And he sent them … saying is represented by Good News Translation by “Then he sent them…,” or it may be rendered “After that, he told them to go….” There are languages where it must be made explicit that the wise men answered Herod’s questions before he sent them to Bethlehem. In these, translators will add “The wise men answered his questions, and then Herod sent them to Bethlehem.”

As a way of translating saying, some languages say “He said to them…” or “He told them that they should go and search….”

In some languages it will be better to make to Bethlehem a part of the direct discourse of what Herod said: “After that, Herod said to them, ‘Go to Bethlehem. There, look carefully for the child….’ ”

Go and search translates a participle followed by an imperative. However, this is a common structure in Semitic Greek and is best translated in English by two imperatives, as Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and most other English translations have done. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has the same structure as the English.

Search translates a verb which is used only two other times in the New Testament (Matt 10.11; John 21.12). In itself the verb means “to search carefully,” though in the present context its meaning is intensified by the inclusion of the adverb diligently. New American Bible translates “Go and get detailed information about the child,” and Phillips “search for this little child with the utmost care.” Good News Translation has “make a careful search for the child.” A simple phrase may prove easiest in some languages: “Look everywhere for this child.”

The Greek word translated child may mean “very young child” or “infant,” as is indicated by its usage of an eight-day-old child in the Septuagint of Genesis 17.12. In John 16.21 it has the meaning “baby.” However, the word normally means “child,” without reference to its age. The context implies that Jesus is no longer a baby at the time the men arrive; they seem not to have set off from their homeland in the east until the star signifying his birth had appeared. The same word is used of Jesus in verses 9, 11, 13, 14, 20, 21. In verse 16 it is the equivalent of a masculine plural form and is translated “male children” by Revised Standard Version and “boys” by Good News Translation.

When you have found him may be “When you have found where he is.”

Bring me word can be “Come and tell me (about it)” or “You should come back here to tell me where the place is.”

In Greek the pronoun I is emphatic, as is indicated by the inclusion of the intensifier too in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

That clearly indicates purpose. Herod wants the wise men to tell him where the new king is, “So that I also can worship….” “When you tell me where he is, I also will be able to worship…” is another way, or “I want you to tell me so that I will be able to worship….”

Herod is in Jerusalem as he speaks. Many languages cannot have him say that he will come to Bethlehem, but rather that he will “go” there.

Worship is the same verb used in Matthew 2.2.

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 .