-
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
-
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
-
The Escape to Egypt
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
-
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,
-
where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
-
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
-
“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
-
The Return to Nazareth
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt
-
and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
-
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.
-
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,
-
and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
-
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea
-
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
-
This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
-
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
-
Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
-
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
-
And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
-
The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
-
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
-
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
-
The Baptism of Jesus
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
-
But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
-
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
