Matthew 2:6

Matthew 2:6 is the sixth verse of the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The magi have informed King Herod that they had seen portents showing the birth of the King of the Jews. Herod has asked the leading Jewish religious figures about how to find out where Jesus was to be born. In this verse they tell him by quoting from the Book of Micah.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 2:6

This verse is taken from Micah 5:2. Unlike the previous time Matthew quoted the Old Testament in Matthew 1:23 the wording does not seem to be taken from the Septuagint, rather it seems to be an original translation from the Hebrew. Matthew's version differs substantially from both the Septuagint and Masoretic.

Matthew's translation has several important differences from that found in the Septuagint. The King James Version of Micah 5:2, based on the Septuagint, reads:

Ephratah was a town near the Bethlehem in Judea. Some disambiguation is needed as there was at least one other town named Bethlehem at the time. Both referencing a larger neighbour and the province were accepted methods of disambiguation at the time, but the question is why Matthew changes the form. Two other references to Bethlehem being in Judea in Matthew 2:1 and 2:5 show that Matthew felt that showing Jesus was born in Judea was important. In this verse he does not use the same spelling he did previously, thus also linking to the Old Testament figure Judah.

...
Wikipedia