“And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.”
King James Version (KJV)
2:4 The chief priests - That is, not only the high priest and his deputy, with those who formerly had borne that office: but also the chief man in each of those twenty - four courses, into which the body of priests were divided, #1Chron 24:6-19|. The scribes were those whose peculiar business it was to explain the Scriptures to the people. They were the public preachers, or expounders of the law of Moses. Whence the chief of them were called doctors of the law.
Mt 2:4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes together. Literally, "high priests". The high priests, and perhaps the heads of the twenty-four courses of priests, are included. See 1Ch 24:1-19. The "scribes" were the successors of Ezra, the official copyists of the Scripture, who naturally became its expounders, and were the theologians of the time of Christ. The priests, as the head of the Jewish religion, and the scribes, as the chief expounders of the Scriptures, were the proper persons to answer Herod's question. Where Christ should be born. This demand concedes: (1) That the Jews expected a Messiah; (2) That the Scriptures had foretold his coming; (3) That the very place of his birth had been pointed out.
And when he had gathered all the chiefe Priests and Scribes of the people together, hee demanded of them where Christ should be borne.
- King James Version (1611) - View 1611 Bible Scan
Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
- New American Standard Version (1995)
And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ should be born.
- American Standard Version (1901)
And he got together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, questioning them as to where the birth-place of the Christ would be.
- Basic English Bible
and, assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ should be born.
- Darby Bible
And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born.
- Webster's Bible
So he assembled all the High Priests and Scribes of the people, and anxiously asked them where the Christ was to be born.
- Weymouth Bible
Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.
- World English Bible
And he gaderide to gidre alle the prynces of prestis, and scribis of the puple, and enqueride of hem, where Crist shulde be borun.
- Wycliffe Bible
and having gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he was inquiring from them where the Christ is born.
- Youngs Literal Bible