Matthew
Chapter 2
1 When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah during King Herod’s time, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.
2 Asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star rise and have come to honor him.”
3 When King Herod heard this, he and all of Jerusalem were worried.
4 When he called all the main priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where Christ was to be born.
5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because the prophet wrote it like this.”
6 You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah: because from you will come a leader who will govern my people Israel.
7 Then Herod secretly met with the wise men and carefully asked them when the star had appeared.
8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go, look carefully for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so I can come and honor him too.”
9 After listening to the king, they left, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw the star, they were very happy.
11 When they entered the house, they saw the young child with his mother Mary, and they knelt down and worshiped him. After opening their treasures, they gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod, so they went home a different way.
13 After they left, an angel of God came to Joseph in a dream. The angel said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you to come back, because Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.”
14 He got up, took the child and his mother at night, and left for Egypt.
15 They stayed there until Herod died. This fulfilled what God had told the prophet: “I called my son out of Egypt.”
16 Then Herod, when he realized the wise men had tricked him, became very angry. He ordered his soldiers to kill all the boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas, based on the information he had gotten from the wise men.
17 Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true:
18 In Rama, a voice was heard, crying, tears, and deep sadness, Rachel cried for her children and couldn’t be comforted, because they were gone.
19 When Herod died, an angel of God appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
20 Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to Israel because those who wanted to kill the child are dead.
21 He got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus became king in Judea after his father Herod, he was scared to go there. However, after God warned him in a dream, he went to Galilee instead.
23 He came and lived in a city named Nazareth so that what the prophets said would come true: He will be called a Nazarene.