Friday, April 5 You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,. . . from you there will come out to me the one who is to become ruler in Israel.—Mic. 5:2. The Messiah was to be born in the Judean town of Bethlehem,evidently once named Ephrathah. Although Jesus’ mother, Mary, and his adoptive father, Joseph,lived in Nazareth, a Roman registration decree had taken them to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born in 2 B.C.E. (Matt.2:1, 5, 6) Another prophecy fulfilled in Jesus foretold that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. (Isa. 7:14) Under inspiration, Matthew used the Greek word for “virgin†(par·thenos) when showing that Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled in connection with the birth of Jesus. The Gospel writers Matthew and Luke state that Mary was a virgin who became pregnant through the operation of God’s spirit. (Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35) What a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy! w11 8/15 1:7, 8