“People of high status would ride horses or elephants when they travel. Joseph and Mary are not rich so they walk to escape danger. They must travel through wild countryside where no one is around to help them.”
There are three different levels of speech in Burmese: common language, religious language (addressing and honoring monks, etc.), and royal language (which is not in active use anymore). Earliest Bible translations used exclusively royal and religious language (in the way Jesus is addressed by others and in the way Jesus is referred to via pronouns), which results in Jesus being divine and not human. Later editions try to make distinctions.
In the Common Language Version (publ. 2005) the human face of Jesus appears in the narrative of the angel’s message to Joseph and what Joseph did in response (Matthew 1:21-25). The angel told Joseph that Mary was going to give birth to a son, not a prince.
Likewise in Luke 2:6-7 the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is told simply using the Common language. Again in the description of the shepherds’ visit to the baby Jesus (Mark 1:21-25), in the story of Jesus’ circumcision (Luke 2:6-2:7), and in the narrative of the child Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem (Luke 2:46-51), the human face of Jesus comes to the forefront.
On the other hand, the child Jesus is clearly depicted as a royal or a divine child in the story of the wise men (Matthew 2:9-12), the story of the flight to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14), and the return to Nazareth (Matthew 2:20-21).
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 2:21:
Uma: “Yusuf did get up, taking that Child with Maria, returning to the land of the Israel people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then he got up, took the child and Mariyam, and they went back to the land of Isra’il.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then Joseph got up and accompanied the child and Mary, the mother of the child, and they went home to the land of Israel.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “So then plural Jose got up and they returned to Israel.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “After that, truly only then is when Jose-and-wife returned to Israel.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Joseph then took the boy with his mother and went to the land of Israel.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
He refers to Joseph, and so Good News Translation makes the identification for its readers: “Joseph got up.”
Rose and took translates a participle (the same form mentioned in verse 20) followed by a finite verb. Most translations use two finite verbs, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done. See also comments at verse 14 for suggestions on translating rose … took … went …, and verse 20 for land of Israel.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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