Matthew 2
2
Visitors from the East
1Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterwards, some men who studied the stars came from the east to Jerusalem 2and 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.”
3When King Herod heard about this, he was very upset, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. 4He 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 #
Mic 5.2
‘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.’ ”
7So Herod called the visitors from the east to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8Then 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.”
9-10And 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. 11They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshipped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and presented them to him.
12Then 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
13After 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.”
14Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, 15#Hos 11.1where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make what the Lord had said through the prophet come true, “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
The Killing of the Children
16When 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 neighbourhood 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.
17In this way what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true:
18 #
Jer 31.15
“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
19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and 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.” 21So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Israel.
22But 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#Mk 1.24; Lk 2.39; Jn 1.45and made his home in a town named Nazareth. And so what the prophets had said came true: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Matthew 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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