Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of King Herod. Afterward, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem. They asked where the child born king of the Jews was. They had seen his star in the east, they said, and had come to pay him honor.
Herod was troubled by this news, and Jerusalem was troubled with him. He assembled the chief priests and teachers of the law and asked where the Christ was to be born. They answered that it would be Bethlehem in Judea, because a prophet had spoken of a ruler who would shepherd Israel coming from there.
Herod secretly called the magi and learned from them when the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and told them to search carefully for the child. When they found him, he said, they were to report back so that he too could go and honor him.
The magi set out after hearing the king. The star they had seen went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. They were filled with joy when they saw it. Entering the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary.
They bowed down before him. Then they opened their treasures and presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. That night they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.
Herod had asked them to return with the child’s location, but a warning in a dream redirected their journey. They did not take their discovery back to the king. The road by which they left Judea was not the road by which they had come.
The magi went home to their own country by another route.