Joseph (Mary's husband)

The Greek verb παραλαβεῖν means simply "to take alongside, receive, take with you." In the context of Jewish marriage customs it refers to the second stage of the process, when the betrothed bride was brought from her father's house into her husband's. The rendering "take Mary home as your wife" makes this concrete for the hearer; a more literal option would be "to take Mary your wife" or "to receive Mary as your wife." Note that the angel already calls her "your wife," since betrothal was legally binding.

The clause τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθέν is literally "that which has been begotten in her" — a neuter participle, not yet the word "son" or "child." "The child conceived in her" supplies a natural English noun and keeps the sense of an accomplished act. The final phrase places "Holy" after the verb (ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου), giving it a certain weight; English cannot easily reproduce that word order, so the emphasis is carried by the rhythm of the sentence's close.

The opening "But while he was considering this" translates a genitive absolute (ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐνθυμηθέντος). The verb ἐνθυμέομαι is built on θυμός, the seat of feeling and passion, so it suggests more than cool deliberation: turning something over inwardly, brooding, being stirred up about it. The interjection ἰδού ("behold, look") is a narrative pointer rather than a command to see; here its force is carried by the flow of the sentence into the angel's speech.

The phrase κατ' ὄναρ, "in a dream," is characteristic of this Gospel, occurring six times and nowhere else in the New Testament — five of them in the accounts surrounding Jesus' birth and infancy. Greek has no definite article before "angel of the Lord" here, so either "an angel" or the older idiom "the angel of the Lord" is defensible; the indefinite reading is followed.

Betrothal in first-century Jewish practice created a legal bond that could be dissolved only by divorce or death, though the couple did not yet live together. This is why Joseph is already called Mary's husband and she his wife, and why the angel's instruction concerns bringing her into his household rather than arranging a marriage. Dreams were widely regarded as a genuine channel of divine communication, and the pattern here recalls the dreams of the earlier Joseph in Genesis.

"Son of David" is used of Joseph only here in the whole New Testament. By obeying and naming the child, Joseph makes Jesus legally his son and thus an heir of David's line — the point the genealogy earlier in the chapter has been building toward. The statement that the child is "from the Holy Spirit" affirms the conception without a human father; the Spirit is named as the divine origin and power of the conception, not as a partner in a marriage, and the church has read this verse as a cornerstone of the confession that Jesus was "conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary."

Manuscripts vary between the Greek forms Μαρίαν and Μαριάμ for Mary's name — the first a Hellenized declension, the second closer to the Semitic Miriam. The difference does not affect the sense, and English has only one form available.

This verse belongs to the readings traditionally appointed for the final days of Advent and for the days surrounding Christmas, and it is central to observances honoring Joseph. The angel's "do not be afraid" links it to the wider annunciation pattern heard in this season.

The Greek reads literally "and Joseph, having been awakened from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord ordered him and took his wife." Two choices shape the English. First, the participle is turned into a temporal clause ("When Joseph woke...") so the sentence moves forward naturally when read aloud rather than stacking clauses. Second, "took her home as his wife" renders a single verb (paralambanō, "to take alongside, take to oneself"). A bare "took his wife" would be ambiguous in English and could suggest a wedding that had not yet happened; in fact Mary was already legally his wife by betrothal, and what remained was bringing her into his household. The added "home" makes that concrete without adding anything foreign to the sense. The pronoun "her" is used because Mary has just been named in the surrounding narrative, keeping the line light and rhythmic.

The verb behind "woke" is egeirō in the passive (egertheis), literally "having been raised." It is the ordinary word for getting up from bed, but it is also the standard New Testament verb for being raised from the dead — the same root that will describe Jesus in this Gospel. The phrase "did as the angel of the Lord commanded him" uses prostassō, a verb of authoritative instruction, often used of divine or royal orders. Note also the deliberate verbal echo: in verse 20 the angel says "do not be afraid to take (paralabein) Mary as your wife"; here Joseph "took (parelaben) his wife." The command and the obedience are reported in exactly the same words.

Some manuscripts read the simple egertheis ("having awakened"), while a large body of later witnesses has the compound diegertheis, an intensified form meaning "having been thoroughly roused." The difference in meaning is negligible, and the shorter, less emphatic form is generally judged original, with the compound arising as a stylistic strengthening. No English rendering is affected.

Jewish marriage in this period had two stages. The first, betrothal, was legally binding: the couple were husband and wife in law, and the bond could only be broken by a formal divorce, which is why verse 19 speaks of Joseph considering divorce. The second stage, usually about a year later, was the home-taking, when the husband brought his bride into his house and the marriage was publicly celebrated and consummated. This verse describes Joseph moving directly to that second stage. By taking Mary into his home he publicly claimed the child as his own; under Jewish law, naming a child (verse 25) established legal paternity, which is how Jesus enters the line of David through Joseph.

Joseph never speaks a word in this Gospel; he is characterized entirely by obedience. Told in a dream what to do, he acts at once and without argument, a pattern repeated three more times in chapter 2. The verse thus presents him as the model of the "righteous" man of verse 19 — righteousness redefined not as strict adherence to what the law appears to require, but as obedient trust in what God reveals. Interpreters have also seen here the quiet foundation of the doctrine of Jesus' legal Davidic sonship: Joseph's act of receiving Mary is what grafts the child into the royal line traced in verses 1-17.

This passage is a traditional reading for the final Sunday of Advent and for the Christmas vigil, and it belongs to the observances honoring Joseph. In preaching it is commonly paired with verse 25 as the account of the obedient reception of the child into the household of David.

The Greek particle ἰδού (literally "behold" or "look") is a marker of vivid surprise rather than an invitation to see something. Since "behold" now sounds archaic when read aloud, it is rendered "suddenly," which keeps the jolt of the original without stalling the sentence. The verb φαίνεται is a present tense used for a past event (a "historical present," common in narrative Greek); English narrative prefers the past, so "appeared." The participle ἐγερθείς ("having been raised up, having risen") introduces the string of commands and is best carried into English as a plain imperative, "Get up"; "Arise" is a possible but heavier alternative. The final clause ζητεῖν τὸ παιδίον τοῦ ἀπολέσαι αὐτό uses an articular infinitive of purpose, hence "in order to kill him"; ἀπολέσαι could also be rendered "destroy" or "do away with."

The chapter turns on a play of related verbs: the magi "withdrew" (ἀνεχώρησαν, v. 12), "after they had withdrawn" (Ἀναχωρησάντων, this verse), and Joseph likewise "withdrew" to Egypt (ἀνεχώρησεν, v. 14) — the same word for prudent retreat from danger binds the scenes together. μέλλει with the infinitive expresses imminent intent, "is about to," almost "is going to set about." The child is consistently called τὸ παιδίον, a diminutive for a young child, not βρέφος ("newborn"), suggesting some months have passed since the birth.

Manuscripts differ over the word order of "appears in a dream" (φαίνεται κατʼ ὄναρ versus κατʼ ὄναρ φαίνεται); the sense is identical either way, and translation cannot reflect the difference. A few witnesses also smooth the participle construction at the start of the verse. None of these variants affects the meaning.

Egypt lay outside Herod's jurisdiction as a Roman province and was the natural asylum for refugees from Judea; the journey down the coastal road would have taken roughly a week or two on foot. Egypt already held large, long-established Jewish communities, especially in Alexandria, so the family would not have been strangers among strangers. Political refugees fleeing Judean rulers for Egypt were a recognized pattern in Jewish history, and Herod's ruthlessness toward perceived rivals — including members of his own family — is well attested by ancient historians.

The flight to Egypt frames Jesus' life in the pattern of Israel's story: a tyrant who kills infants, a rescue, a sojourn in Egypt, and a coming out again (quoted from Hosea in v. 15). Many read this as presenting Jesus both as a new Moses and as embodying Israel itself. Note too that the angel says "the child and his mother," never "your son" or "your wife's son" — a careful phrasing consistent with the account of Jesus' conception, while Joseph is nonetheless entrusted with the protection of both. God's guidance comes through dreams, as with the patriarch Joseph; divine sovereignty does not remove the need for human obedience and ordinary flight.

This passage belongs to the Christmas cycle in many traditions, read near the commemoration of the infants killed by Herod and, in some calendars, on a feast of the Holy Family's flight. Coptic Christian tradition preserves a rich set of sites and observances marking the family's supposed route through Egypt.

The Greek opens with a participle, "and he, having been raised up / having risen," which deliberately echoes the angel's command in the previous verse ("Get up"). The translation renders it "So he got up," using "so" to make the obedience explicit for the ear: the wording of the command comes back as the wording of the action. Likewise "took the child and his mother" repeats the command's verb exactly, and the reader is meant to hear the repetition. The time phrase "during the night" stands in the Greek where it stands here, after "his mother," so the sentence keeps its original rhythm; it can attach either to the taking or to the departing, and the placement preserves that natural ambiguity. The final verb is more literally "withdrew" or "departed," but "left for Egypt" reads more smoothly aloud and lets the sentence run on into the next verse, which completes the thought with "where he stayed."

"During the night" translates a bare genitive (νυκτός), a common Greek way of expressing time within which something happens — "by night," "in the course of the night." The verb ἀναχωρέω ("withdraw, retire, take refuge") is a favourite of this Gospel and threads through the whole chapter: the Magi "withdrew" by another road, Joseph now "withdraws" to Egypt, and later he "withdraws" to Galilee. It carries the sense of a strategic retreat out of danger rather than mere travel. The participle ἐγερθείς is passive in form ("having been roused") but functions reflexively, as often with verbs of rising.

Travel by night was unusual and suggests urgency and secrecy; caravans normally moved by day. From Bethlehem the road ran south-west to the coastal highway and on across the Sinai — a journey of roughly two weeks. Egypt lay outside Herod's jurisdiction, under direct Roman administration, and had for centuries been the classic place of refuge for those fleeing rulers in the land of Israel. It also held large, long-established Jewish communities, especially in Alexandria, where a fugitive family could disappear among their own people.

The verse is presented as immediate, unquestioning obedience: no delay, no objection, not even a reported word from Joseph, who never speaks anywhere in this Gospel. The flight into Egypt also begins a pattern of correspondences the Gospel is building — a child whose life is threatened by a king, a descent into Egypt, and later a calling out of it — so that the story of the Messiah retraces the story of Israel and of Moses. God's protection here works not by spectacular rescue but through a warning dream and a father willing to act on it in the dark.

The Greek text of this verse is transmitted with remarkable stability; the manuscripts show no variation that affects the sense, only minor differences in word order and spelling in a few witnesses.