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The Magi Visit the Messiah
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the
time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2
and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the
Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship
him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all
Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the
people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked
them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in
Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has
written:
6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no
means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will
come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from
them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to
Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the
child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too
may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and
the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until
it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they
saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the
house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they
bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their
treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense
and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go
back to Herod, they returned to their country by another
route.
The Escape to Egypt
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to
Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and
his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you,
for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the
night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death
of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said
through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the
Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the
boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old
and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from
the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah
was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be
comforted, because they are no more.”
The Return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a
dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the
child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those
who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to
the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was
reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was
afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he
withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and
lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was
said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
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Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
