马太福音 2

Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)

耶稣降生博士来拜

2 当希律王的时候，耶稣生在犹太的伯利恒。有几个博士从东方来到耶路撒冷，说： ²“那生下来做犹太人之王的在哪里？我们在东方看见他的星，特来拜他。” ³希律王听见了，就心里不安，耶路撒冷合城的人也都不安。 ⁴他就召齐了祭司长和民间的文士，问他们说：“基督当生在何处？” ⁵他们回答说：“在犹太的伯利恒。因为有先知记着说： ⁶‘犹大地的伯利恒啊，你在犹大诸城中并不是最小的，因为将来有一位君王要从你那里出来，牧养我以色列民。’” ⁷当下，希律暗暗地召了博士来，细问那星是什么时候出现的， ⁸就差他们往伯利恒去，说：“你们去仔细寻访那小孩子，寻到了就来报信，我也好去拜他。” ⁹他们听见王的话就去了。在东方所看见的那星忽然在他们前头行，直行到小孩子的地方，就在上头停住了。 ¹⁰他们看见那星，就大大地欢喜。 ¹¹进了房子，看见小孩子和他母亲马利亚，就俯伏拜那小孩子，揭开宝盒，拿黄金、乳香、没药为礼物献给他。 ¹²博士因为在梦中被主指示不要回去见希律，就从别的路回本地去了。

逃到埃及

¹³他们去后，有主的使者向约瑟梦中显现，说：“起来！带着小孩子同他母亲逃往埃及，住在那里，等我吩咐你，因为希律必寻找小孩子，要除灭他。” ¹⁴约瑟就起来，夜间带着小孩子和他母亲往埃及去， ¹⁵住在那里，直到希律死了。这是要应验主借先知所说的话说：“我从埃及召出我的儿子来。”

屠杀男孩

¹⁶希律见自己被博士愚弄，就大大发怒，差人将伯利恒城里并四境所有的男孩，照着他向博士仔细查问的时候，凡两岁以里的都杀尽了。 ¹⁷这就应了先知耶利米的话说： ¹⁸“在拉玛听见号啕大哭的声音，是拉结哭她儿女，不肯受安慰，因为他们都不在了。”

回国到拿撒勒

¹⁹希律死了以后，有主的使者在埃及向约瑟梦中显现，说： ²⁰“起来！带着小孩子和他母亲往以色列地去，因为要害小孩子性命的人已经死了。” ²¹约瑟就起来，把小孩子和他母亲带到以色列地去。 ²²只因听见亚基老接着他父亲希律做了犹太王，就怕往那里去。又在梦中被主指示，便往加利利境内去了， ²³到了一座城，名叫拿撒勒，就住在那里。这是要应验先知所说“他将称为拿撒勒人”的话了。

Matthew 2

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 2

The Visit of the Magi.^[a] ¹When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod,^[b] behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, ²saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star^[c] at its rising and have come to do him homage.”^(A) ³When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.^[d] ⁵^(B)They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:

⁶‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” ⁹After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰They were overjoyed at seeing the star, ¹¹^[e]^(C)and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

The Flight to Egypt. ¹³^[f]When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,^[g] and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” ¹⁴Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. ¹⁵^[h]He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet^(D) might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

The Massacre of the Infants. ¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

¹⁸^[i]^(E)“A voice was heard in Ramah,
    sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
    and she would not be consoled,
    since they were no more.”

The Return from Egypt. ¹⁹When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said,^(F) “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”^[j] ²¹He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod,^[k] he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. ²³^[l]^(G)He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean.”

Footnotes

2:1–12 The future rejection of Jesus by Israel and his acceptance by the Gentiles are retrojected into this scene of the narrative.
2:1 In the days of King Herod: Herod reigned from 37 to 4 B.C. Magi: originally a designation of the Persian priestly caste, the word became used of those who were regarded as having more than human knowledge. Matthew’s magi are astrologers.
2:2 We saw his star: it was a common ancient belief that a new star appeared at the time of a ruler’s birth. Matthew also draws upon the Old Testament story of Balaam, who had prophesied that “A star shall advance from Jacob” (Nm 24:17), though there the star means not an astral phenomenon but the king himself.
2:4 Herod’s consultation with the chief priests and scribes has some similarity to a Jewish legend about the child Moses in which the “sacred scribes” warn Pharaoh about the imminent birth of one who will deliver Israel from Egypt and the king makes plans to destroy him.
2:11 Cf. Ps 72:10, 15; Is 60:6. These Old Testament texts led to the interpretation of the magi as kings.
2:13–23 Biblical and nonbiblical traditions about Moses are here applied to the child Jesus, though the dominant Old Testament type is not Moses but Israel (Mt 2:15).
2:13 Flee to Egypt: Egypt was a traditional place of refuge for those fleeing from danger in Palestine (see 1 Kgs 11:40; Jer 26:21), but the main reason why the child is to be taken to Egypt is that he may relive the Exodus experience of Israel.
2:15 The fulfillment citation is taken from Hos 11:1. Israel, God’s son, was called out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus; Jesus, the Son of God, will similarly be called out of that land in a new exodus. The father-son relationship between God and the nation is set in a higher key. Here the son is not a group adopted as “son of God,” but the child who, as conceived by the holy Spirit, stands in unique relation to God. He is son of David and of Abraham, of Mary and of Joseph, but, above all, of God.
2:18 Jer 31:15 portrays Rachel, wife of the patriarch Jacob, weeping for her children taken into exile at the time of the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom (722–21 B.C.). Bethlehem was traditionally identified with Ephrath, the place near which Rachel was buried (see Gn 35:19; 48:7), and the mourning of Rachel is here applied to her lost children of a later age. Ramah: about six miles north of Jerusalem. The lamentation of Rachel is so great as to be heard at a far distance.
2:20 For those who sought the child’s life are dead: Moses, who had fled from Egypt because the Pharaoh sought to kill him (see Ex 2:15), was told to return there, “for all the men who sought your life are dead” (Ex 4:19).
2:22 With the agreement of the emperor Augustus, Archelaus received half of his father’s kingdom, including Judea, after Herod’s death. He had the title “ethnarch” (i.e., “ruler of a nation”) and reigned from 4 B.C. to A.D. 6.
2:23 Nazareth…he shall be called a Nazorean: the tradition of Jesus’ residence in Nazareth was firmly established, and Matthew sees it as being in accordance with the foreannounced plan of God. The town of Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament, and no such prophecy can be found there. The vague expression “through the prophets” may be due to Matthew’s seeing a connection between Nazareth and certain texts in which there are words with a remote similarity to the name of that town. Some such Old Testament texts are Is 11:1 where the Davidic king of the future is called “a bud” (nēser) that shall blossom from the roots of Jesse, and Jgs 13:5, 7 where Samson, the future deliverer of Israel from the Philistines, is called one who shall be consecrated (a nāzîr) to God.

Matteo 2

La Bibbia della Gioia

La nascita di Gesù

2 Gesù nacque nella cittadina di Betlemme, in Giudea, durante il regno di Erode.

In quel periodo alcuni magi arrivarono a Gerusalemme dallʼOriente e chiesero:

²«Dovʼè il re dei Giudei appena nato? Abbiamo visto la sua stella nei lontani paesi dʼOriente e siamo venuti qui per adorarlo».

³Il re Erode rimase turbato da queste parole, e con lui gli abitanti di Gerusalemme. ⁴Egli riunì tutti i capi religiosi.

«Ci hanno mai detto i profeti dove sarebbe nato il Messia?» chiese il re.

⁵«Sì, a Betlemme», risposero, «così infatti scrisse il profeta Michea: ⁶“O piccola Betlemme, tu non sei la meno importante fra i villaggi della Giudea, perché da te sorgerà un principe, che guiderà il mio popolo Israele”».

⁷Allora Erode chiese di parlare in privato con i magi. Durante questo colloquio, scoprì il momento esatto in cui la stella era apparsa e disse loro: ⁸«Andate a Betlemme a cercare il bambino. Quando lʼavrete trovato, venite ad avvertirmi, così anchʼio potrò andare ad adorarlo!»

⁹Dopo questo incontro, i magi ripresero il loro viaggio. Ed ecco: la stella che avevano visto in oriente li precedeva finché non si fermò proprio sul luogo dovʼera il bambino, sopra Betlemme.

¹⁰La loro gioia non conobbe limiti!

¹¹Entrarono nella casa dove erano il bambino e Maria, sʼinginocchiarono e lo adorarono. Poi presentarono i loro doni e glieli offrirono: oro, incenso e mirra. ¹²Ma nel viaggio di ritorno verso il loro paese, non passarono più per Gerusalemme ad informare Erode, perché Dio li aveva avvertiti in sogno di seguire unʼaltra strada.

¹³Partiti i magi, un angelo del Signore apparve in sogno a Giuseppe. «Àlzati e fuggi in Egitto col bambino e sua madre», disse lʼangelo, «e restaci finché non ti dirò di ritornare, perché il re Erode cercherà di uccidere il bimbo!» ¹⁴Quella notte stessa Giuseppe partì con Maria e il bambino per lʼEgitto, ¹⁵dove rimasero fino alla morte di Erode. Così sʼavverava la predizione del profeta: «Ho chiamato mio figlio dallʼEgitto».

La strage degli innocenti

¹⁶Erode andò su tutte le furie quando venne a sapere che i magi si erano presi gioco di lui. Mandò i suoi soldati a Betlemme e ordinò loro di uccidere tutti i bambini maschi al di sotto dei due anni, sia in città che nelle campagne circostanti, perché i magi gli avevano detto che la stella era apparsa loro due anni prima. ¹⁷Con questa brutale azione di Erode si avverava la profezia di Geremia: ¹⁸«Grida di dolore si odono da Rama, un pianto irrefrenabile; è Rachele sconsolata che piange per i suoi figli, perché sono morti».

¹⁹Dopo la morte di Erode, un angelo del Signore apparve in sogno a Giuseppe in Egitto e gli disse: ²⁰«Àlzati e riporta il bambino e sua madre in Israele, perché ormai quelli che volevano uccidere il bimbo sono tutti morti».

²¹E Giuseppe ritornò immediatamente in Israele con Gesù e sua madre. ²²Ma, sulla via del ritorno, apprese con timore che il nuovo re era Archelao, figlio di Erode. Sempre in sogno, fu avvertito di non tornare in Giudea; si stabilirono allora tutti e tre in Galilea, ²³a Nazaret. Si realizzava così la predizione del profeta concernente il Messia: «Egli sarà chiamato Nazareno».

Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified) (CUVMPS)

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

La Bibbia della Gioia (BDG)

马太福音 2 Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)