Massacre of the Innocents

British  

noun

1. the slaughter of all the young male children of Bethlehem at Herod's command in an attempt to destroy Jesus (Matthew 2:16–18)

---

Example Sentences

In Germany, protesters have stuck themselves to works including Rubens’s “Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem,” which hangs in the Alte Pinakothek, in Munich.

From New York Times

It's said that the Holy Family sought refuge here during the Massacre of the Innocents by King Herod.

From BBC

Henry theorizes that part of QAnon’s attraction, for Lisa, is the resemblance it bears to Christianity: notions of struggle between good and evil, a maligned messianic savior, a narrative that invokes the massacre of the innocents.

From The Guardian

And when he depicts the figure of a child apparently sick and dying in his mother’s arms, he lifts the figure from a painting of “The Massacre of the Innocents” by the European artist Francois Joseph Navez.

From New York Times

“Massacre of the Innocents,” originally depicting the slaughter of children, is thought of today by some critics as one of Bruegel’s most strident criticisms of the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands.

From New York Times