1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem
2saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him.
4After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
5“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:
6‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared.
8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.”
9After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was.
10When they saw the star they shouted joyfully.
11As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.
The Escape to Egypt
13After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.”
14Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt.
15He stayed there until Herod died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
16When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.
17Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18“A voice was heard in Ramah,weeping and loud wailing,Rachel weeping for her children,and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.”
The Return to Nazareth
19After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt
20saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”
21So he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to 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. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee.
23He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.