The Escape to Egypt

¹³ Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”^{(A) 14} Then Joseph^[a] got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt^{(B) 15} and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

The Massacre of the Infants

¹⁶ When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi,^[b] he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi.^{[c] 17} Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ¹⁶ “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”^{(A) 17} But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.^{(B) 18} So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?” ¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” ²⁰ So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong.^{(C) 21} And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.^{(D) 22} Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews^[a] you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”^(E)