Paragraph 2:22–23
2:22a
But: When Joseph returned to Israel, he probably intended to live in Bethlehem in the district of Judea. So there is a contrast between 2:21 and 2:22. The contrast is between Joseph’s original intentions and then his fear of actually going there when he heard that Archelaus was the king of Judea. Joseph probably thought that Archelaus would want to harm Jesus as Herod had wanted to.
Most English versions indicate this contrast with the conjunction But, as the Berean Standard Bible does. Translate this contrast in a way that is natural in your language.
Archelaus: The word Archelaus is the name of Herod’s son. When Herod died, Archelaus became king of Judea.
was reigning in Judea: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as was reigning refers to ruling as the highest authority/leader over a province.
Here are some other ways to translate this verb:
was now ruler (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
was ruling (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
was the king
in place of his father Herod: The phrase in place of his father Herod means that Archelaus became the king after his father Herod died.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
took his father Herod’s place
-or-
replaced his father Herod
-or-
succeeded his father Herod (Good News Translation)
2:22b
he: The pronoun he refers to Joseph.
was afraid to go there: Joseph was probably afraid that King Archelaus would be as cruel a ruler as his father Herod was. He feared that Archelaus would want to kill Jesus as Herod had.
to go there: Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had already returned to Israel. Joseph may have been planning to live in Bethlehem, which was in Judea. In some languages, it may be more natural to include some implied information here. For example:
to go ⌊and stay/live⌋ there
2:22c
having been warned in a dream: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as having been warned is passive. The Greek text does not mention who warned Joseph. It was God acting either directly or through an angel.
Here are some ways to translate this verb:
• Use a passive verb. For example:
being warned in a dream (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Then he was warned in a dream
• Use an active verb. For example:
⌊God⌋ warned him in a dream
-or-
As he was dreaming, ⌊God⌋ told him
warned: Here are some other ways to translate this word:
told/instructed ⌊what to do⌋
-or-
advised ⌊not to go there⌋
This same verb occurs in 2:12.
In some languages, it may be necessary to say what God warned Joseph about. If that is the case in your language, you can say:
warned ⌊him not to go there⌋
-or-
warned ⌊him not to go to Judea⌋
2:22d
withdrew: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as withdrew is the same word translated as “withdrew” in 2:14.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
went (Good News Translation)
-or-
continued
The verb is singular, indicating that Joseph left. But, of course Mary and Jesus went with him. In some languages, it will be more natural to include Mary and Jesus. For example:
went ⌊with Mary and Jesus⌋
to the district of Galilee: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as district refers to a “region” or “province.” Galilee was the name of a province/district of the Roman Empire. It was located in the northern part of what is currently the nation of Israel.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
the province of Galilee (Good News Translation)
-or-
the region of Galilee (New Jerusalem Bible)
© 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.