1Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea country. At that time the big boss over that country was called Herod. There were some clever men in a country to the east of Judea. They studied stars and they saw a special star in the sky, so they got up and went west to Jerusalem, the big town in Judea country.
2They asked the Jerusalem people, “Where was that baby born that is going to be the big boss of you Jewish people? You see, back in our country, we saw his special star when it came up into the sky, so we got up to come here, to show our respect for him. Where will we find him?”
3Somebody told the big boss, called Herod, that these clever men were talking about another big boss. Herod got very worried. He thought this other person might fight against him and take over his job. A lot of other people in Jerusalem were worried about it too.
4So Herod had a meeting with the leaders of the Jewish ceremonies and the law teachers, and asked them, “Where will that baby be born? You know, the one God promised to send?”
5They said, “He will be born in Bethlehem, in Judea country. A long time ago God told one of his men to write about it in his book. He wrote,
6‘Bethlehem is a small town in Judea country, but it is a very important town, because a big boss will come from it. He will really look after God’s people, Israel.’” That’s what those Jewish leaders told Herod.
7So Herod sent for those clever men to come and meet him, but he didn’t tell anyone else about this meeting. He asked them, “When did you first see that star?”
8So they told him when they saw first saw it. Then he said to them, “Go to Bethlehem and look carefully for that boy. After you find him, come and tell me the place where he’s living, so that I can go there too and show respect to him.”
9The clever men listened to Herod, then they got up to go to Bethlehem. Then they saw that same star that they saw before. It made them very happy. And that star moved through the sky and stopped right above the house that Joseph and Mary were living in.
11The clever men went into that house and they saw Jesus with his mother, Mary, and they got down on their knees, to show him respect. Then they opened their saddle bags and gave him some presents. They gave him some gold, and they gave him some powder called frankincense to burn to make a good smell, and they gave him some rubbing medicine called myrrh, that smells good, like perfume.
12After that the clever men had a dream. God told them not to go back to Herod, so they went back to their own country along a different road.
13After those clever men went away, Joseph had a dream. He heard God’s angel messenger say, “Herod will try to kill the baby, so get up and take Jesus and Mary to Egypt country, and stay there till I tell you to come back.”
14So Joseph got up right then, in the middle of the night, and he got Mary and baby Jesus, and they left to go to Egypt.
15This happened just like God told one of his men to write, a long time ago. He wrote, “God called his son out of Egypt.”
16Herod waited for those clever men to come back, but they tricked him. They didn’t come back to him. Then he got really angry. He remembered their story about when they first saw the star, so he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the baby boys up to 2 years old. So they killed all the baby boys around Bethlehem. Herod wanted to make sure that Jesus was dead.
17This all happened the way God’s man, Jeremiah, wrote a long time ago. This is what he wrote,
18“In the place called Ramah, a lot of people are really sad, and crying out loud. They are the grand daughters of Rachel. They are crying for their babies. Nobody can cheer them up because their babies are dead.”
19Some time later Herod died. Then, in Egypt, Joseph had another dream. He heard God’s angel messenger say,
20“Get up and take Mary and Jesus back to Israel country. The people that wanted to kill him are dead now.”
21So Joseph did what God’s messenger told him. They got up and started to go back to Israel country.
22But then somebody told him that Herod’s son Archelaus was the new big boss of the part of Israel called Judea, and Joseph was too frightened to go there. Then he had another dream. God told him, “Go to Galilee country.”
23So he took his family up north to Galilee. He came to the town called Nazareth and stayed there. One of God’s men wrote about this in God’s book, a long time before it happened. He wrote, “People will say that God’s special person comes from Nazareth.” Those words came true when Joseph took his family to live at Nazareth.
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