Matthew

¹When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men⁴¹ from the east came to Jerusalem, saying: ²”Where is the one who is born King of the Jews? Indeed, we have seen his star in the east and we have come to express adoration to⁴² him.” ³When King Herod heard about this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ⁴³ would be born. ⁵They replied, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet:

⁶You Bethlehem, land of Judah,

are in no way least among the rulers of Judah:

for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.⁴⁴

⁷Then Herod privately⁴⁵ called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star had appeared. ⁸He 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 express adoration to⁴⁶ him.”

⁹After listening to the king, they continued on their journey and behold, the star which they had seen in the east was going ahead of them, until it came and stood over the place where the young child was.^{47 10}When they saw the star, they were filled with tremendous joy. ¹¹Entering the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and expressed adoration to⁴⁸ him. Opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹²But having been warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they returned to their own country using another way.

The sojourn in Egypt—The massacre of the infants

¹³After they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise! Take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt.⁴⁹ Stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” ¹⁴So Joseph arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt. ¹⁵They remained there until the death of Herod, so that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled:

Out of Egypt I have called my son.⁵⁰

¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the wise men, he became extremely angry. He dispatched [his men] and killed all the male children who lived in Bethlehem and all the surrounding countryside, two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men. ¹⁷And so, what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸A voice was heard in Ramah,

lamentation,⁵¹ weeping and great mourning:

Rachel weeping for her children.

She would not be comforted,

because they are no more.⁵²

¹⁹But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream when he was in Egypt, saying: ²⁰”Arise! Take the young child and his mother, and return to the land of Israel; those who were trying to kill the young child are dead.”

²¹Joseph arose and took the young child and his mother, and they came into the land of Israel. ²²However, when Joseph heard that Archelaus was ruling 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. ²³He thus arrived and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”⁵³

The ministry of John the Baptist

41. The word for “wise men” (magoi) can also mean teachers, scientists, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, or sorcerers.
42. proskuneo can also be translated “worship (in the broad sense),” “venerate,” “fall down in reverence,” “do obeisance” (see NT introduction regarding proskuneo)
43. Or “Messiah”
44. Micah 5:2
45. Or “secretly”
46. See 2:2
47. Quoted in the preparation of the gifts (proskomide) in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
48. See 2:2
49. Like Moses, Jesus is threatened with death by an evil ruler. The irony is that the Jewish king is Pharao and Egypt is now the land of refugee. Compare also Revelation 12:4,14
50. Hosea 11:1 (a typological application of Christ as Jacob-Israel). In this case, NT agrees with MT against LXX, as St. Jerome had noted (see Introduction to the synoptic gospels).
51. CT omits “lamentation” which may have been added to harmonize this quotation with Jeremiah 31:15 (38:15 in LXX).
52. Jeremiah 31:15
53. No exact match in the Old Testament. Three possible figurative antecedents for the name Nazarene are the Hebrew words nazir (set apart, consecrated), nezer (crown), and netser (flower, branch, from the root) which have corresponding Old Testament passages.