InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
InterlinearVerse Mat C1 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28
Mat 2 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23
People tagged in the matching LV passage: Mary (Mother of Jesus)
Used in these topics: Advent (all) · Advent revelation (epiphany)
OET-LV And having_come into the house, they_saw the little_child with Maria/(Miryām) the mother of_him, and having_fallen, they_prostrated before_him, and having_opened_up the treasures of_them, they_offered gifts to_him:
gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
OET (OET-RV) As they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother Maria (Mary; Heb. Miryam; Grk. Maria/Mariam). They bowed low and worshipped him, then they opened their chests and presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
In this section, Matthew showed his readers that:
Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem as scripture predicted (even though he would later move to Nazareth, and people considered him to be a Nazarene).
The Jewish religious teachers who knew the law did not go to worship the king of the Jews. It was the Gentile wise men who worshiped him.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The Visit of the Wise Men (NET)
Visitors from the East (GNT)
On coming to the house,
Then they went into the house, and
They entered the house.
they saw the Child with His mother Mary,
they saw the young child with his mother Mary.
There they saw the child Jesus with Mary, his mother.
and they fell down and worshiped Him.
Then they knelt down and worshiped him.
They quickly bowed down and honored/adored him.
fell down: The Greek word that the BSB here translates as fell down means “quickly lowered themselves to the ground to show great respect.” They did not fall down accidentally.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
knelt down (GNT)
quickly lowered themselves
bowed down (NIV)
and worshiped Him: The Greek word that the BSB translates as worshiped also occurs in 2:2c and 2:8d. This word usually includes the idea of kneeling or bowing down and putting one’s face to the ground to show great honor and submission. But in 2:11c, a separate Greek verb occurs first which indicates that the men “bowed down.” So you can translate this word as:
to honor him
to adore him
Then they opened their treasures
Then they opened their treasure boxes/chests
Next they unpacked their loads
Then they opened their treasures: In this context, the Greek word that the BSB translates as treasures refers to a strong box used for keeping valuable things. For example:
treasure chests (NRSV)
treasure boxes (NET)
If people in your area do not keep valuable things in boxes, you may want to translate this passage using another word. For example:
They opened their containers/bags
They unpacked their loads
and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
and gave him gifts of gold, and of incense and of myrrh.
and gave to him their gifts. They gave him gold, expensive tree resin/sap called incense that is burned for a sweet smell, and an expensive perfume called myrrh.
presented Him with gifts: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as presented means “brought, offered.” The wise men may have placed the gifts in front of or near Jesus.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
offered to him gifts
brought gifts to him
gave gifts…to him
gold: The word gold refers to a shiny, yellow metal that is very valuable. The wise men’s gold may have been in its unworked or unshaped state. Or it may have been formed into a shape or made into coins.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
valuable/yellow metal
Use a borrowed word.
Use a borrowed word plus a descriptive phrase. For example:
valuable metal called gold
frankincense: The Greek word that the BSB translates as frankincense is a type of incense. It comes from the sap of several similar kinds of trees. People made the sap into a dry powder. Then they burned the powder to make a sweet-smelling smoke. They often did this as a part of worship.
Here are some other ways to translate frankincense:
Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
tree resin/sap burned for a sweet smell
Use a borrowed word plus a descriptive phrase. For example:
sweet smelling tree resin/sap called incense
myrrh: The word myrrh also refers to a product made from the sap of a tree in Arabia. People made it into medicine and expensive perfumes.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
an expensive perfume
a sweet smelling oil
Use a borrowed word plus a descriptive phrase. For example:
an expensive perfume called myrrh
myrrh tree sap made into perfume
sweet smelling thing called myrrh
You may want to explain “gold,” “frankincense,” and “myrrh” in a footnote instead of in the text. A sample footnote is:
gold: is a very expensive yellow metal. It is used as money and also in making jewelry.
frankincense: is an expensive product which is burned to give a sweet smell. It is made from the resin of several similar kinds of trees.
myrrh: is an expensive perfume made from the sap of a tree.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / go
ἐλθόντες
˓having˒_come
In a context such as this, your language might say “come” instead of gone. Alternate translation: [having come]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
πεσόντες
˓having˒_fallen
Matthew means that the learned men kneeled on the ground or bowed down very low. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [kneeling down] or [prostrating themselves]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
προσεκύνησαν
˱they˲_prostrated
Translate worshiped as you did in 2:2 and 2:8. Alternate translation: [they bowed before] or [they kneeled before him to honor]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
τοὺς θησαυροὺς αὐτῶν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐλθόντες εἰς τήν οἰκίαν εἶδον τό παιδίον μετά Μαρίας τῆς μητρός αὐτοῦ καί πεσόντες προσεκύνησαν αὐτῷ καί ἀνοίξαντες τούς θησαυρούς αὐτῶν προσήνεγκαν αὐτῷ δῶρα χρυσόν καί λίβανον καί σμύρναν)
Here, their treasures refers to the boxes or bags they used to carry their gifts. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression or plain language. Alternate translation: [the containers that held their treasures] or [their treasure boxes]
OET-LV And having_come into the house, they_saw the little_child with Maria/(Miryām) the mother of_him, and having_fallen, they_prostrated before_him, and having_opened_up the treasures of_them, they_offered gifts to_him:
gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
OET (OET-RV) As they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother Maria (Mary; Heb. Miryam; Grk. Maria/Mariam). They bowed low and worshipped him, then they opened their chests and presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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