The Reign of the Lord's Anointed

Herod Kills the Children

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it^[a] for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” ⁷ thus says the Lord God:

² And behold, there was a great earthquake, for ^(A)an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ^3 (B)His appearance was like lightning, and ^(C)his clothing white as snow. ⁴ And for fear of him the guards trembled and ^(D)became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for he has risen, ^(E)as he said. Come, see the place where he^[a] lay.

⁶³ and said, “Sir, we remember how ^(A)that impostor said, while he was still alive, ^(B)‘After three days I will rise.’ ⁶⁴ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, ^(C)lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”