OET interlinear MAT 2:15

2:15

Matthew interrupts his story here and gives his audience some background information. Verse 2:15 tells about what would happen later after Herod died. But verse 2:16 says that Herod had not yet died.

2:15a

where he stayed until the death of Herod: There is some implied information here. It is that Mary and the baby Jesus all lived in Egypt with Joseph until King Herod died. Then they went back to Israel shortly after Herod’s death. You may want to include some of this implied information in your translation. For example:

where he stayed with the child and the child’s mother

2:15b

This fulfilled: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as This fulfilled is literally “in order to be fulfilled.” This phrase indicates purpose. God told Joseph to take the child and his mother and leave Egypt (2:13), in order to fulfill what he (the Lord) had said through the prophet (2:15).

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

This happened to fulfill

This was done to make come true (GNT)

fulfilled: As the previous note suggested, the Greek word that the BSB translates as fulfilled is literally “be fulfilled.” This word means “came true” or “happened.” God spoke the words of 2:15c hundreds of years before Jesus was born. And now those words came true regarding Jesus.

In the Greek, the verb “was fulfilled” is passive.

Here are some ways to translate this verb:

• As a passive verb. For example:

  In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled (NET)

• As an active verb, as in the BSB. For example:

  When God told Joseph to take the child and his mother and leave Egypt, this fulfilled

• As a stative verb. For example:

  came true (CEV)

  happened

what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: The phrase what the Lord had spoken through the prophet refers to the words/message that the Lord God told the prophet Hosea to tell the people. Hosea then spoke these words to the people. He also wrote them down.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the message that the Lord God spoke through the prophet. He said,

the words that the Lord told the prophet to say to the people. He said,

This same clause also occurs in 1:22. You should translate it the same way in both places.

prophet: The word prophet also occurs in 1:22 and 2:5. Also see prophet in the Glossary.

2:15c

Verse 2:15c is a quote from Hosea 11:1. You may want to include this information in a footnote.

Out of Egypt I called My Son: This clause means that Jesus was in the country of Egypt when God told Joseph to leave and bring his family back to Israel.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

I called my son to come out of Egypt

I told/commanded my son to leave/exit Egypt

I summoned my son to return from Egypt

Out of Egypt: The phrase Out of Egypt refers to the “Son” being in Egypt when God “called” him. It does not refer to the location of God when he said these words.

The phrase Out of Egypt is emphasized in the Greek. That is the reason that it is put first in the BSB. If you have a natural way to emphasize the phrase Out of Egypt in your language, you may want to do so.

I called: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as called refers to telling someone to come.

My Son: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as My Son refers to Jesus here. However, this is a quote from the Old Testament long before Jesus was born. So do not translate this as “my son Jesus.”