What Does Matthew 2:13 Mean?
When they had withdrawn, look, a messenger of the LORD appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Rise, take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek the young child to make him perish.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.THE KEY
The Greek word rendered “destroy” also carries “perish” and “be lost”: the threat to the child’s life is answered by a flight that keeps him from being lost.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks into a moment when a child’s life is under a named threat. A messenger brings a specific direction in a dream: take the child and his mother into Egypt, then remain there until another word arrives. The child’s protection takes the form of movement beyond the aggressor’s reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that safety always requires confronting a threat: here the child is preserved through withdrawal, distance, and a temporary stay elsewhere.
THE ROOT
ἀπολέσαι
apolesai
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι
apollymi
To perish, be lost, or be ruined; in active forms, to bring about loss or perishing.
“make him perish” in this verse is apolesai. The Greek family holds together the act of causing loss and the state of being lost or perished. Herod’s threat is not abstract harm: it is an attempt to make the child perish.
ALSO GROWS
apōleia: Loss, ruin, destruction.
ἀπώλεια
This noun from the same family gives the threatened outcome a name: the child is at risk of being lost.
apolōlōs: Having perished; lost.
ἀπολωλώς
This participle shares the root and names the state the child is threatened with entering.
φεῦγε
pheuge
GROWS FROM
φεύγω
pheugō
To flee or escape by leaving a place of danger.
English separates “flee” and “flight” into different-looking words, while Greek keeps them in a shared family. Here that movement away is the answer to the threat of making the child perish.
ALSO GROWS
phygē: Flight or escape.
φυγή
This noun shares the verb’s root, naming the movement Joseph is commanded to make.
phygas: Fugitive or exile.
φυγάς
This branch names one who escapes by flight, carrying the same root into a person’s condition.
ἄγγελος
angelos
GROWS FROM
ἀγγελ-
angel-
Messenger; one who carries an announcement.
“messenger of the LORD” in this verse is angelos. The figure who appears to Joseph is named by the work of carrying a message. The message itself redirects the family’s movement, so messenger and announcement belong to one word-family.
ALSO GROWS
angellō: To announce or report.
ἀγγέλλω
This verb shares the root and names the act the messenger performs.
angelia: Message or announcement.
ἀγγελία
This noun names what the messenger carries: the word that sets the family on a path to safety.
THE PATTERN
When violence reaches for a life, preservation can take the form of refuge or an exit beyond the aggressor’s reach.
Now when Pharaoh heard this word, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by the well.To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Bend toward me, O God, bend toward me, for in you my living soul takes shelter. In the shadow of your wings I take shelter until the ruin passes over.Then the disciples took him by night, and lowered him down along the wall in a basket.THE THREAD
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to deliver that which had lost its way.The word translated “lost” here, ἀπολωλός (apolōlos, lost), belongs to the same ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi, perish or lose) family as “destroy” in Matthew 2:13. Herod seeks to make the child perish; Luke names the Son of Man as seeking those who are lost. The shared root makes the threatened loss meet its reversal in a seeker who moves toward the lost.
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