Jesus · c. 5–4 BC
Chapter 8
The Wise Men
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.
For parents
This chapter tells how King Herod, angry that the wise men had made a fool of him, had every boy two years old and under killed in and around Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). Rachel weeps for her children in the words of Jeremiah (2:17–18). Before that, an angel warns Joseph that Herod will search for the young child to kill him (2:13). It is told plainly, in a few words, without detail.
Luke says that once and had done all that the law of the Lord required, they went home to , their own town in . Matthew tells of what happened in .
In the days of , when had been born in Bethlehem of , from the east came to with a question.
“Where is the one born King of the Jews?” they asked. “We saw his star in the east. We have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard about it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem was troubled with him.
He gathered together all the and of the people. He asked them where the would be born.
“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they answered, “because the wrote:
‘You, Bethlehem, land of ,are far from the least among the princes of Judah,because out of you a governor will comewho will shepherd my people, Israel.’”
Then Herod called the wise men to him in secret, and he learned from them exactly when the star had appeared.
He sent them on to Bethlehem. “Go and look carefully for the young child,” he said. “When you have found him, bring me the news, so that I can come and worship him too.”
They heard what the king said and went on their way. And there was the star they had seen in the east. It went ahead of them until it came and stood over the place where the young child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced, and their joy was very great.
They went into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother. They bowed down to the ground and worshiped him. They opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, and . Frankincense and myrrh are sweet-smelling gums that come from trees.
They were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went back to their own country a different way.
After the wise men had gone away, an of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel said, “Get up, take the young child and his mother, and flee into . Stay there until I tell you, because Herod will be hunting for the young child to kill him.”
So Joseph got up, and in the night he took the young child and his mother and went away into Egypt. He was there until Herod died. This was so that the word the Lord had spoken through the prophet would come true: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod saw that the wise men had made a fool of him, he was extremely angry. Herod sent out an order and had every boy two years old and under killed in Bethlehem and in all the countryside around it. He chose that age to match the exact time he had learned from the wise men.
Then the words spoken by the prophet came true:
A voice was heard in ,wailing, weeping and great mourning: weeping for her children.She would not be comforted,because they are gone.
Then Herod died. While Joseph was in Egypt, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Get up,” the angel told him. “Take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, because the ones who were trying to kill the young child are dead.”
So Joseph got up, and he took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel.
But when Joseph heard that , Herod’s son, was ruling over Judea in his father’s place, he was afraid to go there.
Warned in a dream, he went away into the region of Galilee and came to live in a town called Nazareth. This was so that the word spoken through the prophets would come true: the young child would be called a .