The Messiah’s Triumph and Kingdom^(A)

Jeremiah’s Life Threatened

¹⁸ Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings. ¹⁹ But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, ^(A)and let us cut him off from ^(B)the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

Massacre of the Innocents

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and ^[a]trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel”— 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 ^[a]from the door, and sat on it. ^3 (B)His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like ^(C)dead men.

⁵ But the angel answered and 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 is risen, ^(D)as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

⁶³ saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ^(A)‘After three days I will rise.’ ⁶⁴ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come ^[a]by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”