Why did the heathen rage, and the nations imagine vain things?

While the ungodly one acts proudly, the poor is hotly pursued; [the wicked] are taken in the crafty counsels which they imagine.

For I heard the slander of many that dwelt round about; when they were gathered together against me, they took counsel to take my life.

For to me they spoke peaceably, but imagined deceits in [their] anger.

O Lord, teach me, and I shall know: then I saw their practices.

But I, as an innocent lamb led to the slaughter, did not know. Against me they devised an evil device, saying, Come and let us put wood into his bread, and let us utterly destroy him from off the land of the living, and let his name not be remembered any more.

And the Lord said to me, Son of man, these are the men that devise vanities, and take evil counsel in this city;

And seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, since they considered Him as a prophet.

and plotted to take Jesus by guile and kill Him.

But they said, "Not during the feast, lest a disturbance take place among the people."

And they brought them, and set them before the council. And the high priest asked them,

saying, "Did we not give you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you want to bring on us the blood of this Man!"

They have said, Come, and let us utterly destroy them out of the nation; and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.

We will go up against Judah, and having conferred with them we will turn them away to our side, and we will make the son of Tabel king over it;

thus says the Lord of hosts, This counsel shall not abide, nor come to pass.

Know, you Gentiles, and be conquered; listen, even to the extremity of the earth; be conquered, after you strengthened yourselves; for even if you should again strengthen yourselves, you shall again be conquered.

And whatever counsel you shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought; and whatever word you shall speak, it shall not stand among you; for God is with us.

And having sent them to Bethlehem, he said, "Go and carefully search for the young Child, and as soon as you find [Him], report back to me, so that I also may come and worship Him."

Then Herod, seeing that he had been deceived by the wise men, was greatly enraged; and he sent and executed all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men.

saying, "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while He was still alive, 'After three days I will rise.'

"Therefore command that the grave be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him, and say to the people, 'He was raised from the dead.' So the last deception will be worse [than] the first."

And behold, a great earthquake occurred; for an angel of the Lord, having come down out of heaven, came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

And the guards were shaken for fear of him, and became like dead [men].

He is not here! For He is risen, just as He said. Come; see the place where the Lord was lying.

But lest it be spread further among the people, let us threaten them with a threat, to speak no longer in this name."

And summoning them, they commanded them not to speak at all nor to teach in the name of Jesus.