This verse is a notorious problem for interpreters.
Matthew makes three changes from his usual formula for introducing quotations
from Scripture. (1) He replaces “the prophet” with “the prophets.” (2) Instead
of the participle “saying” he has the conjunction “that (οτι).” (3) The text itself, “He shall be called
a Nazarene (Ναζωραιος
κληθησεται)” corresponds to no known
biblical text. These changes have led some commentators to suppose that Matthew
intends not to quote directly from a single passage in his customary fashion,
but to summarize what he regards as the import of prophecy in general, having
in mind more than one text. Three main sources may be seen for his summary: the
title נזיר, of holy persons dedicated to God (cf. Judges 3.2-7); Isaiah’s
messianic promise of “a shoot out of the stock of Jesse and a branch (נֵצֶר)
out of his roots” (11.1); and, of course, the place name “Nazareth” itself,
which has suggested the linking of these ideas and the person of Jesus. That
there is no actual etymological connection between נזיר, נֵצֶר and Ναζαρετ is, of course, beside the
point: the only point that matters is what Christians may have made of the
evident homeophonies between the three words . . . (Christopher Bryan,
Mary of Nazareth: The Mother of Jesus as Remembered by the Earliest Christians
[New York: Seabury Books, 2024], 178 n. 60, emphasis in bold added)
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