The Gospel According to St. Matthew

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- Chapter 2 -

(Micah 5:1–6)

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in the province of Judea during the time that King Herod the Great ruled there. Some time after Jesus was born, some men from very far away to the east who studied the stars came to the city of Jerusalem.

They asked people, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We have seen a star in the east that shows us he has been born, so we have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard about what those men were asking, he became very worried. Many of the people in Jerusalem also became worried.

Then Herod called together all the ruling priests and teachers of the Jewish laws. He asked them where the prophets had predicted that the Messiah was to be born.

They said to him, “He will be born in the town of Bethlehem, here in the province of Judea, because the prophet Micah wrote long ago,

‘You who live in Bethlehem in the land of Judah, your town is certainly very important, because a man from your town will become a ruler. He will guide my people who live in Israel.’”

Then King Herod secretly called those men who studied the stars. He asked them exactly when the star first appeared.

Then he said to them, “Go to Bethlehem and inquire thoroughly where the infant is. When you have found him, come back and report to me so that I, myself, can go there and worship him, too.”

Then the men went toward the town of Bethlehem. To their surprise, the star that they had seen while they were in the eastern country went ahead of them again until it stood above the house where the child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced greatly and followed it.

They found the house, entered it, and saw the child and his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure boxes and they gave him gold, expensive frankincense, and myrrh.

Then God warned them in a dream not to return to King Herod. So they left for their country, but instead of traveling back on the same road, they went on a different road.

The Flight to Egypt

(Hosea 11:1–7)

After the men who studied the stars left Bethlehem, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. He said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee into the country of Egypt. Stay there until I tell you that you should leave, because King Herod is about to send soldiers to look for the child so that they can kill him.”

So Joseph got up that same night; he took the child and his mother, and they fled into Egypt.

They stayed there until King Herod died, and then they left Egypt again. In this way, what God had told the prophet Hosea to write came true, “I have called my son to come out of Egypt.”

Weeping and Great Mourning

(Jeremiah 31:1–25)

Before King Herod died, he realized that those men had tricked him, and he became furious. Because he thought that Jesus was still near Bethlehem, Herod sent soldiers there to kill all the boy babies two years old and younger. Herod calculated how old the baby was, according to what the men who studied the stars told him about when the star first appeared.

When Herod did this, what the prophet Jeremiah had written long ago came true, when he wrote about Bethlehem near the town of Ramah:

Women in Ramah were weeping and wailing loudly. Rachel, the ancestor of those women, was weeping for their dead children. People tried to comfort her, but they could not, because all the children were dead.

The Return to Nazareth

(Luke 2:39–40)

After Herod died and while Joseph and his family were still in Egypt, an angel that the Lord had sent appeared to Joseph in a dream. He said to Joseph,

“Get up and take the child and his mother and go back to the country of Israel to live, because the people who were trying to kill the child have died.”

So Joseph took the child and his mother, and they went back to Israel.

When Joseph heard that Archaelaus now ruled in the province of Judea instead of his father, King Herod the Great, he was afraid to go there. Then God instructed Joseph in a dream what to do, so Joseph, Mary, and the baby went to the district of Galilee.

They went to the town of Nazareth to live there. The result was that what the prophets had said long ago came true: “People will say that he is from Nazareth.”

(Micah 5:1–6)

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men

(a)

from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,

“Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Gathering 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 written through the prophet,

‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come a governor who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’”(b)

Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”

They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.

The Flight to Egypt

(Hosea 11:1–7)

Now when they had departed, behold, 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.”(c)

Weeping and Great Mourning

(Jeremiah 31:1–25)

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

“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.”(d)

The Return to Nazareth

(Luke 2:39–40)

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,

“Arise and 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.”

He arose and 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. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,

and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene.

Footnotes

(a)2:1 The word for “wise men” (magoi) can also mean teachers, scientists, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, or sorcerers.

(b)2:6 ℘ Micah 5:2

(d)2:18 ℘ Jeremiah 31:15