All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city.
Parallel Translations
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All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city.
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And every man went vnto his awne citie to be taxed.
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Therefore went all to be taxed, euery man to his owne Citie.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 3 And all went to be taxed, every one…
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
Ver. 3. And all went to be taxed] To pay a certain small sum of money in token of fidelity. I was once at a court sermon (saith Melancthon) on the Nativity day, and this was the text: but the preacher, instead of discoursing on Christ’s incarnation, spent the whole hour, on a very cold day, in persuading the people to obey magistrates, and to give them as much money as they call for. This is the guise of court parasites, princes, trencher flies.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And all went to be taxed,.... Throughout Judea, Galilee,…
And all went to be taxed,.... Throughout Judea, Galilee, and Syria; men, women, and children,
every one into his own city; where he was born, and had any estate, and to which he belonged.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. And all went to be taxed, every…
Verse 3. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.] The Roman census was an institution of Servius Tullius, sixth king of Rome. From the account which Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives of it; we may at once see its nature.
"He ordered all the citizens of Rome to register their estates according to their value in money, taking an oath, in a form he prescribed, to deliver a faithful account according to the best of their knowledge, specifying the names of their parents, their own age, the names of their wives and children, adding also what quarter of the city, or what town in the country, they lived in." Ant. Rom. l. iv. c. 15. p. 212. Edit. Huds.
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A Roman census appears to have consisted of these two parts:
1. The account which the people were obliged to give in of their names, quality, employments, wives, children, servants, and estates; and
2. The value set upon the estates by the censors, and the proportion in which they adjudged them to contribute to the defence and support of the state, either in men or money, or both: and this seems to have been the design of the census or enrolment in the text. This census was probably similar to that made in England in the reign of William the Conqueror, which is contained in what is termed Domesday Book, now in the Chapter House, Westminster, and dated 1086.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Luk 2:3. And all went to be taxed, (enrolled,)…
Luk 2:3. And all went to be taxed, (enrolled,) every one to his city — “When the census was made in any country, the inhabitants were obliged to attend in the cities to which they belonged, Livy, 50. 42. c. 10. The reason was, without a precaution of this kind, the census would have been excessively tedious, and people who were abroad might have been omitted, or registered among the inhabitants of other cities, where they would not have been found afterward, or they might have been enrolled twice, which would have produced confusion in the registers.” In the dominions of Herod, however, probably by his order, a small alteration seems to have been made in the method of executing the census. For instead of the people being directed to appear, as usual, in the cities where they resided, or to whose jurisdiction the places of their abode belonged, they were ordered to appeal according to their families; every one in his native city, or the place where his paternal inheritance lay, to be there enrolled; a circumstance wisely ordered by Providence to verify the truth of ancient prophecies; for thus the parents of Christ were providentiatly brought to Bethlehem, the place where the Messiah was to be born, without leaving any room to suspect them of artifice and design. And thus, also, by their coming to be registered among the subjects of the Roman empire, the subjection of the Jews to the Romans was very remarkably manifested.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Into his own city, i.e. the city of every…
Into his own city, i.e. the city of every one’s family. Now Joseph and Mary, being both of the family of David, were obliged to go to Bethlehem, the city of David, where by Providence, according to the predictions of the prophets, the Messias was to be born. (Witham) --- This decree took place by a special providence of the Almighty, that every one might be compelled to go to his own country; and that thereby the Saviour of Israel might more easily escape the snares of the treacherous Herod. (Ven. Bede) --- This circumstance, moreover, was a public testimony, to be kept in the archives of the country, of the birth and descent of the Messias. Augustus only meant to enumerate his subjects, but among them was numbered his God.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain went . . . to his own city--the city…
went . . . to his own city--the city of his extraction, according to the Jewish custom, not of his abode, which was the usual Roman method.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Every one into his own city—The census in…
3. Every one into his own city—The census in Judea was doubtless conducted in Jewish modes. The enrolment must be made at the place of the lineage of the head of the family. Mary goes probably under the protection of her husband in her present condition. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem is about sixty miles.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. every one into his own city] This method…
3. every one into his own city] This method of enrolment was a concession to Jewish prejudices. The Roman method was to enrol each person at his own place of residence. Incidentally this unexplained notice proves that St Luke is dealing with an historical enrolment.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) All went to be taxed.—As a rule the…
(3) All went to be taxed.—As a rule the practice in a Roman census was to register people in their place of residence; but this was probably modified in Palestine, in deference to the feelings of the people. After the death of Herod and the division of his kingdom, such a method as that implied hero could hardly have been feasible, as the subjects of one tetrarchy would not have been registered as belonging to another, so that here again we have not an error, but a special note of accuracy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 3. Every one to his own city. It was…
3. Every one to his own city. It was the Jewish custom to enroll by tribes and families. Joseph was of the family of David, and would have to be enrolled where that family had its landed inheritance.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 3. And all went to "be taxed, every…
v. 3. And all went to "be taxed, every one into his own city.
v. 4. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem;
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(because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
v. 5. to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child.
All the statements of the evangelist are made with such obvious care and accuracy that there is no reason to doubt his record, aside from the fact that the inspiration makes the text correct. It happened, came about, in those days, the days of Herod the Great, king of Judea. There went out an order from the Emperor Augustus, who reigned from 30 B. C. to 14 A. D. , that the entire world, the whole Roman Empire under his jurisdiction, which practically comprised the entire known world, should be entered into lists, all the people that belonged to the empire were to be registered, probably for the purpose of taxation, or for general statistical objects. Censuses of this kind were often taken in those days, in individual countries and provinces as often as once a year. The census here referred to was an unusual one, since it extended over the entire empire, over kingdoms as well as provinces. The time is fixed still more exactly by the statement that this enrollment was made, was actually executed, as a first one of its kind, when Cyrenius or Quirinius was governor of Syria, a Roman province, to which Judea belonged after the death of Archelaus. When the order was posted or proclaimed in Palestine that all people should be registered in the manner prescribed in the decree of Caesar, the inhabitants prepared to carry out the command. They went, everyone to his own city, to the city from which his forefathers hailed. Among those that made ready for the registration was also Joseph, of the city of Nazareth in Galilee.
Since he was of the house and family of David, the great king of Israel, he made the journey over the hills up to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. And he did not go alone. Sometime before, he had celebrated his marriage with Mary, a virgin of the same city of Nazareth, to whom he had been betrothed. She is here, with great exactness, called his betrothed wife, for though the wedding has been celebrated, the consummation of marriage has not taken place, Mat 1:24-25. Mary was about to become a mother, but the order of the emperor had to be carried out, and therefore they risked the journey to Bethlehem. Note: According to the prophecy of Hag 2:6-7, all the nations were to be shaken when the Desire of the world was to be born. And the decree of Augustus had to be formulated so that both Joseph and Mary were present in Bethlehem at this time, since the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, Mic 5:2. A fitting name for the birthplace of the Redeemer, Bethlehem, the house of bread, since the Bread of Life came to earth in that little city, Joh 6:35.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:3-4 Since Joseph was a descendant of King David,…
2:3-4 Since Joseph was a descendant of King David, he returned to David’s hometown of Bethlehem (1 Sam 17:12, 58; 20:6), a tiny village in Judea five miles south of Jerusalem, where Mic 5:2 predicted that the Messiah would be born.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.