“rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” The Greek text contains the figure of speech polyptoton, the repetition of the same word but in different parts of speech. Here, the word is “joy,” appearing in both noun and verb forms, emphasizing the great joy of the Magi.^a Although in English “rejoiced” and “joy” are separated, in the Greek text they are together, echarēsan charan (ἐχάρησαν χαρὰν; “rejoiced [with] joy). The Magi were excited to see the star. When they traveled to Jerusalem to meet with King Herod, they had no idea where in Judea the Messiah was born. It could have been west towards the Mediterranean Sea; east towards the Jordan River, back north towards Gibeah, the hometown of King Saul, Israel’s first king—the Magi had no idea where in Judea they would be directed to go. When they were told to go south to Bethlehem and then saw the star in front of them, that was very exciting to them.

[See figure of speech “polyptoton.”]