MatthewChapter 2

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¹Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea while Herod was king. After that, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.a ²They asked, "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east. We have come to worship him." ³When King Herod heard this, he was upset. So was everyone in Jerusalem. ⁴Herod called together all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵"In Bethlehem in Judea," they answered. "This is what the prophet wrote: ⁶'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah. For a ruler will come out of you. He will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" ⁷Then Herod called the Magi in secret. He found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, come and tell me. Then I can go and worship him too." ⁹After they heard the king, they went on their way. The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them. It stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were filled with great joy. ¹¹They came to the house and saw the child with his mother Mary. They bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure boxes. They gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²They had been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they went home to their own country by another road. ¹³After the Magi left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up!" the angel said. "Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." ¹⁴So Joseph got up. During the night, he took the child and his mother and left for Egypt. ¹⁵He stayed there until Herod died. This fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my Son." ¹⁶Herod saw that the Magi had tricked him, and he became very angry. He sent orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and the area around it. He killed every boy two years old and under. He went by the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true: ¹⁸"A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning. Rachel is weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted, because they are gone." ¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. ²⁰"Get up!" the angel said. "Take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are dead now." ²¹So Joseph got up. He took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But then he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod. So he was afraid to go there. He was warned in a dream, and he went to the area of Galilee instead. ²³He went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So what the prophets had said came true: "He will be called a Nazarene."