Matthew 2:12-23

International Standard Version

¹² Having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they left for their own country by a different road.

The Escape to Egypt

¹³ After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt,” he said. “Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him.” ¹⁴ So Joseph^[a] got up, took the child and his mother, and left at night for Egypt. ¹⁵ He stayed there until Herod’s death in order to fulfill what was declared by the Lord^[b] through the prophet when he said, “Out of Egypt I called my Son.”^[c]

The Massacre of the Infants

¹⁶ Herod flew into a rage when he learned that he had been tricked by the wise men, so he ordered the execution of all the male children in Bethlehem and all its neighboring regions, who were two years old and younger, according to the time that he had determined from the wise men. ¹⁷ Then what was declared by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled when he said,

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹ But after Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. ²⁰ “Get up,” he said. “Take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill^[e] the child are dead.”

²¹ So Joseph^[f] got up, took the child and his mother, and went into the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, after having been warned in a dream. So he left for the region of Galilee ²³ and settled in a town called Nazareth in order to fulfill what was said by the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”^[g]