Matthew 2
2
Wise Men from the East
1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda,
Art not the least among the princes of Juda:
For out of thee shall come a Governor,
That shall rule my people Israel.
7Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. 9When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. 12And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
The Flight to Egypt
13And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15and was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
18In Rama was there a voice heard,
Lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
And would not be comforted, because they are not.
Return to Nazareth
19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. 21And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judæa in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 23and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
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Matthew 2: KJV
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Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Published by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
Learn More About King James VersionMatthew 2
2
Some wise men came to Jesus
1Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea country. At that time, the big boss over that country was called Herod.
There were some wise men in a country to the east of Judea. They always looked at the stars, and one night they saw a special star in the sky. So they went west to Jerusalem, the city in Judea country. 2They asked the Jerusalem people, “Where was that baby born that is going to be the big boss over you Jewish people? You see, back in our country, we saw his special star. We saw it come up into the sky, so we came here, to show our respect for him. Where will we find him?”
3Herod was the big boss over that country, and somebody told him that these wise men were talking about another big boss. Herod got very worried. He thought this other person might fight against him and take over his job. A lot of other people in Jerusalem were worried about it too. 4So Herod had a meeting with the bosses of the Jewish ceremonies and the Jewish law teachers, and he asked them, “Where will that baby be born? You know, the Christ, the man that God promised to send?”
5They said, “He will be born in Bethlehem, in Judea country. You see, a long time ago, God told one of his men to write about it. He wrote this in God’s book,
6‘Bethlehem is a little town in Judea country,
but it is a very important town,
because a big boss will be born there.
He will really look after God’s people, the Israel nation.’ ”#Micah 5:2
That’s what those Jewish leaders told Herod.
7So Herod sent for those wise men to come and meet him, but he didn’t tell anyone else about the meeting. He asked them, “When did you first see that star?” 8So they told him when they first saw it.
Then he said to them, “Go to Bethlehem and look carefully for that boy. After you find him, come and tell me the place where he’s living, so that I can go there too and show respect to him.”
9-10The wise men listened to Herod, then they started to go to Bethlehem. Then they saw that same star that they saw before, and they were very happy. That star moved through the sky, and they followed it until it stopped right above the house that Joseph and Mary were living in. 11The wise men went into that house. They saw Jesus with his mother Mary, and they got down on their knees, to show him respect. Then they opened their bags and gave him some presents. They gave him some gold. And they gave him some powder called frankincense, to burn to make a good smell. And they gave him some rubbing medicine called myrrh, that smells good, like perfume.
12After that, the wise men had a dream. In that dream God told them not to go back to Herod, so they went back to their own country along a different road.
The big boss tried to kill Jesus
13After those wise men went away, Joseph had a dream. He heard God’s angel messenger say, “Herod will try to kill the boy, so get up and take Jesus and Mary to Egypt country, and stay there until I tell you to come back.” 14So Joseph got up right then, in the middle of the night, and he got Mary and Jesus, and they left to go to Egypt. 15They lived in Egypt until Herod died, and then they came out of Egypt and went back to Israel country. So it happened just like God told one of his men to write in God’s book, a long time ago. He wrote,
“God called his son to come out of Egypt.”#Hosea 11:1
16At the time when Joseph, Mary and Jesus were going to Egypt, Herod waited for those wise men to come back, but they tricked him. They didn’t come back to him. Then he got really angry. He remembered their story about when they first saw the star, so he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem, and he told them to kill all the little boys up to 2 years old. So they killed all the little boys around Bethlehem. Herod wanted to make sure that Jesus was dead.
17That all happened the way God’s man, Jeremiah, wrote in God’s book, a long time ago. This is what he wrote,
18“In the town called Ramah,
a lot of women are really sad, and they are crying out loud.
They are the grand-daughters of Rachel.
They are crying for their babies.
Nobody can cheer them up,
because their babies are dead.”#Genesis 35:16-19; Jeremiah 31:15
19Some time later, Herod died. Then, in Egypt, Joseph had another dream. He heard God’s angel messenger say, 20“Get up and take Mary and Jesus back to Israel country. The people that wanted to kill him are dead now.”
21So Joseph did what God’s angel messenger told him. He got up, and he got Mary and Jesus, and they started to go back to Israel country. 22But then somebody told him that Herod’s son Arkelayus was the new big boss over the part of Israel called Judea, and Joseph was too frightened to go there.
Then he had another dream. God told him, “Go to Galilee country.” 23So he took his family up north to Galilee. He got to the town called Nazareth, and he stayed there. A long time before that, one of God’s men wrote about this, and it is in God’s book. He wrote,
“People will say that God’s special man is from Nazareth.”#Mark 1:24; Luke 2:39; John 1:45
And that happened after Joseph took his family to live at Nazareth.
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