HEBREW GOSPEL OF MATTHEW - CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 1 (Part 2) — Section 002 [MT 1:18–25]

פרק שני

Note on Textual Divisions & Concordance Markers

The section titles (פרק ראשון, פרק שני, etc.) follow the authentic internal layout of Shem-Tob's Hebrew text, which organizes the Gospel of Matthew into 116 structural pericopes. The traditional 28-chapter and verse divisions ([MT 1:18–25]) did not exist in ancient manuscripts; they were devised centuries later by Western scholars (Stephen Langton in 1205 and Robert Estienne in 1551) to build Latin concordances. The standard chapter/verse citations are included in brackets solely as a concordance reference for readers navigating standard printed Bibles.

#	Shem-Tob Hebrew Text	Literal Translation
18	ולידת מיש״ו היה בזה האופן) ויהי כאשר היתה אמו ארוסה ליוסף קודם שידע אותה נמצאת מעוברת מרוח הקדש׃	...and the birth from Yeshu was according to this manner.) And it came to pass when his mother was betrothed to Yosef, before he knew her, she was found pregnant from the holy breath.
19	ויוסף איש צדיק היה ולא רצה לישב עמה ולא לגלותה להביאה לבושה ולא לאוסרה למות אבל היה רוצה לכסות עליה׃	And Yosef was an equitable man, and he was not willing to dwell with her, nor to expose her to bring her to shame, nor to bind her over to die, but he was desiring to conceal over her.
20	ובחשבו בזה הדבר בלבו והנה מלאך נראה אליו בחלום ואמר יוסף בן דוד אל תירא לקחת אשתך מר״ים שמרוח הקדוש היא מעוברת׃	And upon his thinking on this matter in his heart, behold, a messenger appeared to him in a dream and said: "Yosef, son of David, do not fear to take your woman Miryam, for from the holy breath she is pregnant.
21	ותלד בן ותקרא שמו ישו״ע כי הוא יושיע את עמי מעונותם׃	And she shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Yeshu"a, for he shall preserve my people from their perversities."
22	כל זה לגמור מה שנכתב מאת הנביא על פי ה״.	All this was to finish what was written from the prophet by the mouth of the Name [HaShem].
23	הנה העלמה הרה ותלד בן וקראת שמו עמנואל שר״ל עמנו אלקים׃	Behold, the young woman conceives and bears a son, and you shall call his name Immanu'el, which is to say [she-rotzeh lomar]: with us is God.
24	וייקץ יוסף משנתו ויעש ככל אשר צוה אותו מלאך ה״ ויקח את אשתו׃	And Yosef awoke from his sleep, and he did according to all that the messenger of the Name commanded him, and he took his woman.
25	ולא ידע אותה עד שילדה בנה הבכור ויקרא את שמו ישו״ע׃	And he knew her not until she bore her firstborn son, and he called his name Yeshu"a.

Consonantal & Paleographic Notes

• The Scribal Parenthesis Frame (Verses 17–18): Pay close attention to the structural punctuation on the parchment. At the end of Section 1 (MT 1:17), an opening parenthesis was introduced: (וכל תולדות.... That bracket was not closed in verse 17. Instead, the closing parenthesis appears here at the very opening of verse 18: ולידת מיש״ו היה בזה האופן). This marks a continuous, enclosed scribal aside bridging the two sections. Just as verse 16 isolated the external title with בלעז ("according to their outside tongue"), this parenthetical bracket sets apart the formal tally and introductory premise: "(And all the generations... and the birth of Yeshu was according to this manner.)". By walling off this formula within parentheses, the scribe signals to the reader: "this is how they state it; this is their official genealogical tally and asserted manner of birth." The moment the closing parenthesis drops at בזה האופן), the text shifts registers into the actual unfolding narrative line: ויהי כאשר... ("And it came to pass...").
• פרק שני (Second Section): Preserves the internal Hebrew division heading designating this narrative as Section 2 of the 116 units.
• Verse 21 (Yosef's Mission & The Shift to ישו״ע): While the text outside this command preserves the spelling יש״ו (Y-Sh-W), here the messenger commands Yosef: ותקרא שמו ישו״ע כי הוא יושיע ("and you shall call his name Yeshu"a, for he shall preserve/deliver"). In Hebrew civic practice, the act of naming was the legal verification of paternity and house adoption, charging Yosef with formally anchoring the child into the Davidic lineage. The inclusion of the letter Ayin (ע) directly unlocks the root ישע (yasha — to make wide, rescue, salvage), giving Yosef the mission of naming the child after his active function: יושיע (he shall preserve/deliver).
• Verse 19 (צדיק & לכסות עליה): Yosef is described as an equitable/straight man (ish tzaddik). The Hebrew uses physical, tactile actions: he was unwilling to expose her (legalotah, root גלה, to uncover/strip) or bind her over to execution (le'osrah, root אסר), but sought to cover/veil over the matter (lekhasot aleiha, root כסה).
• Scribal Abbreviations & The Divine Name:
  • ה״ (Verses 22 & 24): The letter Hey with double primes (Gershayim) represents HaShem ("The Name"), standing in place of the Tetragrammaton.
  • שר״ל (Verse 23): Standard scribal contraction for שרוצה לומר (she-rotzeh lomar — "which is to say" / "which means"), glossing the Hebrew meaning of Immanu'el.
• רוח הקדש (Verses 18 & 20): Stripped of post-biblical dogmatic terminology, רוח (ruach) denotes kinetic breath/wind, and קדש (qodesh) signifies dedicated separation. Rendered concretely as "the holy breath".