1 When Jesus then was borne at Bethleem in Iudea, in the dayes of Herod the King, beholde, there came Wisemen from the East to Hierusalem, 2 Saying, Where is that King of the Iewes that is borne? for wee haue seene his starre in the East, and are come to worship him. 3 When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Hierusalem with him. 4 And gathering together all the chiefe Priestes and Scribes of the people, hee asked of them, where Christ should be borne. 5 And they saide vnto him, At Beth-leem in Iudea: for so it is written by the Prophet, 6 And thou Beth-leem in the lande of Iuda, art not the least among the Princes of Iuda: For out of thee shall come the gouernour that shall feede that my people Israel. 7 Then Herod priuily called the Wisemen, and diligently inquired of them the time of the starre that appeared, 8 And sent them to Beth-leem, saying, Goe, and searche diligently for the babe: and when ye haue founde him, bring mee worde againe, that I may come also, and worship him. 9 So when they had heard the King, they departed: and loe, the starre which they had seene in the East, went before them, till it came and stoode ouer the place where the babe was. 10 And when they sawe the starre, they reioyced with an exceeding great ioy, 11 And went into the house, and founde the babe with Mary his mother, and fell downe, and worshipped him, and opened their treasures, and presented vnto him giftes, euen golde, and frankincense, and myrrhe. 12 And after they were warned of God in a dreame, that they should not go againe to Herod, they returned into their countrey another way. 13 After their departure, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeareth to Ioseph in a dreame, saying, Arise, and take the babe and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there til I bring thee word: for Herod will seeke the babe, to destroy him. 14 So he arose and tooke the babe and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, 15 And was there vnto the death of Herod, that that might be fulfilled, which is spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying, Out of Egypt haue I called my sonne. 16 Then Herod, seeing that he was mocked of the Wisemen, was exceeding wroth, and sent foorth, and slew all the male children that were in Beth-leem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two yeere old and vnder, according to the time which he had diligently searched out of the Wisemen. 17 Then was that fulfilled which is spoken by the Prophet Ieremias, saying, 18 In Rhama was a voyce heard, mourning, and weeping, and great howling: Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they were not. 19 And whe Herod was dead, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeareth in a dreame to Ioseph in Egypt, 20 Saying, Arise, and take the babe and his mother, and goe into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the babes life. 21 Then he arose vp and tooke the babe and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But whe he heard that Archelaus did reigne in Iudea in stead of his father Herod, he was afraide to go thither: yet after he was warned of God in a dreame, he turned aside into the parts of Galile, 23 And went and dwelt in a citie called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophets, which was, That hee should be called a Nazarite.
Visitors from the East
1 Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterward, some men who studied the stars came from the East to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard about this, he was very upset, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. 4 He called together all the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”
5 “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea,” they answered. “For this is what the prophet wrote:
6 ‘Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
you are by no means the least of the leading cities of Judah;
for from you will come a leader
who will guide my people Israel.’”
7 So Herod called the visitors from the East to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem with these instructions: “Go and make a careful search for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9-10 And so they left, and on their way they saw the same star they had seen in the East. When they saw it, how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 11 They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and presented them to him.
12 Then they returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod.
The Escape to Egypt
13 After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave.”
14 Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
The Killing of the Children
16 When Herod realized that the visitors from the East had tricked him, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old and younger—this was done in accordance with what he had learned from the visitors about the time when the star had appeared.
17 In this way what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true:
18 “A sound is heard in Ramah,
the sound of bitter weeping.
Rachel is crying for her children;
she refuses to be comforted,
for they are dead.”
The Return from Egypt
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go back to the land of Israel, because those who tried to kill the child are dead.” 21 So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Israel.
22 But when Joseph heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, he was afraid to go there. He was given more instructions in a dream, so he went to the province of Galilee 23 and made his home in a town named Nazareth. And so what the prophets had said came true: “He will be called a Nazarene.”