The Visit of the Wise Men

2 Now ^(A)after Jesus was born in ^(B)Bethlehem of Judea ^(C)in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men^[a] from ^(D)the east came to Jerusalem, ² saying, “Where is he who has been born ^(E)king of the Jews? For we saw ^(F)his star when it rose^[b] and have come to ^(G)worship him.” ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where ^(H)the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

⁷ Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” ⁹ After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, ^(K)they offered him gifts, ^(L)gold and ^(M)frankincense and ^(N)myrrh. ¹² And ^(O)being warned ^(P)in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

The Flight to Egypt

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, ^(Q)an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” ¹⁴ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt ¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. ^(R)This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ^(S)“Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Herod Kills the Children

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. ^17 (T)Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour^[a] there was darkness over all the land^[b] until the ninth hour.^{[c] 46} And about the ninth hour Jesus ^(A)cried out with a loud voice, saying, ^(B)“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷ And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸ And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with ^(C)sour wine, and put it on a reed and ^(D)gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus ^(E)cried out again with a loud voice and ^(F)yielded up his spirit.

⁵¹ And behold, ^(G)the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And ^(H)the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of ^(I)the saints ^(J)who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into ^(K)the holy city and appeared to many. ^54 (L)When the centurion and those who were with him, ^(M)keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ^(N)“Truly this was the Son^[d] of God!”