Luke 2:4

Contemporary English Version (Anglicised) 2012

So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's home town, and Joseph went there because he was from David's family.

Cross References

Genesis 35:19

Rachel was buried beside the road to Ephrath, which is also called Bethlehem.

Genesis 48:7

Unfortunately, your mother Rachel died in Canaan after we had left northern Syria and before we reached Bethlehem. And I had to bury her along the way.

Micah 5:2

Bethlehem Ephrath, you are one of the smallest towns in the nation of Judah. But the LORD will choose one of your people to rule the nation— someone whose family goes back to ancient times.

Matthew 1:20

While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her.

Matthew 2:23

and they went to live there in the town of Nazareth. So the Lord's promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Luke 2:3

Everyone had to go to their own home town to be listed.

Luke 2:5

Mary was engaged to Joseph and travelled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby,

Luke 4:16

Jesus went back to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as usual he went to the meeting place on the Sabbath. When he stood up to read from the Scriptures,

John 1:46

Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip answered, “Come and see.”

John 7:42

The Scriptures say that the Messiah will come from the family of King David. Doesn't this mean that he will be born in David's home town of Bethlehem?”

Ruth 1:19

They reached Bethlehem, and the whole town was excited to see them. The women who lived there asked, “Can this really be Naomi?”

Ruth 2:4

When Boaz left Bethlehem and went out to his field, he said to the harvest workers, “The LORD bless you!” They replied, “And may the LORD bless you!”

Ruth 4:11

The town leaders and the others standing there said: We are witnesses to this. And we pray that the LORD will give your wife many children, just as he did Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob. May you be a rich man in the tribe of Ephrath and an important man in Bethlehem.

Ruth 4:17

The neighbourhood women named him Obed, but they called him “Naomi's Boy”. When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse, who later became the father of King David.

1 Samuel 16:1

One day he said, “Samuel, I've rejected Saul, and I refuse to let him be king any longer. Stop feeling sad about him. Put some olive oil in a small container and go and visit a man named Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem. I've chosen one of his sons to be my king.”

1 Samuel 16:4

Samuel did what the LORD told him and went to Bethlehem. The town leaders went to meet him, but they were terribly afraid and asked, “Is this a friendly visit?”

1 Samuel 17:12

David's father Jesse was an old man, who belonged to the Ephrath clan and lived in Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons:

1 Samuel 17:58

and Saul asked, “Who are you?” “I am David the son of Jesse, a loyal Israelite from Bethlehem.”

1 Samuel 20:6

If Saul wonders where I am, tell him, “David asked me to let him go to his home town of Bethlehem, so he could take part in a sacrifice his family makes there every year.”