Today’s Scripture:

13 After they had gone, an[a] angel of the Lord[b]

appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his

mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod[c] is going to look for the child to kill him.” 14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during[d] the night, and went to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod[e] died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”[f]

16 When Herod[g] saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men[h]

to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding

region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had

learned from the wise men. 17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,weeping and loud wailing,[i]Rachel weeping for her children,and she did not want to be comforted, because they were[j] gone.”[k]

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod[l] had died, an[m] angel of the Lord[n] appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 saying,

“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel,

for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21 So[o] he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus[p] was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod,[q] he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee. 23 He came to a town called Nazareth[r] and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus[s] would be called a Nazarene.