Matthew 2

¹Now Jesus having been born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,

²saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.’

³Now when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him,

⁴And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

⁵And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:

⁶‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’

⁷Then Herod, having secretly called the Magi, ascertained from them exactly the time the star had appeared,

⁸And sending them to Bethlehem, he said, ‘Go and search carefully for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, so that I too may come and worship him.’

⁹And they, having heard the king, went on their way, and behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them, until, coming, it stood over where the Child was.

¹⁰And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

¹¹And having come into the house, they saw the Child with Mary his mother, and falling down they worshiped him, and opening their treasures they offered to him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

¹²And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their own country by another way.

¹³Now when they had withdrawn, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to seek the child, to destroy him.’

¹⁴And he, having arisen, took the Child and his mother by night and withdrew into Egypt,

¹⁵and he remained there until the death of Herod, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, Out of Egypt I called my son.

¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he had been outwitted by the magi, was exceedingly enraged, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all its region, two years old and under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the magi.

¹⁷Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

¹⁸‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they are no more.’

¹⁹Now when Herod had died, behold, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

²⁰saying, ‘Arise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.’

²¹So he, having arisen, took the Child and his mother and entered into the land of Israel.

²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,

²³and having come, he settled in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.