Section III.
[1, 2]
234
And after
that,
235
the Magi came from the east to Jerusalem,
236
and said, Where is the King of the Jews which
was born? We have seen his star in the east, and have [3] come to
worship him.
237
And Herod the king
heard, and he was troubled, and all [4] Jerusalem with him.
238
And he gathered all the chief priests and the
scribes of the [5] people, and asked them in what place
239
the Messiah should be born.
240
They said, In Bethlehem of Judæa:
thus it is written in the prophet,
[6]
241
Thou also, Bethlehem
of Judah,
Art not contemptible among the kings of Judah:
From thee shall go forth a king,
And he shall be a shepherd to my people Israel.
[7]
242
Then Herod called the
Magi secretly, and inquired of them the time at which [8] the star
appeared to them.
243
And he sent them to
Bethlehem, and said unto them, Go and search about the child
diligently; and when ye have found him, come and [9] make known to me,
that I also may go and worship him.
244
And
they, when they [Arabic, p. 11] heard the king, departed; and lo, the
star which they had seen in the east went before them, until it came
and stood above the place where the child [10, 11] was.
245
And when they beheld the star, they rejoiced
with very great joy.
246
And they entered the
house and beheld the child with Mary his mother, and fell down
worshipping him, and opened their saddle-bags and offered to him
offerings, gold and [12] myrrh and frankincense.
247
And they saw in a dream
248
that they should not return to Herod, and they travelled by another way
in going to their country.
[13]
249
And when they had
departed, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, and said
unto him, Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and
be thou there until I speak to thee; for Herod is determined to seek
the child [14] to slay him.
250
And Joseph arose
and took the child and his mother in the night, and [15] fled into
Egypt,
251
and remained in it until the time of the death
of Herod: that that might be fulfilled which was said by the Lord
in the prophet, which said, From [16] Egypt did I call my son.
252
And Herod then, when he saw that he was mocked
of the Magi, was very angry, and sent and killed all the male children
which were in Bethlehem and all its borders, from two years old and
under, according to the time [17] which he had inquired from the
Magi.
253
Then was fulfilled the
saying in Jeremiah the prophet, which said,
[18]
254
A voice was heard in
Ramah,
Weeping and much lamentation;
Rachel weeping
255
for her
children,
And not willing to be consoled for their loss.
[19]
256
But when Herod the
king died, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to [20] Joseph in
Egypt,
257
and said unto him, Rise and take the child and
his mother, and [Arabic, p. 12] go into the land of Israel; for they
have died who sought the child’s life. [21]
258
And Joseph rose and took the child and his
mother, and came to the land [22] of Israel.
259
But when he heard that Archelaus had become
king over Judæa instead of Herod his father, he feared to go
thither; and he saw in a dream that he should
[23] go into the land of Galilee,
260
and that he should abide in a city called
Nazareth: that the saying in the prophet might be fulfilled, that
he should be called a Nazarene.
[24]
261
And the child grew,
and became strong in spirit, becoming filled with wisdom; and the grace
of God was upon him.
[25]
262
And his
kinsfolk
263
used to go every year
to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover. [26]
264
And when he was twelve years old, they went up
according to their custom, [27] to the feast.
265
And when the days were accomplished, they
returned; and the child [28] Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and Joseph
and his mother knew not:
266
and they supposed that
he was with the children of their company. And when they had gone
one day’s journey, they sought him beside their people and those
who knew them, [29] and they found him not;
267
so
they returned to Jerusalem and sought him again. [30]
268
And after three days they found him in the
temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, [31] hearing them and
asking them
questions
;
269
and all who heard him
wondered at [32] his wisdom and his words.
270
And when they saw him they wondered, and his
mother said unto him, My son, why hast thou dealt with us thus? behold,
I and thy father [33] have been seeking for thee with much
anxiety.
271
And he said unto them,
Why were [34] ye seeking me? know
272
ye not that I
must be in the house of my Father?
273
And
they [35] understood not the word which he spake unto them.
274
And he went down with them, and came to
Nazareth; and he was obedient to them: and his mother used to
keep all these sayings in her heart.
[36] [Arabic, p. 13]
275
And Jesus grew in
his stature and wisdom, and in grace with God and men.
[37]
276
And in the fifteenth
year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, when Pontius Pilate was
governor in Judæa, and one of the four rulers, Herod, in Galilee;
and Philip his brother, one of the four rulers, in Ituræa and in
the district of Trachonitis; and [38] Lysanias, one of the four rulers,
in Abilene;
277
in the
chief-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the command
278
of God went forth to John the son of Zacharias in the [39]
desert.
279
And he came into all
the region which is about Jordan, proclaiming the [40] baptism of
repentance unto
280
the forgiveness of
sins.
281
And he was preaching
in the [41] wilderness of Judæa, and saying,
282
Repent ye; the kingdom of heaven is come
near. [42]
283
This is he that was
spoken
of
in Isaiah the prophet,
The voice which crieth in the desert,
[43]
284
Prepare ye the way of
the Lord,
And make straight in the plain, paths for our God.
[44]
285
All the valleys shall
become filled,
And all the mountains and hills shall become low;
And the rough shall become plain, And the difficult
place, easy;
[45]
286
And all flesh
shall see the salvation
287
of God.
[46]
288
This
man
came
to bear witness, that he might bear witness to the light, that [47]
every man might believe through his mediation.
289
He was not the light, but that he [48] might
bear witness to the light,
290
which was the light of
truth, that giveth light to [49] every man coming into the world.
291
He was in the world, and the world was made
[50] by him, and the world knew [51] him not.
292
He came unto his own, and his own received him
not.
293
And those who received
him, to them gave he the power
294
that they might [52]
be sons of God,—those which believe in his name:
295
which were born, not of blood, [53] nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.
296
And the Word became flesh, and took up his
abode among us; and we saw his glory as the glory [54] of the only
Son
from the Father, which is full of grace and equity.
297
298
John bare witness
[Arabic, p. 14] of him, and cried, and said, This is he that I said
cometh after me and [55] was before me, because he was before
me.
299
300
And of his
fullness received [56] we all grace for grace.
301
For the law was given through the mediation of
Moses, but truth and grace were
302
through Jesus
Christ.
234
Matt. ii. 1
b.
235
On the substitution of
this general phrase for
Matt.
ii. 1
a, see the remarks
of Harris in
Fragments
, etc., p. 37 ff.
236
Matt. ii. 2
.
237
Matt. ii. 3
.
238
Matt. ii. 4
.
239
This periphrasis
for
where
is very characteristic of this work.
240
Matt. ii. 5
.
241
Matt. ii. 6
.
242
Matt. ii. 7
.
243
Matt. ii. 8
.
244
Matt. ii. 9
.
245
Matt. ii. 10
.
246
Matt. ii. 11
.
247
Matt. ii. 12
.
248
So in later Arabic
and some Arabic versions. According to classical usage the word
means
sleep
.
249
Matt. ii. 13
.
250
Matt. ii. 14
.
251
Matt. ii. 15
.
252
Matt. ii. 16
.
253
Matt. ii. 17
.
254
Matt. ii. 18
.
255
Or,
is
weeping
, and so in next line
is not willing
.
256
Matt. ii. 19
.
257
Matt. ii. 20
.
258
Matt. ii. 21
.
259
Matt. ii. 22
.
260
Matt. ii. 23
.
261
Luke ii. 40
.
262
Luke ii. 41
.
263
A general word
(
cf
. Syr. versions).
264
Luke ii. 42
.
265
Luke ii. 43
.
266
Luke ii. 44
.
267
Luke ii. 45
.
268
Luke ii. 46
.
269
Luke ii. 47
.
270
Luke ii. 48
.
271
Luke ii. 49
.
272
Or,
knew
.
273
Luke ii. 50
.
274
Luke ii. 51
.
275
Luke ii. 52
.
276
Luke iii. 1
.
277
Luke iii. 2
.
278
There is a very
rare use of this Arabic word in the Hebrew sense of
saying
.
279
Luke iii. 3
.
280
So Vat.
ms
. The Borg.
ms
.
has
with
.
281
Matt. iii. 1
b.
282
Matt. iii. 2
.
283
Matt. iii. 3
a.
284
Luke iii. 4
b.
285
Luke iii. 5
.
286
Luke iii. 6
.
287
See note on § 1,
78.
288
John i. 7
.
289
John i. 8
.
290
John i. 9
.
291
John i. 10
.
292
John i. 11
.
293
John i. 12
.
294
Or,
authority
.
295
John i. 13
.
296
John i. 14
.
297
In Syr. this word
also means
truth
.
298
John i. 15
.
299
Or,
earlier
than I
.
300
John i. 16
.
301
John i. 17
.
302
i.e.,
came to
be
.