The Magi Bring Gifts
Matthew 2After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, Magi from the rising direction came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in its rising and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this, he was stirred up, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had gathered together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what was written through the prophet,
‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel.’”+Mic 5:2Then Herod secretly called the Magi and learned from them the exact time when the star began shining. He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Y’all go and search carefully for the child. When y’all find him, report to me, so that I also may come and worship him.”
After they heard the king, they left. And there it was, the star they had seen in the rising direction. It led them until it came and stopped over where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great, overwhelming joy. They entered the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
Escape to Egypt
Now when they had departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
He arose and took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”+Hos 11:1
When Herod saw that the Magi tricked him, he was exceedingly angry and sent orders to kill all male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled,
“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”+Jer 31:15The Return to Nazareth
But when Herod was dead, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Get up, take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”
So he got up, took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene.