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Not so far away, there were some shepherds looking after their sheep. The angel suddenly appeared, and the shepherds looked surprised. The angel said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ve come to tell you some happy news. The Son of God has been born in Bethlehem tonight, go and see him.’
To the amazement of the shepherds, the sky was filled with angels singing. ‘Glory to God, and peace to all men.’
‘Come on lads,’ said one of the shepherds, ‘Let’s go and have a look.’
They found Mary, Joseph and little Jesus just as the angel had said, and while the sheep and cows looked on, the men all prayed to God. The baby lay asleep in a manger, with lots of warm cloths to cover him.
In those days there was a King called Herod. He got to hear of Jesus and was worried about it. ‘King of the Jews, eh?’ (For that is what Jesus was called) ‘I’ll give him King of the Jews; Not if I’ve got anything to do with it.’
He heard that three wise men were going to visit Jesus. They had seen a very bright star in the night sky, and were going to follow it. They knew that it was shining right over the manger.
‘Go and find where he is,’ Herod said to the wise men. ‘I want to worship him.’ As the three men left, Herod chuckled to himself. ‘Worship him!’ he laughed. ‘Get rid of him, more like. King of the Jews indeed. I’m King of the Jews.’
He looked out of the window and shouted to the three wise men. ‘Hurry back, I can’t wait to worship Jesus.’
What a nasty man.
The three wise men travelled at night, following the bright star. Finally they arrived, and gave the baby Jesus lots of presents. There was gold, and frankincense and myrrh to make him smell nice.
The men worshipped Jesus, and thanked God for sending him to the world.
They were just going to go back home when God said, ‘Don’t tell Herod where Jesus is. He wants to hurt him, not worship him.’
‘Right,’ said the three wise men. ‘We’ll go back a different way.’
And they did, so Herod never found out where Jesus was.
