Matthew 2

2 ¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea, in the days of King Herod, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, ²saying, "Where is the one born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴He gathered all the people's chief priests and scribes, asking where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what was written through the prophet: ⁶'Yet you, Bethlehem, in Judah's land, are certainly not the least among Judah's rulers; for from you a ruler will emerge who will shepherd Israel, my people.'"

⁷Then Herod secretly summoned the magi and learned from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go, search carefully for the child. When you find him, come back and tell me, so that I too may go and worship him."

⁹After hearing the king, they set out; the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with overwhelming joy. ¹¹Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, fell down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²Warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by a different route.

The Father Shelters His Son

¹³After they left, an angel of our Father appeared to Joseph in a dream: "Get up, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay until I tell you—Herod is about to search for the child to kill him."

¹⁴And he got up and took the child and his mother by night and left for Egypt,

¹⁵and stayed there until Herod died, fulfilling what our Father said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." ^a a v15 Matthew applies these words of Hosea to Jesus: the true Son who fulfills what Israel, called out of Egypt, never could.

¹⁶Then Herod, seeing the magi had outwitted him, grew furious and sent men to kill all boys two years old and under in Bethlehem and its whole region, matching the time he'd learned from the magi. ¹⁷This fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet: ¹⁸"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more."

The Father Calls Him Home

¹⁹But when Herod died, an angel of our Father appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰saying, "Get up, take the child and his mother, go to Israel's land, for those seeking the child's life are dead."

²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went to Israel's land. ²²Hearing that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. ²³He went and lived in a town called Nazareth, fulfilling the prophets' words: "He will be called a Nazarene."