Translation & sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 19 Dec. 2010, 1 Dec. 2024
18. Now, about Jesus Christ, His genesis was like this:
While his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before their coming together,
she was found with a pregnancy which she was having from the Holy Spirit.
19. And Joseph, her husband, being righteous yet not willing for her to be made an example of, took council to divorce her privately.
20. Now, these things had been burning in his mind
when an angel
of the Lord was revealed to Him by a night-vision, saying,
“Joseph,
son of David, stop being afraid to take Mary to be your wife,
for
the one who was brought into being inside her is from the Holy
Spirit.
21. And she will deliver a son,
and you will call Him by the
name Jesus,
because He Himself will save His people from their
sins.
22. And the entirety of this has come into being in order that
what was said by the Lord through the prophet might be
fulfilled, saying,
23. ‘Behold the virgin will have a pregnancy and will deliver a
son,
and they will call Him by the name Emmanuel,’ which is
translated, ‘God with us.’”
24. Now, after Joseph arose from his sleep,
he did just what
the angel of the Lord prearranged for him,
and he took his
wife,
25. but he did not know her [intimately] until when she
had delivered her firstborn son,
and he called His name Jesus.
My wife went to deliver some homemade food to her mom at the nursing home on Thanksgiving Day. While she was in the nursing home serving her mom, someone slashed one of the tires on our car so that she couldn’t drive home. When I came to change the tire for her, it had been slashed in three different places on both the inside and outside of the tire, so there’s no way it can be repaired. It was clearly a deliberate and emotionally charged act of vandalism, but we have no idea why anyone would want to do such a thing to us. Meanwhile, road hazard insurance doesn’t cover vandalism, so we are the ones who will have to pay for a new tire too.
The reason I share this is not to ask for a pity party, but to share one of the most recent examples in my life of the the fact that sometimes life is confusing. We think things should be a certain way, and then in real life they aren’t. Then it’s easy to get mad at God and at other people.
Of course the reason is that we can’t see the big picture. God says He is “working all things together for good for those who love Him” (Rom. 8:28), but we can’t imagine anything good coming out of these frustrating circumstances.
But when we take care of little children, we can often see a glimpse of what it must be like for God when He has really good reasons to allow difficult circumstances to happen to us, but we just can’t see it yet.
One time, my toddler was hungry, so she grabbed an empty plate as a first step toward getting some food. I saw what she was doing, and I knew she would make a mess if she served herself, so I decided to help. I took her plate out of her hands and started walking toward the food to put some on her plate.
Well, my toddler “lost it” then and there. She started screaming, and if she could have expressed it in words, they might have been something like, “How dare you just take away my plate!!! That was MY plate!!! And how dare you turn your back and walk away, as though you care nothing about me at all!!! How can you be so callous when your poor daughter is starving half to death!!! This was my first chance to get some food this evening, and you’ve completely ruined it!!! I hate you!!!”
She didn’t understand the big picture. What appeared to her to be the worst possible thing I could do to her, turned out to be the way that I was providing to feed her.
Something similar happened to Joseph, the man who ended up adopting Jesus.
Joseph started out upset that his fiancée was cheating on him and having someone else’s baby, but God convinced Joseph that this disconcerting event was really the only way that God could save Joseph (and the rest of the world) from sin.
The story of Joseph’s change of mind was strategically chosen by Matthew to introduce His gospel:
After establishing to his Jewish audience that Joseph was of the kingly line of David, at the beginning of chapter 1, Matthew next has to convince his Jewish audience that Jesus was not illegitimate.
This would be a hard sell, but Matthew does it by telling how Joseph started out skeptical of the legitimacy of Jesus, and yet how he was converted into a believer that Jesus is the Son of God – so much so that he would adopt Jesus and raise him as his own.
What did God do to convert Joseph from a skeptic to a believer?
Begins with his Betrothal to Mary
Jewish betrothal similar to - but more-binding than - engagement. It required a divorce to break.
μνηστευθείσης – lit. “give a souvenir to in order to remember” – like engagement ring – NIV: “Pledged to be married”
Then there’s the discovery of a pregnancy:
The Greek reads εν γαστρὶ εχουσα, lit. “she has [something] in her belly”
Now, the only way for a woman to get pregnant with a baby in her womb is for a man to have planted that baby there. Women don’t just get pregnant on their own; there has to be a father.
Joseph is a “righteous” man, so he would not have fathered a child before his marriage was consummated. That would be to break the 7th commandment not to commit adultery; that would be a sin. Joseph knew he had not committed adultery with Mary, so the only thing he could conclude was that Mary had committed adultery with some other man.
This resulted in some deliberation on his part.
Biblical law says in Deut. 22:23-24 “If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death... Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.” (NASB)
v. 19 Being a “just/righteous man” means Joseph would not minimize this sin either. “That justice, on which a commendation is here bestowed, consisted in hatred and abhorrence of crime. Suspecting his wife of adultery, and even convinced that she was an adulterer, he was unwilling to hold out the encouragement of leni[ence] to such a crime... Not only is such wickedness regarded with abhorrence by good and honorable minds, but that winking at crime … is marked by the laws with infamy. Joseph, therefore, moved by an ardent love of justice, condemned the crime of which he supposed his wife to have been guilty; while the gentleness of his disposition prevented him from going to the utmost rigor of law.” (Calvin)
v.19 says Joseph was not willing παραδειγματίσαι - ESV “to put to shame”/NIV: “to let her be exposed to public disgrace”/ more than just exposure, but also setting an example to deter others from the same sin, thus KJV “be made an example of”/Braids Scots: “Be i the mouth o’ the publick.” (cf. Col 2:15, Heb. 6:6, Num. 25:4, Jer 13:22, Ezek 28:17)
Joseph put some thought in to this:
The Greek word ἐνθυμηθέντος – translated “thought/considered” – literally means “it was burning in [his mind],”
and the Greek word ἐβουλήθη – translated “planned/resolved/had it in mind” – literally means that he “got advice toward making a plan.”
And the plan he cam up with was λάθρᾳ ἀπολῦσαι – to divorce/put away Mary quietly/secretly (opposite of publicly)
This was according to what the law said in Deut. 24:1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, [then] he [shall write] her a certificate of divorce and [put] it in her hand and [send] her out from his house” (NASB)
According to the rabbinic interpretation of this law, this non-public, alternative process could be done in the presence of two witnesses, without a magistrate, and no cause had to be stated.
So that’s Joseph’s plan, but God has a different plan; He is going to convince Joseph to follow through with the marriage and consider the child legitimate!
This happens while Joseph is asleep1. It was no ordinary dream; it was a revelation from God. (Relating of prophetic dreams such as this may have been another connection point between Matthew and his Jewish audience.)
The angel uses three lines of proof that Jesus is not illegitimate but is God’s son:
ἐκ Πνεύματος
(of/by/through/lit. “out of” Holy Spirit) Stated
emphatically in v.20
and “Emmanuel” – emphasis
on divine origin of Jesus=holy (and legit.)
Scripture quoted – fulfillment of scripture legitimizes this pregnancy
He quotes Isaiah 7:142
The context is a challenge to king Ahaz delivered by the prophet Isaiah to trust God instead of trusting in his human allies.
God calls Ahaz to ask for a sign which could strengthen his ability to trust God to deliver Judah from the Syrian army, but Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign.
He was not like the man who told Jesus “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). King Ahaz flat-out said he didn’t even want to believe.
God responds that He will still give a sign, but He will postpone giving that sign until Emanuel is born.
As I have mentioned before, “Emmanuel” is a Hebrew phrase that means “God with us.”
When Jesus was finally born, the angels told the shepherds that the “sign” had now been given: a baby “wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
King Ahaz missed his chance to have his faith strengthened because he refused to even want to trust God to save him. Brothers and sisters, let us not miss out like Ahaz did; let us desire to trust God to save and sustain us and let us open ourselves up to all the help God wants to offer to strengthen our faith!
Another word in this angelic message which confirmed Jesus’ legitimacy is the word “the virgin” – ἡ παρθένος - in Isaiah’s prophecy.
“the virgin” = a particular virgin = Mary
The original Hebrew word used by Isaiah is העלמה “ha’almah.”
A Jew from Jerusalem emailed me a while ago about this word in Isaiah 7:14, saying, “…almah is NOT a virgin or unmarried woman, but simply ‘the young woman’…To say ‘virgin’ here is simply a coverup of the misquote in Matthew 1 based on the inept Septuagint, as the NT author was ignorant of the Hebrew (which is why it was written in Greek).”
(My Jewish correspondent apparently had not bothered to read verse 23 where Matthew quoted the Hebrew word “Emmanuel” from the Hebrew text of Isaiah and then translated it accurately into Greek!)
Martin Luther once made an offer of 100 guilders to any scholar who could prove that almah was used of a young married woman. Luther never had to come up with those 100 guilders, because nowhere is it used in a context that does not also require that the young woman also be a virgin.
A lot is at stake over that little word “virgin” in the prophecy: if Mary did not conceive Jesus as a virgin, then Jesus would not be the son of God but rather an illegitimate child.
But if she was a virgin, then Jesus is a truly-unique individual, the holy Son of God! That should blow your mind!
As Joseph considered the prophecy of a child who would be born of a virgin and who would be called “God with us,” he became convinced that Mary’s pregnancy was indeed the fulfillment of that prophecy as the angel of God had told him – that this child was legitimate.
Not only was Joseph convinced on the grounds of the Holy Spirit as the source of the pregnancy and on the grounds of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, he was also convinced on the grounds of the:
Child’s name and Mission:
The angel said the child should be named “Jesus” or in Hebrew, yeshua, which means “Jehovah is salvation.”
It’s the same name as that of Joshua (Num. 13:16) the army commander named as the successor to Moses and the one who led God’s people into the promised land.
It’s the same name as Jeshua the priest (mentioned in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah), who led God’s people back into the Promised Land after the exile in Babylon and rebuilt the altar in the temple.
And it’s also basically the same name as the prophet Hosea, who portrayed God as the faithful and gracious husband.
Jesus’ name also was His mission: v.21 “for He will save His people from their sins.”
“sins” is the Greek word ἁμαρτιῶν which means “to miss a mark; as a warrior who throws his spear and fails to strike his adversary, or as a traveller who misses his way. In this word, therefore, one of a large group which represent sin under different phases, sin is conceived as a failing and missing the true end and scope of our lives, which is God.” ~Vincent
It is assumed that “His people” is the very people who miss the mark of God’s expectations for us expressed in the 10 Commandments.
If it is His mission to “save,” then it is assumed that “His people” was in trouble because of their “sins” and in need of saving. We are not o.k. on our own without Jesus! We need him to save us!
We only have to look forward to chapter 3 to see that God promises “wrath to come” on those who continue in their sin against God without repentance.
However, the good news is that “Jesus Christ… loved us and released us from our sins by His blood” (Rev. 1:5), in other words, He took God’s wrath upon Himself, bled and died on the cross, and rose from the dead in order to free us from bondage to our sins and to save us from God’s wrath.
Finally, if He will save “His people,” then it is assumed He will not save others who are not “His people.” This means not everyone will be saved, but rather the one group of people He considers His.
Again, we don’t have to look far to see what characterizes those who are saved; chapter 3 says it will be those who “confess their sin,” believing in Jesus to save them, and “bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.”
Joseph was such a man. He decided to believe that Jesus was the Holy One from the Holy Spirit, that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecy that Immanuel would be born of a virgin, and he decided to believe that this child deserved the name Jesus because He would save His people from their sins.
Joseph’s faith resulted in action: v. 24 “Joseph got up from his sleep and did just what the angel commanded (literally what the angel had “pre-arranged”): he accepted Mary as his wife and “brought her to his side” (ATR), and when that baby was born, Joseph named him Jesus.
The gospel according to Luke gives us the details of Jesus’ birth from Mary’s perspective. But Matthew records Joseph’s concern, and Joseph’s concern was that Jesus was not an illegitimate child but was indeed “God with us.”
And Joseph was convinced. What we have here in Matthew chapter 1 is the testimony from Jesus’ earthly father as to the genesis of Jesus Christ/how He came about. “[The word in v.18] is in fact the word Genesis. The evangelist is about to describe, not the genesis of the heaven and the earth, but the genesis of Him who made the heaven and the earth, and who will yet make a new heaven and a new earth” (Morison).
By faith, Mary carried the child to term and labored to bring this one-of-a-kind child into the world.
By faith, Joseph named the child “Jesus,” announcing in advance of the cross that this child would save us from our sins.
And by faith, Jesus also obeyed His heavenly Father and offered Himself to be the propitiation for our sins3 so that by His death and resurrection we could be redeemed from sin and death4.
What is our place in this? Matthew says in v. 23, “They will call Him Emmanuel, which means/is translated/interpreted ‘God with us.’” Who will call Jesus Emmanuel?
Well, Joseph was instructed to call the child “Jesus,” so, calling him “God with us” goes beyond Joseph’s fatherly role in naming the child.
The Greek Septuagint5 text of Isaiah 7:14 doesn’t say “they will call;” it says “you will call the name of this child Immanuel.” Who is “you” that Isaiah speaks of? Well, Isaiah and his son were having a meeting with King Ahaz at the time. Ahaz is not recorded in the Bible as ever saying the word “Immanuel,” but it is entirely possible that Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, was there at the meeting with Isaiah, and the Bible does record Hezekiah as saying, “God with us”:
2 Chronicles 32:2-8 (NASB) “Now when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem… 6 He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, "Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. 8 With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God [Immanuel] to help us and to fight our battles."
How many of that kingly line listed in Matthew 1, from verse 9 on, believed in a God who was “with them?” Certainly Hezekiah, then Josiah, Zerubbabel… and then we come to Joseph.
This truth made all the difference to Joseph. Would he believe that Mary was carrying an illegitimate child, or would he believe that this was the Son of God? Joseph believed that Jesus was “God with” him, so brought Mary to his side as his wife and raised that boy believing that he was raising God’s Son.
Although the Greek Septuagint text of Isaiah 7:14 says “you” will call his name Emmanuel, the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14 says, “She [the virgin] will call His name Emmanuel.”
Judging from Mary’s “Magnificat” song recorded in chapter 1 of the Gospel of Luke, Mary truly believed that Jesus was the Son of God brought into her very womb to be “with her.”
So if the Septuagint says “you” singular (the King) will call Him Emmanuel, and the original Hebrew text says “she” - Mary will call him Emmanuel, why is it that Matthew, in v.23 instead says “they,” referring to many people - would call Jesus “Emmanuel… God with us”?
I believe it is because this name is not just for Hezekiah, not just for Mary, but for every one of us who are numbered with the “people” of God. Every one of us is also to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus as “God with us.”
Do you believe that Jesus is “God” who “became flesh and lived among us”? (Jn. 1:14)
Jesus said to Philip, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father…” (John 14:9, NASB)
As John Calvin put it, “If we are united to Christ, we possess God!”
v.21 – Three characters with three futures:
Mary will deliver/bear/bring forth/give birth
Joseph will name
Jesus will save – The subject is emphatic in the original Greek text: “He himself” - “He alone will save.”
We can’t take on Jesus’ role, but we can follow in Mary and Joseph’s footsteps:
We can name the name of Jesus as an act of faith, claiming Him as
“God with us,” come to “save His people from their sins.”
Act
according to this truth which God has revealed in the Bible, even in
the face of human ridicule.
“Come on Joseph, virgins
don’t have babies, this child is not God!”
“No, I
believe He is ‘God with us,’ and He will save us from our sins.”
We can labor to carry Jesus to the world and deliver the word of God like Mary did.
Accept and nurture the faith God has planted in us:
My wife and I teach childbirth classes where we encourage expectant mothers to eat 100 grams of protein per day along with healthy foods, because we want to grow healthy babies, and we know that diet affects the health of the baby.
How do we grow and nurture our faith? Through spending time with other believers, participating in the Lord’s Supper, spending time talking to God in prayer, and reading the Bible or listening to good Bible teaching, and even making memorials that remind us of God’s work in our lives.
(Not only Nurture but also) Share that faith with others:
Mary and Joseph changed all those dirty diapers and taught all those scripture lessons to Jesus, then released Jesus to minister throughout Israel.
Then Mary shared her testimony to Luke who wrote it all down to be shared with generation after generation in the Bible.
The apostle Paul also described that process of sharing the gospel in terms of childbirth, writing in Gal. 4:19 “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you” (NASB).
So let us follow in Mary and Joseph’s footsteps, naming the name of Jesus in faith that He saves us from our sins and is truly “God with us,” and nurturing that faith within ourselves and sharing it with the world around us.
ByzantineA |
NAW |
KJVB |
NASBC |
NIVD |
ESVE |
Rheims (Vulgate)F |
Murdoch (Peshitta)G |
18 Τοῦ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡ γέννησιςH οὕτως ἦν. μνηστευθείσης γὰρI τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Μαρίας τῷ ᾿Ιωσήφ, πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν αὐτοὺς, εὑρέθη ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα ἐκ Πνεύματος ῾Αγίου. |
18. Now, about Jesus Christ, His genesis was like this: While his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before their coming together, she was found with a pregnancy which she was having from the Holy Spirit. |
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child X of the Holy Ghost. |
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child X by the Holy Spirit. |
18 X This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child X through the Holy Spirit. |
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child X from the Holy Spirit. |
18 Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, X of the Holy Ghost. |
18 And the birth of Jesus the Messiah was thus. While his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they had cohabited, she was found to be with child X by the Holy Spirit. |
19 ᾿Ιωσὴφ δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς, δίκαιος ὢν καὶ μὴ θέλων αὐτὴν Jπαραδειγματίσαι, ἐβουλήθη λάθρᾳ ἀπολῦσαι αὐτήν. |
19. And Joseph, her husband, being righteous yet not willing for her to be made an example of, took council to divorce her privately. |
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. |
19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. |
19 X Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. |
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. |
19 Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. |
19 And Joseph her husband was a righteous man, and unwilling to expose her: [and] he thought of putting her away privately. |
20 ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐνθυμηθέντος ἰδοὺ ἄγγελος κυρίου κατ᾿ ὄναρ ἐφάνη αὐτῷ λέγων· ᾿Ιωσὴφ υἱὸς Δαυΐδ, μὴ φοβηθῇς παραλαβεῖν ΜαριὰμK τὴν γυναῖκά σου· τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ Πνεύματός ἐστιν ῾Αγίου. |
20. Now, these things had been burning in his mind when an angel of the Lord was revealed to Him by a night-vision, saying, “Joseph, son of David, stop being afraid to take Mary to be your wife, for the one who was brought into being inside her is from the Holy Spirit. |
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take [unto thee] Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. |
20
But when
he
had
considered
th |
20
But after
he had considered
th |
20
But |
20
But |
20
And |
21 τέξεται δὲ υἱὸν καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦν· αὐτὸς γὰρ σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν. |
21. And she will deliver a son, and you will call Him by the name Jesus, because He Himself will save His people from their sins. |
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. |
21 "X She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." |
21 X She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." |
21 X She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” |
21 And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. |
21 and she will bear a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he will resuscitate his people from their sins. |
22 Τοῦτο δὲ ὅλον γέγονεν ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦL Κυρίου διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος· |
22. And the entirety of this has come into being in order that what was said by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, |
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, |
22 Now all this took place to X fulfillX what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: X |
22 X All this took place to X fulfillX what the Lord had X said through the prophet: X |
22 X All this took place to X fulfillX what the X Lord had X spoken by the prophet: X |
22 Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which X the Lord X spokeX by the prophet, saying: |
22 Now all this that occurred, was to X fulfillX what was spoken of the Lord by the prophet: X |
23 ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ᾿Εμμανουήλ, ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον, μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός. |
23. ‘Behold the virgin will have a pregnancy and will deliver a son, and they will call Him by the name Emmanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” |
23
Behold, |
23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." |
23 "X The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him X Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." |
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). |
23 Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. |
23 Behold, a virgin will conceive, and will bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, [Our] God with us. |
24 MΔιεγερθεὶς δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιωσὴφ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕπνου ἐποίησεν ὡς προσέταξεν αὐτῷ ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου· καὶ παρέλαβε τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, |
24. Now, after Joseph arose from his sleep, he did just what the angel of the Lord prearranged for him, and he took his wife, |
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took [unto him] his wife: |
24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary [as] his wife, |
24 When Joseph woke up X X, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took [Mary home as] his wife. |
24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: X he took his wife, |
24 And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took [unto him] his wife. |
24 And when Joseph rose from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife. |
25 καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτὴν ἕως οὗ ἔτεκε τόν υἱόν αὐτῆς τόν πρωτότοκονN, καὶ ἐκάλεσε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦν. |
25. but he did not know her [intimately] until after she had delivered her firstborn son, and he called His name Jesus. |
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. |
25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. |
25
But he had no union with her until she gave
birth
to
a son. And he |
25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. |
25 And he knew her not till she brought forth her first born son: and he called his name Jesus. |
25 And he knew her not, until she had borne her firstborn son, and called Ois name Jesus. |
1 (cf. v.24) This word is unique to Matthew to describe a visit from a messenger of God who delivered the message while the person was asleep (Joseph, the wise men, and Herod’s wife).
2 This may be Matthew’s own translation from Hebrew - not LXX (which uses lampsomai instead of exei – the former having more a shade of meaning of the receiving/conceiving of pregnancy and the latter with pregnancy in general).
3 Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 1Jn. 2:2; 4:10.
4 Hos. 13:14, Isa. 44:22
5 The Masoretic Hebrew reads “she will call His name Immanuel”
A This Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the 19th and 20th centuries by compiling only the oldest-known manuscripts with special emphasis on Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, but even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.
B 1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain.
C Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
D Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
E Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
F Rheims New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582, Revised Bishop Richard Challoner, 1752, as published by E-Sword Nov. 2016.
G Peshito Syriac New Testament, translated into English by James Murdock. Originally published 1851, republished by E-Sword May 2023.
H There is some variety in the way the Greek manuscripts spell this word. This is the way the majority of manuscripts spell it, but the earliest manuscript which spells it this way is from the 6th Century. The six manuscripts dating before the 6th Century AD all double the nu and change the middle vowel from epsilon to eta, but it makes no difference in meaning.
I The vast majority of Greek manuscripts include this conjunction (usually translated “for”), but the four oldest-known manuscripts (plus the 10th century family 1 of manuscripts and a couple of others) do not have this conjunction, so it is not included in contemporary critical editions or in contemporary English translations. Because the operative verb is a participle generally understood to have a temporal meaning (“While”), the added conjunction doesn’t change the meaning, and besides, there is no need in English for another conjunction (although the KJV, which followed the majority of Greek manuscripts brought the conjunction in with the word “as.”)
J The “para” prefix of this verb, while in the majority of Greek manuscripts, is not found in about half of the oldest-known Greek manuscripts. There is no substantial difference in meaning, however. CNTTS reports that it is not supported in any of the oldest Latin manuscripts, but if it does not make a substantial difference in English translation, I wonder how it was determined to have made a difference in those ancient Latin translations.
K The oldest-known Greek manuscript spells Mary’s name “Marian,” but the majority - not only of the Byzantine but also of the early Uncial manuscripts - spell it “Mariam.” This makes no difference in meaning, and makes no difference in English, since we render it “Mary.”
L The earliest Greek manuscripts do not have the definite article “the” before “Lord,” but from the 8th century on, it was inserted into Greek manuscripts, perhaps to prevent the possibility of translating it “a lord,” and thus it passed into the majority of Greek manuscripts, although the purists who compile the modern critical editions have taken it back out to reflect what is likely the original reading. It makes no difference in English, as it can be seen that all English versions translate it with the English definite article “the Lord.”
M The two oldest-known Greek manuscripts, as well as family 1 and most of the old Latin manuscripts spell this verb without the “dia-” prefix, which doesn’t substantially change its meaning – it is only the difference between “woke up” and “woke up thoroughly.” The majority of the ancient Uncials as well as the majority of Byzantine Greek manuscripts, however, support the prefix.
N The two oldest-known Greek manuscripts (as well as families 1 and 13 of the Greek manuscripts and a bunch of Old Latin manuscripts) read simply “a son.” The Vulgate, Peshitta, and the majority of Greek manuscripts (including the vast majority of the ancient Uncial manuscripts all the way back to the 5th century AD) read “her firstborn son,” which is why the KJV includes those words. Whether the words were omitted by the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus or whether they were added into the Beza and Ephraemi Rescriptus is a matter of debate, as is the possible reasons why this phrase would have been omitted or added. Thankfully, it does not change the meaning of the verse. The son is obviously Jesus whom we know to be “hers” and her “firstborn.”
O The printer of Murdock’s translation missed the “h” here, so it is missing in all the online databases, but Etheridge and Lamsa’s printers spelled their translations of the Peshitta correctly here with “his.”