Sophia Scriptura

Church History 1.8.1

Eusebius of Caesarea · Church History · ca. 300–325 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: When the magi sought the newborn king, Herod ordered the infants of Bethlehem killed, hoping to kill Jesus.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:29

Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γεννηθέντος ταῖς προφητείαις ἀκολούθως ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ἰουδαίας κατὰ τοὺς δεδηλωμένους χρόνους, Ἡρώδης ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ἐξ ἀνατολῆς μάγων ἀνερωτήσει, ὅπη εἴη διαπυνθανομένων ὁ τεχθεὶς βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἑωρακέναι γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀστέρα, καὶ τῆς τοσῆσδε πορείας τοῦτʼ αἴτιον αὐτοῖς γεγονέναι, οἷα θεῷ προσκυνῆσαι τῷ τεχθέντι διὰ σπουδῆς πεποιημένοις, οὐ σμικρῶς ἐπὶ τῷ πράγματι ἅτε κινδυνευούσης, ὥς γε δὴ ᾤετο, αὐτῷ τῆς ἀρχῆς διακινηθεὶς, πυθόμενος τῶν παρὰ τῷ ἔθνει νομοδιδασκάλων ποῦ τὸν Χριστὸν γεννηθήσεσθαι προσδοκῷεν, ὡς ἔγνω τὴν Μιχαίου προφητείαν ἐν Βηθλεὲμ προαναφωνοῦσαν, ἑνὶ προστάγματι τοὺς ὑπομαζίους ἔν τε τῇ Βηθλεὲμ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ὁρίοις αὐτῆς ἀπὸ διετοῦς καὶ κατωτέρω παῖδας κατὰ τὸν ἀπηκριβωμένον αὐτῷ χρόνον παρὰ τῶν μάγων ἀναιρεθῆναι προστάττει, πάντως που καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὥς γε ἦν εἰκὸς, τῆς αὐτῆς τοῖς ὁμήλιξι συναπολαῦσαι συμφορᾶς οἰόμενος.

English · Claude translation

But when Christ was born, in accordance with the prophecies, in Bethlehem of Judea at the times indicated, Herod was questioned by the magi from the east, who asked where the one born king of the Jews was, for they had seen his star, and this had been the cause of their long journey, since they were eager to worship the newborn child as God. Herod was not a little disturbed by the matter, thinking, as he supposed, that his rule was in danger. He inquired of the teachers of the law among the nation where they expected the Christ to be born, and when he learned that the prophecy of Micah foretold it in Bethlehem, he ordered by a single command that the nursing infants in Bethlehem and in all its districts, two years old and under, according to the time he had ascertained from the magi, be killed, thinking that Jesus, as was likely, would surely share the same fate as those of his age.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:29 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The narrative is Matt 2:1–16, citing Mic 5:2 (5:1 LXX).

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.8.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/8/1/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.8.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/8/1/).

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