LUKE 2:3 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

AICNT {And everyone went to be registered, each to his own city}.[fn]

2:3, And everyone went...: ℵ(01) reads “And each went to register in their own city.”

OEB And everyone went to his own town to be registered.

2DT All journeyed to be registered, each to his own city.

WEBBE All went to enrol themselves, everyone to his own city.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Everyone went to his own town to be registered.

LSV and all were going to be registered, each to his proper city,

FBV So everybody went to their own city to be registered.

TCNT So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

T4T Every person had to go to the town where his most famous ancestor had lived, so that the officials could write down their names.

LEB And everyone went to be registered, each one to his own town.

BBE And all men went to be numbered, everyone to his town.

Moff So everyone went to be registered, each at his own town,

Wymth and all went to be registered—every one to the town to which he belonged.

ASV And all went to enrol themselves, every one to his own city.

DRA And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city.

YLT and all were going to be enrolled, each to his proper city,

Drby And all went to be inscribed in the census roll, each to his own city:

RV And all went to enroll themselves, every one to his own city.

SLT And all went to be enrolled, each in his own city.

Wbstr And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

KJB-1769 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

KJB-1611 And all went to bee taxed, euery one into his owne citie.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps And euery man went vnto his owne citie, to be taxed.
(And every man went unto his own city, to be taxed.)

Gnva Therefore went all to be taxed, euery man to his owne Citie.
(Therefore went all to be taxed, every man to his own Citie. )

Cvdl And they wente all, euery one to his owne cite to be taxed.
(And they went all, every one to his own cite to be taxed.)

TNT And every man went vnto his awne citie to be taxed.
(And every man went unto his own city to be taxed. )

Wycl And alle men wenten to make professioun, ech in to his owne citee.
(And all men went to make professioun, each in to his own city.)

Luth Und jedermann ging, daß er sich schätzen ließe, ein. jeglicher in seine Stadt.
(And anyone went, that he itself/yourself/themselves appreciate/treasure(v) let, in. any/each in his city.)

ClVg et ibant omnes ut profiterentur singuli in suam civitatem.
(and they_were_going everyone as profiterentur individually in/into/on his_own the_city. )

UGNT καὶ ἐπορεύοντο πάντες ἀπογράφεσθαι, ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν.
(kai eporeuonto pantes apografesthai, hekastos eis taʸn heautou polin.)

SBL-GNT καὶ ἐπορεύοντο πάντες ἀπογράφεσθαι, ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν ⸀ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν.
(kai eporeuonto pantes apografesthai, hekastos eis taʸn ⸀heautou polin.)

RP-GNT Καὶ ἐπορεύοντο πάντες ἀπογράφεσθαι, ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν πόλιν.
(Kai eporeuonto pantes apografesthai, hekastos eis taʸn idian polin.)

TC-GNT Καὶ ἐπορεύοντο πάντες ἀπογράφεσθαι, ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν [fn]ἰδίαν πόλιν.
(Kai eporeuonto pantes apografesthai, hekastos eis taʸn idian polin. )

2:3 ιδιαν ¦ εαυτου CT

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

TTN Tyndale Theme Notes:

The Birth of Christ

The accounts of the birth of Jesus (Matt 1:18–2:12; Luke 2:1-20) are a study in contrasts. On the one side is the lowliness of the birth. A poor peasant couple makes their way to their ancestral home of Bethlehem to register for a census imposed on them by the oppressive Roman Empire. Their journey is a long and hard one from Galilee, and when they arrive they can find no place of lodging. They are consigned to a place reserved for animals. There is a sense of poverty, rejection, and obscurity. At the birth of the child, announcements are sent not to great kings or to the rich and powerful, but to lowly shepherds watching their flocks in a field.

Yet beside this humble lowliness is a message of unspeakable power and grandeur. The child who is laid in a manger is the Messiah, the long-awaited descendant of King David. He will reign triumphant over the people of Israel and his kingdom will never end. He is the one spoken about by all the prophets. All of history has been pointing forward to its climax in him. A group of wise men from the East come to pay homage to him. And an army of mighty angels comes from heaven to announce his birth.

These contrasts are a foretaste of things to come. In Jesus, the God of Israel and Lord of all the earth has come to visit and to save his people. The Divine One reaches down to meet them where they are. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus will show special concern for the lowly, the poor, the outcast, and sinners. These are the ones he has come to save because they recognize their need for him. They receive the message of salvation with joy and rejoicing.

The contrast between lowliness and exaltation also relates to Jesus’ mission. Though wicked people reject him and put him to death, Jesus is vindicated at his resurrection and exalted to the right hand of God, where he reigns as Lord and Messiah. From there he pours out the Spirit of God to guide and direct his church. Through his life, death, resurrection, and exaltation, Jesus provides forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all those who respond in faith to him.

Passages for Further Study

Matt 1:18–2:12; Luke 2:1-20

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 2:1–7: Jesus was born

In this section the things that the angel told Mary about in 1:31–37 happened. In those verses the angel told Mary that she would give birth to a son through the power of the Holy Spirit. This would happen even though she was a virgin. In this section, that prophecy was fulfilled. Mary gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. This section begins about six months after John the Baptizer was born (1:26).

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it. Some other possible headings for this section are:

The Birth of Jesus (GNT)

Mary gave birth to the Savior

Paragraph 2:1–3

This paragraph is the introduction to this section. It tells when the events happened. It also tells about an event that was background information for the main events of the section.

2:3

And everyone went to his own town to register.

All the people went to the towns of their ancestors in order to register their names.
So, each person went to the village/town where his ancestors had lived so that government officials could record/write his name in a book there.

And This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that introduces more information about the census that Caesar ordered in 2:1. To show that people going to their own towns to register was the next thing that happened after Caesar ordered a census, the BSB translates this conjunction as And. Caesar had ordered people to go to the town where their ancestors had lived in order for officials to register them. Then the officials could write each person’s name as being from that place. Here are some other ways to connect this verse to the context:

Use a general way to connect events in your language, as the BSB does. The Greek text uses the common connector that is often translated as “And.” For example:
And all went to their own towns to be registered. (NCV)
Some versions do not use a connector. For example:
Everyone went to his own town to be registered. (NET)
Make it explicit that this verse is a result of 2:1. For example:
Because of this law/order, everyone went to his own town to register.

Connect this verse to the context in a natural way in your language.

everyone went to his own town: This clause describes what Caesar required people to do. The Greek verb form that the BSB translates as went indicates that this action happened over a period of time. People were going to their own towns to be registered. Some other ways to translate this are:

And everyone was on his way…each to his own city. (NASB)

Everyone had to go to their own hometown (CEV)

his own town: In this context, the phrase his own town refers to the town where his ancestors had lived. This may not be the town or area where the person was born. It also may not be the town where he was then living. Some other ways to translate this are:

the cities where their ancestors had lived (GW)

their own ancestral towns (NLT)

to register: The Greek word that the BSB translates as to register is the same word as in 2:1b. There the BSB translates this word as “census.” As in 2:1b, it means “to register” or “to enroll.” The emperor ordered people to tell officials their names so that the officials could write them in the government’s record book.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-background

ἐπορεύοντο πάντες

˓were˒_going all

Luke describes the registration as already in progress in order to account for why Joseph and Mary had to travel at this time, late in her pregnancy. Alternate translation: [everyone was going]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν

to (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐπορεύοντο πάντες ἀπογράφεσθαι ἕκαστος εἰς τήν ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν)

The phrase his own city refers to the city where a person’s family had originally lived. A person might have since moved to a different city. Alternate translation: [to the city that their families came from]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἀπογράφεσθαι

˓to_be˒_registering

Alternate translation: [to provide their names for the tax rolls]

Parallel LUKE 2:3

Section 2:1–7: Jesus was born

Paragraph 2:1–3

2:3