The single Greek sentence (as in the Revised Standard Version text) has been made into three sentences in Good News Translation (the first two are separated by a period, while the second and third are separated by a dash).

Notice that Then is often not translated. This is a new section, and many languages will either not have a transition or will use a phrase such as “Now…” or “Later….”

Saw can be translated “realized,” “became aware of,” or “learned.”

The verb translated tricked appears elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel only in connection with the mockery made of Jesus (20.19; 27.29, 31, 41 “make fun of,” Good News Translation). In the context here, it is usually translated in the sense of “deceived” or “fooled.”

For wise men, see comments on 2.1.

Good News Translation translates the Greek passive construction he had been tricked by the wise men by an active form: “the visitors from the East had tricked him.” Good News Bible also simplifies the structure by placing subject and verb close to one another: compare “When Herod realized … he was furious” of Good News Bible with Then Herod, when he saw … was in a furious rage. Some languages will make this long Greek sentence into even more than the three of Good News Bible; for example, “Herod realized the wise men had tricked him. Then he became furious. So he gave orders….”

Was in a furious rage translates a verb (“to be angry”) followed by an adverb “very.” Although the noun meaning “anger” occurs a number of times in the New Testament, this is the only occurrence in the New Testament of the verb itself. Barclay follows the form of the Greek (“was very angry”), while Moffatt and Phillips translate “was furiously angry”; Good News Translation has “was furious.” As the translations indicate, extremely strong emotion is intended. Translators should not be misled by Revised Standard Version‘s rage and picture Herod as having something like a rabid fit. Very strong anger or fury should be indicated.

It is necessary in many languages to have an object of sent. In those cases translators can say “He sent some soldiers” or “He ordered his soldiers to go.” It is then made explicit that it was the soldiers who killed: “He sent his soldiers to kill” or “He sent his soldiers to Bethlehem. They killed….” Of course other languages find it natural to omit the idea of “sending” and have, as in Good News Translation, “he gave orders to kill” or “he ordered that the boy babies should be killed.”

Sometimes direct discourse is necessary, as in “Herod said to his soldiers, ‘Go and kill…’ ” or “… ‘Go to Bethlehem and kill….’ ”

Male children (Good News Translation “boys”) translates the masculine plural form of the noun translated “child” in Matthew 2.8; see comments there.

Two years old or under implies that the astrologers had seen the star no earlier than two years previous. The phrase can be translated as “the boy babies who were less then two years old,” or “those boy babies who were not more than two years old,” or even, in some languages, “those boy babies who were not up to three years old.”

Ascertained translates the same verb used in Matthew 2.7.

According to the time: this often requires a new sentence, as in “This was in accordance with what the wise men had told him about when they saw the star” or “He chose babies of that age because he had learned from the wise men it had been two years since they had first seen the star.”

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 .