Matthew 1:18–2:12

The Birth of Jesus Christ

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was engaged ⁿ to marry Joseph, but before they married, she learned she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Mary’s husband, Joseph, was a good man, he did not want to disgrace her in public, so he planned to divorce her secretly.

²⁰While Joseph thought about these things, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, descendant of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the baby in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus, ⁿ because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this happened to bring about what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“The virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son, and they will name him Immanuel,” ⁿ which means “God is with us.”

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the Lord’s angel had told him to do. Joseph took Mary as his wife, ²⁵but he did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to the son. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Wise Men Come to Visit Jesus

2Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king. When Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. ²They asked, “Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

³When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, as were all the people in Jerusalem. ⁴Herod called a meeting of all the leading priests and teachers of the law and asked them where the Christ would be born. ⁵They answered, “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this in the Scriptures:

⁶‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are not just an insignificant village in Judah.

A ruler will come from you

who will be like a shepherd for my people Israel.’ ”

⁷Then Herod had a secret meeting with the wise men and learned from them the exact time they first saw the star. ⁸He sent the wise men to Bethlehem, saying, “Look carefully for the child. When you find him, come tell me so I can worship him too.”

⁹After the wise men heard the king, they left. The star that they had seen in the east went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. ¹⁰When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy. ¹¹They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their own country by a different way.