Ante-Nicene Fathers — Volume 9

Ante-Nicene Fathers — Vol. 09 — CCEL UTF-8 text — And he shall be a shepherd to my people Israel.

[7] [242] Then Herod called the Magi secretly, and inquired of them the time at which [8] the star appeared to them. [243] And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said unto them, Go and search about the child diligently; and when ye have found him, come and [9] make known to me, that I also may go and worship him. [244] And they, when they [Arabic, p. 11] heard the king, departed; and lo, the star which they had seen in the east went before them, until it came and stood above the place where the child [10, 11] was. [245] And when they beheld the star, they rejoiced with very great joy. [246] And they entered the house and beheld the child with Mary his mother, and fell down worshipping him, and opened their saddle-bags and offered to him offerings, gold and [12] myrrh and frankincense. [247] And they saw in a dream [248] that they should not return to Herod, and they travelled by another way in going to their country. [13] [249] And when they had departed, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, and said unto him, Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I speak to thee; for Herod is determined to seek the child [14] to slay him. [250] And Joseph arose and took the child and his mother in the night, and [15] fled into Egypt, [251] and remained in it until the time of the death of Herod: that that might be fulfilled which was said by the Lord in the prophet, which said, From [16] Egypt did I call my son. [252] And Herod then, when he saw that he was mocked of the Magi, was very angry, and sent and killed all the male children which were in Bethlehem and all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the time [17] which he had inquired from the Magi. [253] Then was fulfilled the saying in Jeremiah the prophet, which said,