Matteus 2
1 Jesús fæddist í bænum Betlehem í Júdeu á valdatímum Heródesar konungs. Um það leyti komu stjörnufræðingar til Jerúsalem frá Austurlöndum og spurðu:
Jesus was born in Bethlehem [town] in Judea [province] during the time [MTY] that King Herod [the Great ruled there. Some time] after Jesus was born, some men who studied the stars and who lived in a [country] east [of Judea] came to Jerusalem.
2 „Hvar er nýfæddi Gyðingakonungurinn? Við höfum séð stjörnu hans austur í löndum og nú erum við komnir til þess að sýna honum lotningu.“
They asked [people], “Where is the one who has been born [in order that he might be] the king of [you] Jews? [We believe that your new king] has been born, because we have seen the star [that we believe indicated that] he has been [born]. [We saw it while we were in our country] east [of here]. So we have come to worship him.”
3 Heródes konungur varð óttasleginn er hann heyrði þetta, og alls kyns sögusagnir komust á kreik í Jerúsalem.
When King Herod heard [what those men were asking], he became worried [that someone else might be proclaimed] {[people might proclaim someone else]} [king of the Jews to replace him]. Many [of the people] of Jerusalem [MTY, HYP] [also] became worried [because they were afraid of what King Herod might do].
4 Heródes kallaði því saman trúarleiðtoga Gyðinga og spurði: „Hafa spámennirnir sagt hvar Kristur eigi að fæðast?“
Then Herod gathered together all the ruling priests and men who taught the people the [Jewish] laws and he asked them where [the prophets had predicted that] the Messiah was to be born.
5 „Já, “svöruðu leiðtogarnir, „í Betlehem, því að þannig skrifaði Míka spámaður:
They said to him, “[He will be born] in Bethlehem, [here] in Judea [province], because it was written by the prophet [Micah] {the prophet [Micah] wrote} [long ago what God said]:
6 „Þú Betlehem litla, þú ert ekki einhver þýðingarlaus smábær í Júdeu, því frá þér mun koma höfðingi sem annast þjóð mína, Ísrael“.“
‘You [who live in] Bethlehem [APO], in Judea [province], your town is certainly very important [LIT], because a man from your [town] will become a ruler. He will guide my people [who live in] Israel.’”
7 Heródes sendi þá stjörnufræðingunum leynileg boð um að finna sig, og á þeim fundi fékk hann að vita hvenær þeir hefðu fyrst séð stjörnuna. Síðan sagði hann:
Then [King] Herod secretly summoned those men who studied the stars. He asked them exactly when the star [first] appeared. [By what they told him, he was able to know the approximate age of the baby].
8 „Farið til Betlehem og leitið að barninu, og þegar þið hafið fundið það, skuluð þið koma aftur og láta mig vita hvar það er, svo að ég geti einnig veitt því lotningu!“
Then he [concealed what he really planned to do and] said to them, “Go to Bethlehem and inquire thoroughly [where] the infant is. When you have found him, [come back and] report to me so that I, myself, can go [there and] worship him, too.”
9 Að þessum viðræðum loknum héldu stjörnufræðingarnir aftur af stað. Og sjá! Stjarnan birtist þeim á ný og fór fyrir þeim uns hún staðnæmdist loks yfir Betlehem.
After the men heard what the king [told them], they went [toward Bethlehem]. To their surprise, the star that they had seen while they were in the eastern [country] went ahead of them [again] until it stood above [the house] where the child was.
10 Gleði þeirra var takmarkalaus!
When they saw the star, they rejoiced greatly [and followed it].
11 Þeir gengu inn í húsið þar sem María og barnið voru, krupu á kné frammi fyrir því og tilbáðu það. Síðan tóku þeir upp farangur sinn og gáfu barninu gull, reykelsi og myrru.
They [found] the house and entered it and saw the child and his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure [boxes] [MTY] and they gave gold, [costly] frankincense, and myrrh to him.
12 Á heimleiðinni komu þeir ekki við í Jerúsalem til þess að hitta Heródes, því að Guð hafði sagt þeim í draumi að fara aðra leið.
[Because] God [knew that King Herod planned to kill Jesus], in a dream the men who studied the stars were warned {he warned the men who studied the stars} that they should not return to [King] Herod. So they returned to their country, [but instead of traveling back on the same road, they] went on a different road.
13 Þegar þeir voru farnir, dreymdi Jósef að hann sæi engil frá Drottni sem sagði: „Flýðu til Egyptalands og taktu með þér barnið og móður þess, því að Heródes konungur sækist eftir lífi barnsins. Vertu síðan um kyrrt í Egyptalandi þar til ég segi þér að snúa heim aftur.“
After the men who studied the stars left [Bethlehem], an angel [from] the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. He said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you [(sg) that you should leave], because [King] Herod is about [to send soldiers] to look for the child so that they can kill him.”
14 Jósef lagði af stað til Egyptalands með barnið og Maríu þessa sömu nótt.
So Joseph got up, he took the child and his mother [that] night, and they fled to Egypt.
15 Þar dvöldust þau uns Heródes konungur lést, en þá rættust orð spámannsins: „Ég kallaði son minn frá Egyptalandi.“
They stayed there until [King] Herod died, [and then they left Egypt]. By doing that, it was {they} fulfilled what the prophet [Hosea] wrote, which had been said by the Lord {which the Lord had said}, I have told my son to come out of Egypt.
16 Heródes varð æfur af reiði þegar hann komst að því að stjörnufræðingarnir höfðu brugðist honum og sendi þegar í stað alla hermenn til Betlehem. Hann gaf þeim skipun um að drepa alla drengi, tveggja ára og yngri, sem ættu heima þar í nágrenninu. Þetta gerði Heródes vegna þess að stjörnufræðingarnir höfðu sagt honum að þeir hefðu fyrst séð stjörnuna tveimur árum áður.
[While King] Herod [was still living], because he realized that he had been tricked by the men who studied the stars {the men who studied the stars had tricked him}, he became furious. Then, [assuming that Jesus was still in Bethlehem or the surrounding regions], Herod sent [soldiers there] to kill all the boy babies two years old and younger. [Herod calculated how old the baby was], according to what the men who studied the stars told him [about when the star first appeared].
17 Jeremía spámaður hafði sagt fyrir um þennan hryllilega verknað Heródesar með þessum orðum:
[Because Bethlehem and Ramah towns were in the area where the descendants of Jacob’s wife Rachel lived, when soldiers killed the infant boys], they fulfilled what Jeremiah the prophet wrote,
18 „Í Rama kveður við angistarvein og óstöðvandi grátur. Rakel grætur börnin sín. Hún er óhuggandi því þau eru ekki lengur lífs.“
[Women] in Ramah were weeping and wailing loudly. [Women who were the descendants] of Rachel, [the ancestor of the women there] [SYN], were grieving for [what happened to] their children. [Even though people tried to comfort them], they would not be comforted {stop mourning}, because their children were dead.
19 Eftir dauða Heródesar birtist engill Drottins Jósef í draumi í Egyptalandi og sagði:
After Herod died [and while Joseph and his family were still in Egypt], an angel that the Lord [had sent] appeared to Joseph in Egypt in a dream.
20 „Rís þú á fætur og farðu aftur til Ísraels með Jesú og móður hans.“
He said to Joseph, “Take the child and his mother and go back to Israel [to live], because the people who were looking for the child [in order to kill him] have died.”
21 Hann sneri því þegar í stað aftur til Ísraels með Jesú og móður hans.
So Joseph took the child and his mother, and they went back to Israel.
22 Á leiðinni frétti hann sér til mikils ótta að nýi konungurinn í Júdeu væri Areklás, sonur Heródesar. Þá var hann varaður við í öðrum draumi, að fara til Júdeu, og því héldu þau til Galíleu
When Joseph heard that Archaelaus now ruled in Judea [district] instead of his father, [King] Herod [the Great], he was afraid to go there. Because he was warned {[God] warned Joseph} in a dream [that it was still dangerous for them to live in Judea], he [and Mary and Jesus] went to Galilee [District]
23 og settust að í Nasaret. Þar með rættist þessi spádómur um Krist: „Hann mun kallaður Nasarei.“
to Nazareth [to live there]. The result was that what had been said by the ancient prophets {what the ancient prophets had said} [about the Messiah], that he would be called {people would call him} a Nazareth-man, was fulfilled {came true}.
