Reading as Seek: to learn Scripture and its teachings. Same facts, warmer framing.

Person

Herod

An imagined, stylized portrait. No one knows what Herod the Great looked like. AI-generated

ManHAIR-ud

King of Judea when Jesus was born. In Matthew he tries to find the child the magi are seeking and orders the killing of Bethlehem's young boys.

See Luke 1:5, Matthew 2:3, Matthew 2:16.

A crown beneath a star marks Herod the Great in the reading view: he was troubled when the magi came asking about the star of a newborn king (Matthew 2:2, Matthew 2:3).

Mentioned in 10 verses across 2 books, first in Matthew 2:1. The verses below are the ones linked to this person (the Theographic dataset, with our sourced corrections).

How artists have pictured him

3 works from different centuries and traditions. Each shows how its time and place imagined Herod the Great, not how he looked.

The Magi before Herod, Manuscript miniature, Codex Aureus of Echternach — **c. 1030–1050** · *The Magi before Herod*. Manuscript miniature, Codex Aureus of EchternachPublic domain · Wikimedia Commons

The Magi before Herod, Stained-glass roundel, France (Musée de Cluny, Paris) — **early 15th c.** · *The Magi before Herod*. Stained-glass roundel, France (Musée de Cluny, Paris)Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

James Tissot, The Magi in the House of Herod, Opaque watercolour, Brooklyn Museum — **1886–1894** · James Tissot, *The Magi in the House of Herod*. Opaque watercolour, Brooklyn MuseumPublic domain · Wikimedia Commons

In these stories

The Nativity and Isaiah 7:14: virgin or young woman?

In the Bible

All 10 verses, in Bible order. Text from the Berean Standard Bible; verse numbers follow the KJV.

Matthew

Matthew 2:1
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
Matthew 2:3
When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Matthew 2:7
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and learned from them the exact time the star had appeared.
Matthew 2:12
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their country by another route.
Matthew 2:13
When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”
Matthew 2:15
where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Matthew 2:16
When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
Matthew 2:19
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
Matthew 2:22
But when he learned that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,

Luke

Luke 1:5
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and whose wife Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron.

Events

Events the dataset lists Herod as taking part in. Dates follow its Ussher–Jones reckoning (one of several traditional counts), not established history.

c. 4 BC
Wise Men Visit HerodMatthew 2:1–8 · at Jerusalem
c. 4 BC
Herod slays male childrenMatthew 2:16–18 · at Bethlehem