Bible Strands
Matthew 2:3
When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — King Herod and all Jerusalem are disturbed upon hearing the Magi’s public inquiry about the newborn King of the Jews. This reaction occurs immediately after the wise men’s arrival and their question in Matthew 2:2, preceding Herod’s consultation with the chief priests in Matthew 2:4.
The words — Ἐταράχθη (etarachthē) translates as he was troubled or disturbed, recording Herod’s immediate psychological state. Ἀκούσας (akousas) means having heard, marking the precise trigger of his response without adding motive or judgment.
The thread — Herod’s alarm parallels the official panic in Acts 17:6 when leaders cannot locate believers, and the Sanhedrin’s emergency meeting in John 11:47 to contain a growing movement. Matthew 23:37 later documents Jerusalem’s repeated pattern of rejecting divinely sent figures.
Why it lands — The text records a historical reaction to a royal claim without moral evaluation or narrative embellishment. It requires the reader to acknowledge that established power structures routinely perceive emerging authority as an immediate threat to their control.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Cross-references
- Acts 17:6 But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,
- John 11:47 Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
- Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
- Matthew 8:29 “What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
- Acts 4:2 greatly disturbed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
- 1 Kings 18:17 When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
- Acts 4:24 When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
- Acts 5:24 When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this account, they were perplexed as to what was happening.
- Acts 16:20 They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil