[a]Bethlehem Ephrathah,(A)
you are small among the clans of Judah;
One will come from you(B)
to be ruler over Israel for Me.(C)
His origin[b] is from antiquity,(D)
from eternity.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 5:2 Mc 5:1 in Hb
  2. Micah 5:2 Lit His going out
  3. Micah 5:2 Or from ancient times

Wise Men Seek the King

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem,(A) saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?(B) For we saw His star in the east[a](C) and have come to worship Him.”[b]

When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes(D) of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.

“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:

And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the leaders of Judah:
because out of you will come a leader
who will shepherd My people Israel.(E)[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 2:2 Or star at its rising
  2. Matthew 2:2 Or to pay Him homage
  3. Matthew 2:6 Mc 5:2

The Birth of Jesus

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus[a](A) that the whole empire[b] should be registered. This first registration took place while[c] Quirinius was governing Syria.(B) So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

And Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David,(C) to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him[d] and was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 2:1 Emperor who ruled the Roman Empire 27 b.c.–a.d. 14; also known as Octavian, he established the peaceful era known as the Pax Romana; Caesar was a title of Roman emperors.
  2. Luke 2:1 Or the whole inhabited world
  3. Luke 2:2 Or This registration was the first while, or This registration was before
  4. Luke 2:5 Other mss read was his engaged wife

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