, MAGEUO `to perform magic' (μαγευω) only occurs in

Acts.8:9

(This footnote lists every appearance of MAGOS and MAGEUO).

⁶Jer.31:15

⁷"wailing" ℵB vg; "weeping and wailing" DW HK

⁸i.e. "having died"

⁹from PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. Animals have PSYCHEs as well as humans. Contrast ZOE (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected.