1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 He gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what was written through the prophet:

7 Then Herod secretly called the wise men and learned from them exactly when the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And the star they had seen at its rising went ahead of them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother. They fell down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 Warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their country by another route.

13 After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod’s death, to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 Then Herod, seeing that the wise men had outwitted him, became furious. He sent men to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its surrounding territory who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning: Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

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 to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard 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. 23 He went and settled in a town called Nazareth, to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”