Luke 2:2

Literal Standard Version

this census first came to pass when Quirinius was governor of Syria—

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

King James Version (1611)
(And this taxing was first made whe Cyrenius was gouernor of Syria)

King James Version
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

English Standard Version
This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

New American Standard Bible
This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

New Century Version
This was the first registration; it was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Amplified Bible
This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Legacy Standard Bible
This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Berean Standard Bible
This was the first census to take place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Contemporary English Version
These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Complete Jewish Bible
This registration, the first of its kind, took place when Quirinius was governing in Syria.

Darby Translation
The census itself first took place when Cyrenius had the government of Syria.

Easy-to-Read Version
This was the first counting of all the people while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Geneva Bible (1587)
(This first taxing was made when Cyrenius was gouernour of Syria.)

George Lamsa Translation
This first census took place during the governorship of Quirinius in Syria.

Good News Translation
When this first census took place, Quirinius was the governor of Syria.

Lexham English Bible
(This first registration took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

Literal Translation
This registration first occurred under the governing of Syria by Cyrenius.

American Standard Version
This was the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Bible in Basic English
This was the first numbering, which was made when Quirinius was ruler of Syria.

Hebrew Names Version
This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Aram.

International Standard Version
This was the first registration taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.Acts 5:37;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
This enrolment was first made under the government of Qurinos in Suria.

Murdock Translation
And this enrollment was first made under the presidency of Quirinus in Syria.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
(And this first taxing was made, when Syrenius was liefetenaunt in Syria.)

English Revised Version
This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

World English Bible
This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
(Now this first inrolment was made, when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

Weymouth's New Testament
It was the first registration made during the governorship of Quirinius in Syria;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
This firste discryuyng was maad of Cyryn, iustice of Sirie.

Update Bible Version
This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Webster's Bible Translation
([And] this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

New English Translation
This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

New King James Version
This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

New Living Translation
(This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

New Life Bible
This first writing took place while Quirinius was ruler of Syria.

New Revised Standard
This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
this enrolment, first was made while Cyrenius was governor of Syria:

Douay-Rheims Bible
This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria.

Revised Standard Version
This was the first enrollment, when Quirin'i-us was governor of Syria.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And this taxynge was ye fyrst and executed when Syrenius was leftenaut in Syria.

Young's Literal Translation
this enrollment first came to pass when Cyrenius was governor of Syria --

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And this taxynge was the first that was executed, whan Syrenius was leftenaunt in Siria.

Mace New Testament (1729)
(this register was made before Quirinus was prefect of Syria.)

Simplified Cowboy Version
This would be the first census taken while Quirinius was in charge of Syria.

Contextual Overview

¹And it came to pass in those days, there went forth a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world be registered— ²this census first came to pass when Quirinius was governor of Syria—³and all were going to be registered, each to his proper city, ⁴and Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, that is called Beth-Lehem, because of his being of the house and family of David, ⁵to register himself with Mary his betrothed wife, being with Child. ⁶And it came to pass, in their being there, the days were fulfilled for her bringing forth, ⁷and she brought forth her Son—the firstborn, and wrapped Him up, and laid Him down in the manger, because there was not a place for them in the guest-chamber.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

taxing: Acts 5:37

governor: Luke 3:1, Acts 13:7, Acts 18:12, Acts 23:26, Acts 26:30

Reciprocal: Matthew 4:24 - Syria Acts 21:3 - Syria

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
And God sees all that He has done, and behold, [it is] very good; and there is an evening, and there is a morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2:8
And YHWH God plants a garden in Eden, at the east, and He sets there the man whom He has formed;

Genesis 2:11
the name of the first [is] Pison, it [is] that which is surrounding the whole land of Havilah where the gold [is],

Exodus 23:12
Six days you do your work, and on the seventh day you rest, so that your ox and your donkey rest, and the son of your handmaid and the sojourner is refreshed;

Exodus 31:17
it [is] a sign between Me and the sons of Israel for all time; for [in] six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and in the seventh day He has ceased and is refreshed."

Deuteronomy 5:14
and the seventh day [is] a Sabbath to your God YHWH; you do not do any work, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your handmaid, and your ox, and your donkey, and all your livestock, and your sojourner who [is] within your gates, so that your manservant and your handmaid rest like yourself.

Isaiah 58:13
If you turn your foot from the Sabbath, || [From] doing your own pleasure on My holy day, || And have cried to the Sabbath, A delight, || To the holy of YHWH, Honored, || And have honored it, without doing your own ways, || Without finding your own pleasure, || And speaking a word.

John 5:17
And Jesus answered them, "My Father works until now, and I work";

Hebrews 4:4
for He spoke in a certain place concerning the seventh [day] thus: "And God rested in the seventh day from all His works";

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And this taxing was first made,.... Or "this was the first enrolment, or taxing" in the Jewish nation; for there was another afterwards, when Judas the Galilean arose, and drew many after him, Acts 5:38.

When Cyrenius was governor of Syria; or "of Cyrenius" "governor of Syria"; that is, it was the first that he was, concerned in; who not now, but afterwards was governor of Syria; and because he had been so before Luke wrote this history, and this being a title of honour, and what might distinguish him from others of that name, it is given him; for as Tertullian says c, Sentius Saturninus was now governor of Syria, when Cyrenius was sent into Judea, to make this register, or taxing; and which is manifestly distinguished from that, which was made during his being governor of Syria, when Archelaus was banished from Judea, ten or eleven years after Herod's death; which Josephus d gives an account of, and Luke refers to, in Acts 5:37. Moreover, the words will bear to be rendered thus, "and this tax, or enrolment, was made before Cyrenius was governor of Syria"; πρωτη, being used for

προτερα, as in John 1:15. This Cyrenius is the same whom the Romans call Quirinius, and Quirinus; a governor of Syria had great power in Judea, to which it was annexed, when Cyrenius was governor there. It is reported of R. Gamaliel, that he went to take a licence,

מהגמון בסוריא, "from a governor of Syria" e; i.e. to intercalate the year: and Syria was in many things like to the land of Judea, particularly as to tithes, and the keeping of the seventh year f.

c Contr. Marcion, l. 4. c. 19. d Antiqu. l. 18. c. 1. e Misn. Ediot. c. 7. sect. 7. f T. Bab. Gittin. fol. 8. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And this taxing was first made ... - This verse has given as much perplexity, perhaps, as any one in the New Testament. The difficulty consists in the fact that “Cyrenius,” or “Quirinius,” was not governor of Syria until 12 or 15 years after the birth of Jesus. Jesus was born during the reign of Herod. At that time “Varus” was president of Syria. Herod was succeeded by “Archelaus,” who reigned eight or nine years; and after he was removed, Judea was annexed to the province of Syria, and Cyrenius was sent as the governor (Josephus, “Ant.,” b. xvii. 5). The difficulty has been to reconcile this account with that in Luke. Various attempts have been made to do this. The one that seems most satisfactory is that proposed by Dr. Lardner. According to his view, the passage here means, “This was the “first” census of Cyrenius, governor of Syria.” It is called the “first” to distinguish it from one “afterward” taken by Cyrenius, Acts 5:37. It is said to be the census taken by “Cyrenius; governor of Syria; “not that he was “then” governor, but that it was taken by him who was afterward familiarly known as governor. “Cyrenius, governor of Syria,” was the name by which the man was known when Luke wrote his gospel, and it was not improper to say that the taxing was made by Cyrenius, the governor of Syria,” though he might not have been actually governor for many years afterward. Thus, Herodian says that to Marcus “the emperor” were born several daughters and two sons,” though several of those children were born to him “before” he was emperor. Thus, it is not improper to say that General Washington saved Braddock’s army, or was engaged in the old French war, though he was not actually made “general” until many years afterward. According to this Augustus sent Cyrenius, an active, enterprising man, to take the census. At that time he was a Roman senator. Afterward, he was made governor of the same country, and received the title which Luke gives him.

Syria - The region of country north of Palestine, and lying between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. “Syria,” called in the Hebrew “Aram,” from a son of Shem Genesis 10:22, in its largest acceptation extended from the Mediterranean and the river Cydnus to the Euphrates, and from Mount Taurus on the north to Arabia and the border of Egypt on the south. It was divided into “Syria Palestina,” including Canaan and Phoenicia; “Coele-Syria,” the tract of country lying between two ridges of Mount Lebanon and Upper Syria. The last was known as “Syria” in the restricted sense, or as the term was commonly used.

The leading features in the physical aspect of Syria consist of the great mountainous chains of Lebanon, or Libanus and Anti-Libanus, extending from north to south, and the great desert lying on the southeast and east. The valleys are of great fertility, and yield abundance of grain, vines, mulberries, tobacco, olives, excellent fruits, as oranges, figs, pistachios, etc. The climate in the inhabited parts is exceedingly fine. Syria is inhabited by various descriptions of people, but Turks and Greeks form the basis of the population in the cities. The only tribes that can be considered as unique to Syria are the tenants of the heights of Lebanon. The most remarkable of these are the Druses and Maronites. The general language is Arabic; the soldiers and officers of government speak Turkish. Of the old Syriac language no traces now exist.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Luke 2:2. This taxing was first made when Cyrenius, c.] The next difficulty in this text is found in this verse, which may be translated, Now this first enrolment was made when Quirinus was governor of Syria.

It is easily proved, and has been proved often, that Caius Sulpicius Quirinus, the person mentioned in the text, was not governor of Syria, till ten or twelve years after the birth of our Lord.

St. Matthew says that our Lord was born in the reign of Herod, Luke 2:1, at which time Quintilius Varus was president of Syria, (Joseph. Ant. book xvii. c. 5, sect. 2,) who was preceded in that office by Sentius Saturninus. Cyrenius, or Quirinus, was not sent into Syria till Archelaus was removed from the government of Judea and Archelaus had reigned there between nine and ten years after the death of Herod; so that it is impossible that the census mentioned by the evangelist could have been made in the presidency of Quirinus.

Several learned men have produced solutions of this difficulty; and, indeed, there are various ways of solving it, which may be seen at length in Lardner, vol. i. p. 248-329. One or other of the two following appears to me to be the true meaning of the text.

1. When Augustus published this decree, it is supposed that Quirinus, who was a very active man, and a person in whom the emperor confided, was sent into Syria and Judea with extraordinary powers, to make the census here mentioned; though, at that time, he was not governor of Syria, for Quintilius Varus was then president; and that when he came, ten or twelve years after, into the presidency of Syria, there was another census made, to both of which St. Luke alludes, when he says, This was the first assessment of Cyrenius, governor of Syria; for so Dr. Lardner translates the words. The passage, thus translated, does not say that this assessment was made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, which would not have been the truth, but that this was the first assessment which Cyrenius, who was (i.e. afterwards) governor of Syria, made; for after he became governor, he made a second. Lardner defends this opinion in a very satisfactory and masterly manner. See vol. i. p. 317. c.

2. The second way of solving this difficulty is by translating the words thus: This enrolment was made BEFORE Cyrenius was governor of Syria or, before that of Cyrenius. This sense the word πρωτος appears to have, John 1:30: ὁτι πρωτος μου ην, for he was BEFORE me. John 15:18: The world hated me BEFORE (προτον) it hated you. See also 2 Samuel 19:43. Instead of πρωτη, some critics read προ της, This enrolment was made BEFORE THAT of Cyrenius. Michaelis; and some other eminent and learned men, have been of this opinion: but their conjecture is not supported by any MS. yet discovered; nor, indeed, is there any occasion for it. As the words in the evangelist are very ambiguous, the second solution appears to me to be the best.