1   Jesus was born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of Herod. 2   After his birth astrologers from the east arrived in Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who is born to be king of the Jews? ^noteWe observed the rising of his star, and we have come to pay him homage.’ 3   King Herod was greatly perturbed when he heard this; and so was the whole of Jerusalem. 4   He called a meeting of the chief priests and lawyers of the Jewish people, and put before them the question: ‘Where is it that the Messiah is to be born?’ 5   ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea’, they replied; and they referred him to the prophecy which reads: 6   ‘Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are far from least in the eyes of ^note the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a leader to be the shepherd of my people Israel.’

7   Herod next called the astrologers to meet him in private, and ascertained from them the time when the star had appeared. 8   He then sent them on to Bethlehem, and said, ‘Go and make a careful inquiry for the child. When you have found him, report to me, so that I may go myself and pay him homage.’

9   They set out at the king's bidding; and the star which they had seen at its rising went ahead of them until it stopped above the place where the child lay. 10   At the sight of the star they were overjoyed. 11   Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and bowed to the ground in homage to him; then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12   And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned home another way.

The coming of Christ

13   After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said to him, ‘Rise up, take the child and his mother and escape with them to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the child to do away with him.’ 14   So Joseph rose from sleep, and taking mother and child by night he went away with them to Egypt, 15   and there he stayed till Herod's death. This was to fulfil what the Lord had declared through the prophet: ‘I called my son out of Egypt.’

16   When Herod saw how the astrologers had tricked him he fell into a passion, and gave orders for the massacre of all children in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood, of the age of two years or less, corresponding with the time he had ascertained from the astrologers. 17   So the words spoken through Jeremiah the prophet were fulfilled: 18   ‘A voice was heard in Rama, wailing and loud laments; it was Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing all consolation, because they were no more.’

19   The time came that Herod died; and an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said to him, 20   ‘Rise up, take the child and his mother, and go with them to the land of Israel, for the men who threatened the child's life are dead.’ 21   So he rose, took mother and child with him, and came to the land of Israel. 22   Hearing, however, that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judaea, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee; 23   there he settled in a town called Nazareth. This was to fulfil the words spoken through the prophets: ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’

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