Matthew 2: literal translation

1 When Jesus was born in Bethlehem¹ of Judea² in the days of Herod³ the king, magi⁴ from the east became near⁵ in Jerusalem⁶, ² saying, Where is the being born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and go to worship⁷ him. ³ When king Herod heard, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ And having led together⁸ all archiereis⁹ and grammarians¹⁰ of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus has it been written through the prophet: ⁶ And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the hegemons¹¹ of Judah, for out of you will go out¹² a hegumen¹³ who will shepherd my people Israel. ⁷ Then Herod latently called the magi and inquired of them the time of the appearing star. ⁸ And sending them to Bethlehem, he said, Move on and search carefully for the child. Once you find him, message me back¹⁴ so that I can come and worship him. ⁹ And having heard the king, they moved on, and behold, the star they had seen in the east led them forward¹⁵ until it came and stood over where the child was. ¹⁰ Seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. ¹¹ And when they came into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures¹⁶, they presented¹⁷ to him gifts of gold, frankincense¹⁸, and myrrh¹⁹. ¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew²⁰ to their locality²¹ by another way. ¹³ When they withdrew, behold, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says, Awake, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him. ¹⁴ and he awoke, took the child and his mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt, ¹⁵ and he remained there until the end of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt I called My Son.
¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked²² by the magi, was exceedingly angry, and sent forth, and took away²³ all the boys who were in Bethlehem and in all the vicinity of it, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had inquired from the magi. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying: ¹⁸ A voice²⁴ is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and not willing to be comforted²⁵, because they are no more.
¹⁹ When Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰ saying, Awoke, take the child and his mother, and move on to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's soul are dead. ²¹ He awoke, took the child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²² Hearing that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go out²⁶ there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. ²³ And he went and dwelt in a polis²⁷ called Nazareth²⁸, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene²⁹.

---

¹ Βηθλεέμ - Bethleem. בֵּית לֶחֶם‎ means "house of bread" or "house of food."
² Ἰουδαία - Ioudaia.
³ Ἡρῴδης - Herodes.
⁴ μάγοι - wise men.
⁵ παραγίνομαι = παρα (beside) + γίνομαι (to become).
⁶ Ἱεροσόλυμα - Hierosoluma. ביְרוּשָׁלַם‎ from semitic god Shalim.
⁷ προσκυνέω = προσ (toward) + κυνέω (to kiss).
⁸ συνάγω = συν (together) + άγω (to lead). This is where the word synagogue comes from.
⁹ ἀρχιερεῖς = ἄρχω (to rule, to begin) + ἱερεῖς (priests).
¹⁰ γραμματεῖς - grammarians.
¹¹ ἡγεμών - a leader, governor, ruler.
¹² ἐξέρχομαι = ἐξ (out) + έρχομαι (to go).
¹³ ἡγούμενος - the leading one.
¹⁴ ἀπαγγέλλω = ἀπό (away, back, out) + ἄγγελλω (to message).
¹⁵ προάγω = προ (forward) + άγω (to lead).
¹⁶ θησαυροὶ - thesauri.
¹⁷ προσφέρω = προσ (toward) + φέρω (to bear, carry, bring).
¹⁸ λίβανος - because frankincense is the resin of the cedar of Lebanon.
¹⁹ σμύρνα, the translation is consonant with the original.
²⁰ ἀναχωρέω = ἀνα (back) + χωρέω (to make room).
²¹ χώρα - a space, place.
²² ἐμπαίζω = ἐν (in) + παίζω (to play).
²³ ἀναιρέω = ἀνα (up, away) + αἱρέω (to take, choose).
²⁴ Φωνὴ - phone.
²⁵ from παρακαλέω - παράκλητος (a consoler, comforter, helper, the Holy Spirit).
²⁶ ἀπέρχομαι = ἀπό (out) + έρχομαι (to go).
²⁷ πόλις - city.
²⁸ Ναζαρέτ - Nazara or Nazaret or Nazareth.
²⁹ Ναζωραῖος.