What Does Matthew 2:2 Mean in the King James?
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The “east” where the star appears is literally “the rising”, and the same Greek word can name the Branch who springs up.
THE MEANING
A sign rising at the edge of sight draws the visitors toward a kingship they do not expect to find in a child. They arrive and bow down; the Greek verb proskyneō (προσκυνέω) means “to bow down” or “prostrate oneself,” making their recognition a bodily posture.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that kingship is recognizable only where power is already expected: here the sign appears far away, and the king is found in a child.
THE ROOT
ἀνατολή
anatolē
GROWS FROM
ἀνατέλλω
anatellō
To rise, come up, or spring forth.
The Greek word for “east” is anatolē (ἀνατολή), meaning “rising” or “sunrise.” In the Greek text of Zechariah 6:12, anatolē (ἀνατολή) is also the title translated “Branch,” so the star’s direction carries the language of something springing up, not only a place on a compass.
ALSO GROWS
anatellō: To rise or spring up, as the sun does.
ἀνατέλλω
Its verb form makes the star’s “east” an emergence, not merely a location.
anatolē: A rising, sunrise, or east; in the Greek text of Zechariah 6:12, “Branch.”
ἀνατολή
The same word joins the star’s rising direction with the image of a shoot coming into view.
THE PATTERN
The sign of the arriving ruler draws distant peoples and kings into recognition.
I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.THE THREAD
And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:In the Greek text of Zechariah, the title translated “Branch” is anatolē (ἀνατολή), meaning “rising” or “east”, the same word Matthew uses for the star’s direction. What appears to be a location also carries the image of what rises and springs forth.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us