⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ^(A)“He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; ²⁰ and again, ^(B)“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

The Pharisees: Is It Lawful to Pay Taxes to Caesar?^(A)

^20 (B)So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.

²¹ Then they asked Him, saying, ^(C)“Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:

⁵ that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men ^(A)with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to ^(B)the house of the Lord. ⁶ Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along; and it happened as he met them that he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” ⁷ So it was, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah ^(C)killed them and cast them into the midst of a ^[a]pit, he and the men who were with him.

⁴⁸ Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.” ⁴⁹ Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” ^(A)and kissed Him.