Matthew, Chapter 2, verse 1

Here is a literal translation of Matthew 2:1. This shows why it is so difficult to create a decent English translation of the original Greek. This explains why there are so many different English translations of the Bible. The top row is Greek. The middle row is the Strong's number corresponding to the Greek word — if there is one. Note not all of the original Greek words have a corresponding Strong's number. The bottom row is the literal English translation of the Greek word.

του	δε	ιησου	γεννηθεντος	εν	βηθλεεμ	της	ιουδαιας	εν
[5120]	[1161]	[2424]	[1080]	[1722]	[965]		[2449]	[1722]
His	but	Jesus	begat	in	Bethlehem (literally "house of bread")	of	Judaea (literally "he shall be praised")	in

ημεραις	ηρωδου	του	βασιλεως	ιδου	μαγοι	απο	ανατολων
[2250]	[2264]	[5120]	[935]	[2400]	[3097]	[575]	[395]
the day of	Herod (literally "heroic")	his	king	behold	wise men	out of	the east (direction of the sun's rising)

παρεγενοντο	εις	ιεροσολυμα
	[1519]	[2414]
raise partly	toward	Jerusalem = "set ye double peace"

Note in every English translation the word "Bethlehem" is left untranslated. The Greek is βηθλεεμ, pronounced bayth-leh-em' [Strongs #965]. This is actually two Hebrew words found many times in the Old Testament, the words are בית לחם [Strongs #01035] "Beyth Lechem," pronounced bayth leh'-khem (Click here to listen).

A List of English Bible Translations
The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain His short story translated into French and then back to English.

We are now ready to tackle the astronomical origin of Matthew chapter 2 - the Birth of Jesus (see Next Page).

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