Matthew 2:11–23

¹¹When they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary. So they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.^b

¹²God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they left for their country by another road. 

The Escape to Egypt

¹³After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel said to him, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him.” 

¹⁴Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left for Egypt that night. ¹⁵He stayed there until Herod died. What the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: “I have called my son out of Egypt.” 

¹⁶When Herod saw that the wise men had tricked him, he became furious. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys two years old and younger in or near Bethlehem. This matched the exact time he had learned from the wise men. ¹⁷Then the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah came true: 

¹⁸“A sound was heard in Ramah, 

the sound of crying in bitter grief. 

Rachel was crying for her children. 

She refused to be comforted 

because they were dead.” 

From Egypt to Nazareth

¹⁹After Herod was dead, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. ²⁰The angel said to him, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to Israel. Those who tried to kill the child are dead.” 

²¹Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, Joseph was afraid to go there. Warned in a dream, he left for Galilee ²³and made his home in a city called Nazareth. So what the prophets had said came true: “He will be called a Nazarene.”