Paragraph 2:7–8
Herod tried to trick the wise men. He wanted to know exactly how old the baby Jesus was. And he wanted to know exactly where the baby was. But he did not want them to know that he was planning to kill the child (2:13).
2:7a
Then: The word Then here implies that Herod’s meeting with the chief priests and scribes (in 2:4–6) had ended. It introduces the next event.
In some languages, it may be natural to add some implied information here. For example:
⌊After the meeting ended⌋ then
-or-
⌊When Herod heard this,⌋ then
Herod called the Magi: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as called also means “summoned.”
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
summoned (English Standard Version)
-or-
told to come to him
-or-
invited
secretly: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as secretly indicates that Herod did not want other people to know about the meeting. Here is another way to translate this:
privately (New Jerusalem Bible)
2:7b
learned from them the exact time the star had appeared: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as learned refers to gaining clear and exact knowledge about something. Herod asked the wise men about the precise time the star first appeared. He perhaps even asked them the exact date. And they told him. Herod probably assumed that the child was born on the same day that the star first appeared. He then calculated the age of the child from the time they specified.
Here are some other ways to translate these words:
learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared (New Jerusalem Bible)
exact time the star had appeared: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as appeared can also mean “became visible.”
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
the ⌊first⌋ time they saw the star
-or-
when the star arose
-or-
when the star showed itself
This same word occurs in 1:20.
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