¹ And Jehovah appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

² and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

³ and said, My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

⁴ let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

⁵ and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart; after that ye shall pass on: forasmuch as ye are come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

⁶ And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.

⁷ And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hasted to dress it.

⁸ And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

⁹ And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.

¹⁰ And he said, I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, [and] well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

¹² And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

¹³ And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old?

¹⁴ Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son.

¹⁵ Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

¹⁶ And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

¹⁷ And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do;

¹⁸ seeing that Abraham had surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

¹⁹ For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

²⁰ And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

²¹ I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

²² And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah.

²³ And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴ Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

²⁵ That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

²⁶ And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.

²⁷ And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes:

²⁸ peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.

²⁹ And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for the forty's sake.

³⁰ And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

³¹ And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake.

³² And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake.

³³ And Jehovah went his way, as soon as he had left off communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

¹ Now 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."

³ When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴ Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.

⁵ They 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 forth a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.'"

⁷ Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

⁸ He 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."

⁹ They, 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.

¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

¹¹ They 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.

¹² Being warned in a dream that they shouldn't return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.

¹³ Now 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."

¹⁴ He arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt,

¹⁵ and 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."

¹⁶ Then 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.

¹⁷ Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

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."

¹⁹ But 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."

²¹ He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

²² But 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,

²³ and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."