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Matthew 2

Matthew presents Jesus as Israel’s promised king, whom visitors worship and God preserves amid Herod’s murderous opposition.

Wise men from the east arrive in Jerusalem seeking the newborn King of the Jews, and Herod treats their search as a threat. The priests and scribes identify Bethlehem as the promised ruler’s birthplace. There the visitors worship Jesus, then leave without reporting to Herod. Joseph receives a warning to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt. Herod orders the killing of Bethlehem’s young boys. After Herod’s death, Joseph brings his family back to Israel and settles in Nazareth.

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1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,
2“Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”
3When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.
5They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,
6‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come a governor who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’”
7Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.
8He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”
9They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was.
10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
11They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
13Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
14He arose and took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt,
15and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.
18“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”
19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
20“Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”
22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,
23and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Matthew 2:6The prophetic words identify Bethlehem as the birthplace of a ruler whose task is to shepherd God’s people.
Matthew 2:11The visitors’ worship and costly gifts recognize the child’s kingship, contrasting with Herod’s attempt to destroy him.
Matthew 2:16Herod’s rage becomes violence against children, and Matthew makes room for the mourning that follows.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew draws on Micah’s promise of a ruler from Bethlehem and quotes Jeremiah’s picture of Rachel mourning her children to frame the slaughter under Herod. Luke also places Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and his upbringing in Nazareth, sharing the locations that shape Matthew’s account.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out to you in the contrast between the wise men’s worship and Herod’s response?

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How does Rachel’s mourning shape your reading of God’s protection of Jesus?

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Questions people ask about Matthew 2

How many wise men visited Jesus in Matthew 2?

Matthew does not give their number or names. He says they came from the east and brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The three kinds of gifts do not establish that there were three visitors. They find Jesus with Mary in a house; the passage does not call them kings.

Why did Herod kill the children in Bethlehem?

Herod regards the child identified as King of the Jews as a threat. After the wise men leave without returning to him, he orders the killing of boys aged two and under in Bethlehem and its surrounding countryside. Matthew ties this age limit to the timing Herod learned from the visitors.

What prophecy says Jesus would be called a Nazarene?

Matthew connects Jesus’ settlement in Nazareth with what was spoken through the prophets, using the plural. No surviving prophetic text contains the exact wording that he will be called a Nazarene. The precise connection is debated; Matthew may be drawing together a prophetic theme rather than quoting one identifiable sentence.

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What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about worship →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).