The Flight into Egypt

The words

1. Archelaus

   Joseph hears that Archelaus rules Judaea in place of his father Herod and is afraid to go there; after a dream warning, he turns toward Galilee.

   Matthew 2:22 (opens a new tab)

2. Arise

   Get up, in the NET’s rendering.

   In two dream messages, Joseph hears “Arise”: the first sends him to Egypt with the child and his mother; the second sends them to the land of Israel.

   Matthew 2:13 (opens a new tab) · Matthew 2:19–20 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 2:13-18 (opens a new tab)

3. Coasts

   Matthew says Herod’s killing of young children extends beyond Bethlehem into “all the coasts thereof,” the districts around the town.

   Matthew 2:16 (opens a new tab)

4. Destroy

   Here, kill, in the NET’s wording.

   The angel tells Joseph that Herod will seek the young child “to destroy him,” giving the reason for the command to flee.

   Matthew 2:13 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 2:13-18 (opens a new tab)

5. Egypt

   Egypt is the refuge named in the angel’s warning. Matthew’s quotation about calling a son from Egypt echoes Hosea 11:1, where the son is Israel.

   Did you know?

   The Metropolitan Museum holds a 1511 woodcut of the flight by Albrecht Dürer, from the Latin edition of his Life of the Virgin series.

   Matthew 2:13–15 (opens a new tab) · Hosea 11:1 (opens a new tab) · Met Museum: Dürer’s woodcut (opens a new tab)

6. Flee

   The angel tells Joseph to flee to Egypt and remain there until further word; Matthew says he takes the child and his mother away by night.

   Matthew 2:13–14 (opens a new tab)

7. Jeremy

   Jeremiah, in the NET’s spelling.

   Matthew introduces the words about Rachel’s weeping as a prophetic quotation, after recounting Herod’s killing of Bethlehem’s children.

   Matthew 2:16–18 (opens a new tab) · Jeremiah 31:15 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 2:13-18 (opens a new tab)

8. Lamentation

   In the KJV, Matthew’s quotation uses “lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning” after Herod’s killings, naming Rachel as the one who refuses comfort.

   Matthew 2:16–18 (opens a new tab)

9. Land of Israel

   The angel’s second message sends Joseph back to the land of Israel after Herod’s death; Joseph then takes the child and his mother on the return journey.

   Matthew 2:19–21 (opens a new tab)

10. Mocked

    Tricked, in the NET’s rendering.

    Matthew connects Herod’s sense of being mocked by the wise men with his anger and the killing of Bethlehem’s young children.

    Matthew 2:16 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 2:13-18 (opens a new tab)

11. Nazarene

    Matthew ends the return by saying Joseph settles in Nazareth and links this with the prophets’ words, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

    Matthew 2:23 (opens a new tab)

12. Rachel

    After Herod’s killings, Matthew quotes Rachel weeping for her children and refusing comfort; Jeremiah 31:15 uses the spelling Rahel for the mother in its lament.

    Matthew 2:16–18 (opens a new tab) · Jeremiah 31:15 (opens a new tab)

13. Rama

    Ramah, in the NET’s spelling and Jeremiah 31:15.

    Matthew begins the prophetic quotation “In Rama was there a voice heard,” before naming Rachel’s weeping for her children.

    Matthew 2:17–18 (opens a new tab) · Jeremiah 31:15 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 2:13-18 (opens a new tab)

14. Weeping

    Matthew follows Herod’s killings with Rachel’s weeping; Jeremiah 31:15–17 continues from the lament to words of hope that the children will return.

    Matthew 2:16–18 (opens a new tab) · Jeremiah 31:15–17 (opens a new tab)

15. Wroth

    Herod is “exceeding wroth” after the visitors do not return; Matthew immediately follows this anger with his killing of the children in Bethlehem and its districts.

    Matthew 2:12 (opens a new tab) · Matthew 2:16 (opens a new tab)