The Nativity of the Messiah

¹⁸ The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.^{(A) 19} So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man,^(B) and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.^(C)

²⁰ But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit.^{(D) 21} She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus,^[a](E) because He will save His people from their sins.”^(F)

²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

which is translated “God is with us.”^(G)

²⁴ When Joseph got up from sleeping, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her^{(H) 25} but did not know her intimately until she gave birth to a son.^[c] And he named Him Jesus.^(I)

The Flight into Egypt

¹³ After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.”^{(A) 14} So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. ¹⁵ He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called My Son.^(B)[a]

The Massacre of the Innocents

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the male children in and around Bethlehem who were two years^[b] old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men.^{(C) 17} Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

The Holy Family in Nazareth

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,^{(E) 20} saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, because those who sought the child’s life are dead.” ²¹ So he got up, took the child and His mother, and entered the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus^[e] was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.^{(F) 23} Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that He will be called a Nazarene.^(G)