Matius 2:3-4

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.

Matius 2:16

2:16 When Herod ⁴  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ⁵  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ⁶  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.

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

[2:4]  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.

[2:4]  ³ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:4]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:16.

[2:16]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Or “soldiers.”

[2:16]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.