The departure or return to Nazareth.

Matthew 2.19-23; Luke 2.39-40.

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Notes and quotes.

§ Jerome, On Famous Men 3, writing of the gospel according to the Hebrews:

Matthaeus, qui et Levi, ex publicano apostolus, primus in Iudaea propter eos qui ex circumcisione crediderant evangelium Christi Hebraicis litteris composuit; quod quis postea in Graecum transtulerit non satis certum est. porro ipsum Hebraicum habetur usque hodie in Caesariensi bibliotheca quam Pamphilus martyr studiosissime confecit. mihi quoque a Nazaraeis, qui in Beroea urbe Syriae hoc volumine utuntur, describendi facultas fuit; in quo animadvertendum quo ubicumque evangelista, sive ex persona sua sive ex domini salvatoris, veteris scripturae testimoniis abutitur, non sequatur septuagint translatorum auctoritatem, sed Hebraicum. e quibus illa duo sunt: Ex Aegypto vocavi filium meum, et: Quoniam Nazaraeus vocabitur.

Matthew, who is also Levi, the ex-publican apostle, first composed in Hebraic letters the gospel of Christ in Judea on account of those who had believed from among the circumcision; who afterward translated it into Greek is not sufficiently certain. Furthermore, this Hebraic [text] is held even until today in the Caesarean library which Pamphilus the martyr studiously put together. There was an opportunity for me from the Nazaraeans to copy this volume, which is used in Beroea, a city of Syria. In which [gospel] it must be noted that, wherever the evangelist, whether from his own person or from the Lord and savior, makes use of testimonies of the old scriptures, he does not follow the authority of the seventy translators, but the Hebrew. From which things two are: From Egypt did I call my son, and: For he shall be called a Nazarene.

§ Miniscule 1424 (century IX or X) has the following marginal note at Matthew 2.21:

Το· Ινα πληρωθη το ρηθεν υπο κυριου δια του προφητου, λεγοντος· Εξ Αιγυπτου εκαλεσα τον υιον μου, εν τισιν αντιγραφοις ενταυθα κειται.

In some copies it is here that the phrase lies: So that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt I called my son.