1 And the three continued to live until the beginning of another year in Bethlehem, when a wicked man of that locality, called Begor or Fegor, went to warn the wicked king Herod, and told him the following story: The magicians whom you sent to Bethlehem, and whom you ordered to come to see you before leaving Judea, have not returned, but having gone down there, and having found a newborn child, who was said to be the son of a king, they offered him a profusion of gifts that they had with them, and they returned to their land by another route.
2 Knowing that he had been deceived by the magicians, Herod summoned the princes and great lords of his kingdom, and he said to them: What to do? Those men, after having perfidiously mocked and mocked us, have fled and escaped from us. What has become of that child, and in what hidden retreat does he hide from me, that no one has seen him until now? Come, then, let us send soldiers to Bethlehem, so that they may search for him, capture him, and kill his father and his mother.
3 But the princes said: O king, listen to us! Bethlehem is a city in ruins, and the events that concern that child, long days have passed, so it is almost certain that he is no longer in that place, and that he has fled to a distant country. And the princes, who took no more care of the matter, and who did not reveal it to anyone, spoke thus by divine disposition of the Holy Spirit, given that Jesus and his people still lived there.
4 And the wicked wicked, in the rage of his heart did not know what decision to make. And the princes said: O king, do not grieve yourself thus, nor let your soul be troubled by the outburst! Send everything you want and we will obey you. The king replied: Yes, I know how I should act. As for you, it is enough for you to be ready to carry out my orders. And he summoned the commanders of the army and the heads of the districts, and sent them throughout the whole expanse of his kingdom, to search for Jesus. But the result was unsuccessful and, upon his return, they told the king: We have searched all the cantons of Judea, and we have not found him. In view of this, Herod ordered eighteen ci-harcas of his troops to tour the entire territory under his dominion, and gave them the following command: Do not have any mercy on little children, nor on the lamentations of their parents. and of their mothers, and do not be persuaded by strong gratifications, nor by deceitful oaths. But wherever you find children under two years old, put them to the knife.
5 Then all the commanders of the army gathered around him, with their swords and their weapons. And setting out, they went about all the places, and killed all the children that they found in eighty-three villages, to the number of thirteen thousand and sixty. And the impious tyrant, by acting in such a way because of Jesus, hoped that he would have been included among the victims. But Joseph and Mary, who knew all these things, and who were intimidated by fear of the king and his army, took the baby Jesus, wrapped him in their mantillas, and hid him in the animals’ manger. Then they reached the ruins of the city, and crouched there in observation. And no one saw them, because those who saw them did not pay any attention to them, nor did they even look at them.