And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

MATTHEW 2:12KJV
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Matthew 2:12 (KJV)

What does Matthew 2:12 mean?

Matthew 2:12 describes how the wise men left after visiting the young Jesus. God warned them in a dream not to report back to King Herod, so they went home by a different route.

The warning changes the plan Herod had given them: he had asked them to tell him where the child was. The verse tells the story in the narrator’s voice, describing both the warning and the wise men’s departure.

The Greek behind Matthew 2:12

  • “warned of God” — χρηματίζω (chrēmatizō): In this setting, the Greek carries the sense of receiving a divine instruction or warning. The word helps explain why the KJV identifies God as the source of the warning.

Why Matthew 2:12 matters

  • Herod did not receive the information he had requested from the wise men. In Matthew 2:8, he had told them to bring him word after they found the child.

  • The wise men’s choice of route matters to the story, not just to their journey. By going home “another way,” they avoided returning to Herod, whose later actions reveal his hostility toward the child in Matthew 2:16.

Where else these words appear

“should” Greek G344 · used in 4 verses

  • Luke 10:6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
  • Acts 18:21 But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
  • Hebrews 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

“dream” Greek G3677 · used in 6 verses

  • Matthew 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
  • Matthew 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
  • Matthew 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

“God” Greek G5537 · used in 9 verses

  • Matthew 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
  • Acts 10:22 And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.
  • Hebrews 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

“departed” Greek G402 · used in 14 verses

  • Matthew 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
  • Matthew 9:24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
  • Matthew 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.