The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew1:1–17

The Genealogy of Jesus

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Matthew 1:1–17 — The Genealogy of Jesus. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Biblos geneseōs Iēsou Christou huiou Dauid huiou Abraam

Word by word8 · parsed
ΒίβλοςBiblos[This is the] recordG976
√ βίβλος — bookNounNominative Feminine Singular
biblos: book, written roll The Gospel opens with a title, not a sentence. Every named commentator here (Ellicott, Barnes, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge, Pulpit) hears Genesis 5:1 behind it, the Septuagint's βίβλος γενέσεως. Gill presses the parallel to its point: that was the book of the generation of the first Adam, this of the second.
γενέσεωςgeneseōsof [the] genealogyG1078
√ γένεσις — nativityNounGenitive Feminine Singular
genesis: origin, nativity, coming to be Genitive of reference. Benson notes the word can mean the history of a person's life but is far more often birth or pedigree, and that Macknight renders the phrase "The table of the genealogy of Jesus." Pulpit records the wider view (Kubel, Keil) that it could head the whole chapter or even the whole Gospel, but judges that the appositional "son of David, son of Abraham" limits it to vv. 2 to 17.
ἸησοῦIēsouof JesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΧριστοῦChristouChristG5547
√ Χριστός — anointed, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Christos: anointed Barnes gives the lexical chain: Χριστός translates Hebrew mashiach, and anointing set apart kings (1 Samuel 9:16), priests (Leviticus 4:3) and prophets (1 Kings 19:16). Poole notes that "The Christ signifieth a designation to all three." Ellicott adds the practical reason for the collocation: many men were named Jesus, so the reader must be told whose pedigree follows.
υἱοῦhuiou[the] sonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounGenitive Masculine Singular
huios: son, descendant Ellicott judges "son of David" the most popular of all messianic titles, owned by scribes (Matthew 22:42), children (Matthew 21:9) and the poor (Matthew 15:22), while "son of Abraham" was never a specially messianic title and here rather emphasises what Messiah shares with every Israelite. Two sonships, two different kinds of claim.
ΔαυὶδDauidof DavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
υἱοῦhuiou[the] sonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἈβραάμAbraamof AbrahamG11
√ Ἀβραάμ — Abraham, the Hebrew patriarchNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Abraam: Abraham The name stands last though the man came first. Poole gives the structural reason: the evangelist means to begin the pedigree at Abraham, "whom he therefore last mentions," so v. 1 runs backwards and v. 2 turns and runs forward.
2

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Abraam egennēsen ton Isaak de Isaak egennēsen ton Iakōb de Iakōb egennēsen ton Ioudan kai tous autou adelphous

Word by word18 · parsed
ἈβραὰμAbraamAbrahamG11
√ Ἀβραάμ — Abraham, the Hebrew patriarchNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
gennaō: to beget, procreate Strong's notes the verb is properly of the father but extends to the mother, which is exactly why the switch to the passive in v. 16 is audible. Here the active aorist drives the genealogy forward with a human male agent at every step; the whole rhetorical weight of the unit is loaded onto the one place that agency is withdrawn.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸσαάκIsaakIsaacG2464
√ Ἰσαάκ — Isaac (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸσαὰκIsaakIsaacG2464
√ Ἰσαάκ — Isaac (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸακώβIakōbJacobG2384
√ Ἰακώβ — Jacob (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸακὼβIakōbJacobG2384
√ Ἰακώβ — Jacob (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸούδανIoudanJudahG2455
√ Ἰούδας — Judas (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Ioudas: Judah JFB gives the reason only the fourth son is named: it was from his loins that Messiah was to spring, Genesis 49:10. Poole quotes that oracle at length, the sceptre not departing from Judah nor the lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh came, and notes the awkward fact it had to survive, that Israel's first king, Saul, was a Benjamite (1 Samuel 9:21). Gill adds that Hebrews 7:14 settles the tribe beyond contradiction, so that the one genuinely selective step in this opening verse is also the one the Old Testament had already made.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἀδελφοὺςadelphousbrothersG80
√ ἀδελφός — a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))NounAccusative Masculine Plural
adelphos: brother The first of two places (with v. 11) where a whole generation is carried sideways rather than dropped. Gill's reason is covenantal rather than genealogical: though Messiah came from Judah, "the promise of him was made to the twelve tribes," so the twelve travel with the one.
3

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.

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Ioudas de egennēsen ton Phares kai ton Zara ek tēs Thamar Phares de egennēsen ton Hesrōm de Hesrōm egennēsen ton Aram

Word by word21 · parsed
ἸούδαςIoudasJudahG2455
√ Ἰούδας — Judas (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΦαρὲςPharesPerezG5329
√ Φάρες — Phares (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΖαρὰZaraZerahG2196
√ Ζαρά — Zara, (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἐκekbyG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ek: out of, from within A small preposition doing structural work. Four times in vv. 3 to 6 it opens the closed masculine chain to name a woman, and the fifth occurrence, at v. 16, opens it for the last time and does not close it again with an active verb.
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ΘάμαρThamarTamarG2283
√ Θάμαρ — Thamar (iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
Thamar: Tamar Ellicott records that Jewish memory did not read her story as we do: in the days of Ruth she was as much the heroine of the tribe of Judah as Rachel and Leah were of all Israel, her name entered the nuptial benediction of Ruth 4:12, and the Talmud reckoned her one who "therefore was counted worthy to be the mother of kings and prophets." Cambridge reads all four women as a sign that the Friend of sinners does not scorn such descent; Pulpit doubts the inference.
ΦαρὲςPharesPerezG5329
√ Φάρες — Phares (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἙσρώμHesrōmHezronG2074
√ Ἐσρώμ — Esrom (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἙσρὼμHesrōmHezronG2074
√ Ἐσρώμ — Esrom (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈράμAramRamG689
√ Ἀράμ — Aram (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Aram: Ram Gill notes the name appears as Ram at Ruth 4:19, and wonders whether the Ram of Job 32:2 is the same. A reminder that every name in this list existed in at least two spellings before it reached Greek.
4

Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Aram de egennēsen ton Aminadab Aminadab de egennēsen ton Naassōn de Naassōn egennēsen ton Salmōn

Word by word15 · parsed
ἈρὰμAramRamG689
√ Ἀράμ — Aram (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈμιναδάβAminadabAmminadabG284
√ Ἀμιναδάβ — Aminadab, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈμιναδὰβAminadabAmminadabG284
√ Ἀμιναδάβ — Aminadab, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΝαασσώνNaassōnNahshonG3476
√ Ναασσών — Naasson (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Naassōn: Nahshon Ellicott names him prince of Judah at the Exodus and records the Jewish legend that made him the first to enter the waters of the Red Sea. Benson, correcting a common error, places his headship at the numbering in the wilderness of Sinai in the second year, not at the entry into Canaan.
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΝαασσὼνNaassōnNahshonG3476
√ Ναασσών — Naasson (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΣαλμώνSalmōnSalmonG4533
√ Σαλμών — Salmon, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Salmōn: Salmon The last quiet name before the chain breaks open. Pulpit and Cambridge both note that between Nahshon and David the received chronology leaves far too few generations for the years, so that names have almost certainly been passed over here, and Pulpit judges that the list in Ruth 4:18 to 22, which the evangelists adopt, "recorded only the more important names."
5

Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

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Salmōn de egennēsen ton Boes ek tēs Rhachab Boes de egennēsen ton Iōbēd ek tēs Rhouth de Iōbēd egennēsen ton Iessai

Word by word21 · parsed
ΣαλμὼνSalmōnSalmonG4533
√ Σαλμών — Salmon, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΒόεςBoesBoazG1003
√ Βοόζ — Booz, (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἐκekbyG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ῬαχάβRhachabRahabG4477
√ Ῥαχάβ — Rachab, a CanaanitessNounGenitive Feminine Singular
Rhachab: Rahab Pulpit cites her confession in Joshua 2:11 as the ground for thinking her fit to marry a chief man in Israel, and records the old tradition (T. B. Meg. 14b) that Jeremiah, Baruch, Seraiah and Huldah sprang from her. Gill reports the rival Jewish tradition that she married Joshua instead. JFB notes, against all of it, that making her David's great-grandmother across some four centuries is "extremely improbable" and that links are likely omitted.
ΒόεςBoesBoazG1003
√ Βοόζ — Booz, (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωβὴδIōbēdObedG5601
√ Ὠβήδ — Obed, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἐκekbyG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ῬούθRhouthRuthG4503
√ Ῥούθ — Ruth, a MoabitessNounGenitive Feminine Singular
Rhouth: Ruth Benson works the legal problem: Deuteronomy barred the Moabite from the congregation, yet Boaz's kinsman never raises it as an objection in Ruth 4:6, which shows the precept was not read as excluding the descendants of an Israelite by a Moabite woman. Gill records that Jewish writers themselves expected the Messiah to descend from her.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸωβὴδIōbēdObedG5601
√ Ὠβήδ — Obed, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸεσσαίIessaiJesseG2421
√ Ἰεσσαί — Jessæ (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Iessai: Jesse Gill closes the Old Testament case: Messiah was to be a rod of Jesse's stem and the branch of his roots (Isaiah 11:1), interpreted of the Messiah by many Jewish writers, and the Jews still pray for him as "the son of Jesse." The Verifier finds the same rare lexeme G2421 at Acts 13:22 and Romans 15:12.
6

and Jesse the father of David the king. Next: David was the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife,

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Greek — tap a word ↓

de Iessai egennēsen ton Dauid ton basilea de Dauid egennēsen ton Solomōna ek tou Ouriou tēs

Word by word16 · parsed
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸεσσαὶIessaiJesseG2421
√ Ἰεσσαί — Jessæ (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΔαυὶδDauidDavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
βασιλέαbasileakingG935
√ βασιλεύς — a sovereign (abstractly, relatively, or figuratively)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
basileus: king, sovereign JFB reads the title as doing double duty: David is the first of the royal line from which Messiah was to descend, and the one king of that line from which the throne itself takes its name, "the throne of David." Gabriel uses that phrase to Mary (Luke 1:32), sinking every intermediate king between the first and the last. Cambridge calls it "a special hint of Christ the King."
δὲdeNextG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΔαυὶδDauidDavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Dauid: David Named twice in one verse, closing one period and opening the next. Poole, laying out the three fourteens, ends the first period exactly here. The Verifier finds G1138 shared with Acts 13:22, where Paul preaches the same descent from Jesse to David to a synagogue audience.
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΣολομῶναSolomōnaSolomonG4672
√ Σολομών — Solomon (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἐκekbyG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtou. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΟὐρίουOuriouUriah’sG3774
√ Οὐρίας — Urias (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Ourias: Uriah The murdered man is named where the woman is not. Ellicott, closing his treatment of the four women, suggests they are all women whom "the strict judgment of the Pharisee excluded from his fellowship," and that Matthew may have meant the inference to be drawn. Benson calls the entail of the promise on David's seed by this very woman "an amazing instance of his boundless mercy."
τῆςtēs[wife]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
7

Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Solomōn de egennēsen ton Rhoboam Rhoboam de egennēsen ton Abia de Abia egennēsen ton Asaph

Word by word15 · parsed
ΣολομὼνSolomōnSolomonG4672
√ Σολομών — Solomon (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ῬοβοάμRhoboamRehoboamG4497
√ Ῥοβοάμ — Roboam (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Rhoboam: Rehoboam The first king of the divided kingdom, entered without comment. Benson makes the point the list refuses to make: the schism under Rehoboam set in motion the idolatry that ends in the exile of v. 11. The genealogy names the cause and the consequence and leaves the reader to join them.
ῬοβοὰμRhoboamRehoboamG4497
√ Ῥοβοάμ — Roboam (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈβιάAbiaAbijahG7
√ Ἀβιά — Abijah, the name of two IsraelitesNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἈβιὰAbiaAbijahG7
√ Ἀβιά — Abijah, the name of two IsraelitesNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈσάφAsaphAsaG760
√ Ἀσά — Asa, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Asa (G760): Asa, an Israelite A genuine textual crux sitting in a list of quiet names. The surface here is Ἀσάφ while the lexicon entry is Ἀσά; the same split recurs at v. 10 with Ἀμώς for Amon. Both are cases where the Greek tradition preserved a form that the English Bible harmonises to the Hebrew Scriptures.
8

Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Asaph de egennēsen ton Iōsaphat de Iōsaphat egennēsen ton Iōram de Iōram egennēsen ton Ozian

Word by word15 · parsed
ἈσὰφAsaphAsaG760
√ Ἀσά — Asa, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωσαφάτIōsaphatJehoshaphatG2498
√ Ἰωσαφάτ — Josaphat (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸωσαφὰτIōsaphatJehoshaphatG2498
√ Ἰωσαφάτ — Josaphat (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωράμIōramJoramG2496
√ Ἰωράμ — Joram, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸωρὰμIōramJoramG2496
√ Ἰωράμ — Joram, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
gennaō: to beget The pivotal grammatical note of the unit. Here the aorist active verb spans four generations. JFB's account is that omissions had to be made to compress the whole into three fourteens, and that the choice of these three "must be sought in religious considerations," whether their connection with the house of Ahab (Lightfoot, Ebrard, Alford) or their slender right to count as links in the theocratic chain (Lange). Pulpit and Poole both appeal to the second commandment and the four generations.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ὈζίανOzianUzziahG3604
√ Ὀζίας — Ozias (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Ozias: Uzziah The name that closes the gap. Cambridge notes the omission here and refers it forward to v. 17, where the three fourteens are counted: the shape of v. 17 is the reason this verse is short.
9

Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Ozias de egennēsen ton Iōatham Iōatham de egennēsen ton Achaz de Achaz egennēsen ton Hezekian

Word by word15 · parsed
ὈζίαςOziasUzziahG3604
√ Ὀζίας — Ozias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωαθάμIōathamJothamG2488
√ Ἰωάθαμ — Joatham (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωαθὰμIōathamJothamG2488
√ Ἰωάθαμ — Joatham (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἌχαζAchazAhazG881
√ Ἀχάζ — Achaz, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Achaz: Ahaz The king to whom Isaiah 7:14 was spoken now stands inside the line that Matthew will cite that very verse against at 1:23. Gill is the voice who makes the connection here. The genealogy sets the sign's first hearer eight generations above its fulfilment and says nothing.
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἌχαζAchazAhazG881
√ Ἀχάζ — Achaz, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἙζεκίανHezekianHezekiahG1478
√ Ἐζεκίας — Ezekias (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Hezekias: Hezekiah Poole treats the eleven-year fatherhood implied by the Kings chronology as improbable but not impossible, and refuses to let improbability function as disproof: "The Scripture telleth us it was so; that is enough for us, though it be not a thing very ordinary." That is a method statement about how he reads the whole chapter.
10

Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Hezekias de egennēsen ton Manassē Manassēs de egennēsen ton Amōs de Amōs egennēsen ton Iōsian

Word by word15 · parsed
ἙζεκίαςHezekiasHezekiahG1478
√ Ἐζεκίας — Ezekias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΜανασσῆManassēManassehG3128
√ Μανασσῆς — Mannasses (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Manassēs: Manasseh Gill records the double memory attached to this name: he was "very remarkable both for his sins, and for his humiliation on account of them." The genealogy carries the worst king of Judah and the most spectacular repentance in one indeclinable word. The Verifier also finds G3128 at Revelation 7:6, where the tribe of Manasseh is sealed.
ΜανασσῆςManassēsManassehG3128
√ Μανασσῆς — Mannasses (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈμώςAmōsAmonG301
√ Ἀμώς — Amos, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἈμὼςAmōsAmonG301
√ Ἀμώς — Amos, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωσίανIōsianJosiahG2502
√ Ἰωσίας — Josias (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Iōsian: Josiah Gill notes he was "prophesied of by name some hundreds of years before he was born, 1 Kings 13:2." He also sits at the seam of the periods: JFB's preferred reckoning of v. 17 ends the second fourteen with Josiah, as coeval with the carrying away, rather than repeating Jechoniah.
11

and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

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de Iōsias egennēsen ton Iechonian kai tous autou adelphous epi tēs metoikesias Babylōnos

Word by word13 · parsed
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸωσίαςIōsiasJosiahG2502
√ Ἰωσίας — Josias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸεχονίανIechonianJeconiahG2423
√ Ἰεχονίας — Jechonias (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἀδελφοὺςadelphousbrothersG80
√ ἀδελφός — a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))NounAccusative Masculine Plural
adelphos: brother The second and last sideways step. JFB reads these brethren as Jechoniah's uncles, chief among them Mattaniah or Zedekiah, who is called "his brother" at 2 Chronicles 36:10. Gill names them Johanan, Zedekiah and Shallum and explains that two of them reigned, which is why they are carried. Cambridge uses the same word to argue the text is corrupt here.
ἐπὶepiat [the time]G1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῆςtēsof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
μετοικεσίαςmetoikesiasexileG3350
√ μετοικεσία — a change of abode, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
metoikesia: change of abode, removal A rare and deliberately chosen noun, repeated four times in this unit (vv. 11, 12, 17 twice) and functioning as one of the three structural markers of v. 17 alongside Abraham and David. Benson distinguishes the two deportations, the removal under Jehoiachin and the later carrying away under Zedekiah, and identifies this word with the first. The evangelist names the catastrophe by its softest available term and then builds his chronology on it.
ΒαβυλῶνοςBabylōnosto BabylonG897
√ Βαβυλών — Babylon, the capitol of Chaldæa (literally or figuratively (as a type of tyranny))NounGenitive Feminine Singular
Babylōn: Babylon Genitive of destination or of association; the Greek does not say "to Babylon" with a preposition but simply pairs the removal with the city. Strong's already carries the figurative sense, "as a type of tyranny," which the later New Testament will take up at 1 Peter 5:13 and Revelation 18:2.
12

After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

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Meta de tēn metoikesian Babylōnos Iechonias egennēsen ton Salathiēl de Salathiēl egennēsen ton Zorobabel

Word by word14 · parsed
ΜετὰMetaAfterG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
δὲde. . .G1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
μετοικεσίανmetoikesianexileG3350
√ μετοικεσία — a change of abode, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
metoikesia: change of abode Here accusative after Μετά, where v. 11 had it genitive after ἐπί. The same rare noun is being declined through the seam of the list: the exile is first the moment at which (ἐπί, genitive), then the event after which (μετά, accusative), then in v. 17 the terminus both to and from which the generations are counted.
ΒαβυλῶνοςBabylōnosto BabylonG897
√ Βαβυλών — Babylon, the capitol of Chaldæa (literally or figuratively (as a type of tyranny))NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἸεχονίαςIechoniasJeconiahG2423
√ Ἰεχονίας — Jechonias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΣαλαθιήλSalathiēlShealtielG4528
√ Σαλαθιήλ — Salathiel (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Salathiēl: Shealtiel One of the two names where Matthew's line and Luke's demonstrably touch again after David; the Verifier confirms G4528 shared with Luke 3:27. Ellicott's reconstruction is that Jeconiah's only son Assir died without issue, the Solomonic line ended, and the descendants of Nathan took their place "as by adoption," a practice he compares to Indian princely succession. Pulpit reaches nearly the same conclusion and still calls it very difficult.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΣαλαθιὴλSalathiēlShealtielG4528
√ Σαλαθιήλ — Salathiel (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΖοροβαβέλZorobabelZerubbabelG2216
√ Ζοροβάβελ — Zorobabel (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Zorobabel: Zerubbabel The last name in the list with any independent public record. Gill notes the striking fact that a Jewish Targum traces the Messiah's descent from David in the line of Zerubbabel exactly as Matthew does, and reckons almost the same number of generations from Zerubbabel to Messiah as Matthew reckons from Zerubbabel to Jesus. After this name the genealogy runs on eight men no other book attests.
13

Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.

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Zorobabel de egennēsen ton Abioud Abioud de egennēsen ton Eliakim de Eliakim egennēsen ton Azōr

Word by word15 · parsed
ΖοροβαβὲλZorobabelZerubbabelG2216
√ Ζοροβάβελ — Zorobabel (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈβιούδAbioudAbiudG10
√ Ἀβιούδ — Abihud, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Abioud: Abihud The first of the eight unverifiable names, and the point where Matthew's list and Luke's, having briefly converged at Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, part for good. Cambridge, Gill and Pulpit each propose a different identification, which is itself the measure of how little is known.
ἈβιοὺδAbioudAbiudG10
√ Ἀβιούδ — Abihud, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἘλιακίμEliakimEliakimG1662
√ Ἐλιακείμ — Eliakim, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἘλιακὶμEliakimEliakimG1662
√ Ἐλιακείμ — Eliakim, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈζώρAzōrAzorG107
√ Ἀζώρ — Azor, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Azōr: Azor Attested here and nowhere else in Scripture. Poole's position on this whole stretch is the candid one: for these men "we have no certain account of them in any part of the holy writ," and he rests the case on the evangelist's inspiration and on rolls of pedigree now lost, not on external corroboration.
14

Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud.

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Azōr de egennēsen ton Sadōk Sadōk de egennēsen ton Achim de Achim egennēsen ton Elioud

Word by word15 · parsed
ἈζὼρAzōrAzorG107
√ Ἀζώρ — Azor, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΣαδώκSadōkZadokG4524
√ Σαδώκ — Sadoc (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ΣαδὼκSadōkZadokG4524
√ Σαδώκ — Sadoc (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἈχίμAchimAchimG885
√ Ἀχείμ — Achim, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Achim: Achim Unattested outside this verse. Gill's defence of the whole stretch is documentary rather than textual: the Jews kept volumes of genealogies in Jerusalem (he cites Yebamot 49b and Hierosolymitan Taanith), so that "if Matthew's account had not been true, it might easily have been refuted by these records," and he notes that the old Nizzachon objects only that the line is traced through Joseph rather than Mary.
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἈχὶμAchimAchimG885
√ Ἀχείμ — Achim, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἘλιούδElioudEliudG1664
√ Ἐλιούδ — God of majestyNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Elioud: God of majesty Strong's supplies the sense where history supplies nothing. Three generations before Joseph, in a family Pulpit judges to have fallen into low estate, a child is named for the majesty of God.
15

Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

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Elioud de egennēsen ton Eleazar Eleazar de egennēsen ton Matthan de Matthan egennēsen ton Iakōb

Word by word15 · parsed
ἘλιοὺδElioudEliudG1664
√ Ἐλιούδ — God of majestyNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenwas the father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἘλεάζαρEleazarEleazarG1648
√ Ἐλεάζαρ — Eleazar, an IsraeliteNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἘλεάζαρEleazarEleazarG1648
√ Ἐλεάζαρ — Eleazar, an IsraeliteNounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΜατθάνMatthanMatthanG3157
√ Ματθάν — Matthan (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Matthan: Matthan The convergence point, or the near miss. Pulpit's reconstruction is that Matthew traced an elder line and Luke a younger, and that Matthan, son of Levi in the younger branch, became heir to and so was called son of Eleazar in the senior line. Cambridge, at v. 16, conjectures instead that this Jacob was Mary's father. Both are conjectures and both are labelled so by their authors.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΜατθὰνMatthanMatthanG3157
√ Ματθάν — Matthan (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸακώβIakōbJacobG2384
√ Ἰακώβ — Jacob (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Iakōb: Jacob Gill reports an old tradition from Epiphanius that Joseph's father Jacob was surnamed Panther, and connects it to the Pandera of hostile Jewish sources. Recorded as what it is: a late tradition about a name, not evidence about the line.
16

and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

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de Iakōb egennēsen ton Iōsēph ton andra Marias ex hēs egennēthē Iēsous ho legomenos Christos

Word by word15 · parsed
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸακὼβIakōbJacobG2384
√ Ἰακώβ — Jacob (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγέννησενegennēsenthe father ofG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωσὴφIōsēphJosephG2501
√ Ἰωσήφ — Joseph, the name of seven IsraelitesNounAccusative Masculine Singular
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνδραandrahusbandG435
√ ἀνήρ — a man (properly as an individual male)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
anēr: man, husband The single most carefully chosen word in the genealogy. Benson explains the Jewish convention that gives it force: "it was a received rule among the Jews, that the family of the mother is not called a family," so Joseph's pedigree had to be given, and Joseph's marriage "gave to Jesus a right to all the privileges" of the line. The legal claim is preserved and the natural one is withheld in the same breath.
ΜαρίαςMariasof MaryG3137
√ Μαρία — Maria or Mariam (iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἐξexofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ἧςhēswhomG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἐγεννήθηegennēthēwas bornG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
gennaō: to beget (here passive) The parse is the argument. Every previous occurrence is Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, third person singular, with a man as subject; this one is Verb, Aorist Indicative Passive, and the subject is Jesus. Poole works through why the evangelist traces a line to a man from whom Jesus did not descend, and answers that the two genealogies together prove him "both the Son of David and the true Messias, as a Son born of a virgin." Matthew 1:18-25 will then narrate what this passive leaves unsaid.
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhowhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
λεγόμενοςlegomenosis calledG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
legō: to say, to call Present participle, middle or passive: the calling is ongoing and its agents are unnamed. Barnes gives the lexical content of the title (anointing set apart kings, priests and prophets), JFB adds that Christ was consecrated to an office "embracing all three by the immeasurable anointing of the Holy Ghost" (Isaiah 61:1; John 3:34). The participle reports the name the world uses; the genealogy has just finished proving the right to it.
ΧριστόςChristosChristG5547
√ Χριστός — anointed, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
17

In all, then, there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

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Pasai oun dekatessares hai geneai geneai apo Abraam heōs Dauid kai dekatessares geneai apo Dauid heōs tēs metoikesias Babylōnos kai dekatessares geneai apo tēs metoikesias Babylōnos heōs tou Christou

Word by word29 · parsed
ΠᾶσαιPasaiIn allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
pas: all, every, the whole Gill's reading of this single adjective is the sharpest textual observation in the brief on v. 17: Πᾶσαι stands once, over the first fourteen, and is not repeated over the second, where by his own count there were seventeen. If he is right, the evangelist has told the reader, in one word placement, exactly where his list is complete and where it is selective.
οὖνounthenG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
δεκατέσσαρεςdekatessares[there were] fourteenG1180
√ δεκατέσσαρες — ten and four, iAdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
dekatessares: fourteen The number that governs the whole unit's shape and forces the omissions at v. 8. Ellicott calls the arrangement "obviously in the nature of a memoria technica" and notes the three periods are of very unequal length. Barnes gives the practical setting: few copies of the Scriptures, so the tables were divided into portions of equal length to be committed to memory, as a regiment is divided into companies. Cambridge quotes Lightfoot's warning that the rabbis screw such patterns "beyond the due measure." How the last fourteen is counted is disputed between JFB, Barnes and Gill in this very brief.
αἱhai. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
γενεαὶgeneai. . .G1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounNominative Feminine Plural
γενεαὶgeneaigenerationsG1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounNominative Feminine Plural
genea: a generation, one stratum of life Not the word of v. 1. Pulpit insists on the difference and it matters: v. 1 named an origin, v. 17 counts strata. The chapter is framed between a beginning and a tally.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
ἈβραὰμAbraamAbrahamG11
√ Ἀβραάμ — Abraham, the Hebrew patriarchNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἕωςheōstoG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
ΔαυὶδDauidDavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δεκατέσσαρεςdekatessaresfourteenG1180
√ δεκατέσσαρες — ten and four, iAdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
γενεαὶgeneaiG1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounNominative Feminine Plural
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
ΔαυὶδDauidDavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἕωςheōstoG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
μετοικεσίαςmetoikesiasexileG3350
√ μετοικεσία — a change of abode, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
metoikesia: change of abode Now used twice in one verse as a fixed chronological marker, standing beside Abraham and David as one of the three hinges of Israel's history. Benson describes the resulting shape: the first fourteen brought the state to dignity in David's kingdom, the second to misery in the captivity, the third to glory again in the kingdom of Christ.
ΒαβυλῶνοςBabylōnosto BabylonG897
√ Βαβυλών — Babylon, the capitol of Chaldæa (literally or figuratively (as a type of tyranny))NounGenitive Feminine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δεκατέσσαρεςdekatessaresfourteenG1180
√ δεκατέσσαρες — ten and four, iAdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
γενεαὶgeneaiG1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounNominative Feminine Plural
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
μετοικεσίαςmetoikesiasexileG3350
√ μετοικεσία — a change of abode, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
ΒαβυλῶνοςBabylōnos. . .G897
√ Βαβυλών — Babylon, the capitol of Chaldæa (literally or figuratively (as a type of tyranny))NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἕωςheōstoG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΧριστοῦChristouChristG5547
√ Χριστός — anointed, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Christos: anointed (articular here) The genealogy has been building to this article. v. 1 said Χριστοῦ as a name; v. 16 reported that he is "called Christ"; v. 17 says τοῦ Χριστοῦ, the Christ, as the terminus of all Israel's generations. Pulpit alone in this brief marks the progression, and the parse confirms it.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A book with no verb: the heading that answers a question — 1:1

The Gospel opens without a sentence. Βίβλος γενέσεως (Biblos geneseōs) is a bare nominative and a genitive, a title nailed over a door, and Benson observes that the verb is "elegantly omitted, according to the custom of the Hebrews." Ellicott, Barnes, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit all hear the same Septuagint formula behind it, the βίβλος γενέσεως of Genesis 5:1, and Gill presses it furthest: that was the book of the generation of the first Adam, this of the second. Cambridge explains why a pedigree comes first at all. It is "an answer to the question which would be asked by every Jew of any one who claimed to be the Messiah," namely whether he is of the house of David. Ellicott separates the two titles carefully: "son of David" was the most popular of all messianic names, owned by scribes, children and the poor alike, while "son of Abraham" was never a specially messianic title and here rather names what Messiah holds in common with every Israelite. Poole insists on the grammar of both: "not the immediate Son of either, but, by a long traduction, lineally descended from both." And Pulpit notices a detail easy to miss in English: Χριστοῦ is here a name, not yet the office, and is not used "in its signification of 'Messiah,' or 'Anointed,' till ver. 17, where it would be better rendered 'the Christ.'" The unit therefore opens with a name and closes with a title.

ii. Forty aorists and five interruptions — 1:2-1:6

The engine of the list is one verb: ἐγέννησεν (egennēsen, G1080, aorist indicative active, third person singular), a completed act with a named male subject, repeated until it becomes a pulse. Pulpit hears it exactly so: "The natural descent of each son from his father is emphasized by the repetition of the word 'begat' at every stage." Against that pulse, four women interrupt, each introduced by the preposition ἐκ and a feminine article inside a column of masculine accusatives: Tamar (v. 3), Rahab and Ruth (v. 5), and at v. 6 a woman who is not named at all but called "of-the Uriah." JFB reads the four as a signature: two Gentiles by birth, three with a blot at their names, a feature "herein differing from that given by Luke" which "comes well from him who styles himself in his list of the Twelve, what none of the other lists do, 'Matthew the publican.'" Cambridge agrees that the Friend of sinners "does not scorn such descent." Ellicott, more cautiously, calls it probable conjecture and adds a corrective from Jewish memory: Tamar was no scandal to the Talmud but one who at the risk of shame preserved the line of Judah. Pulpit dissents outright, judging it "probably wiser not to put so deep a meaning on the appearance of these names." We record the disagreement rather than settle it. What is not disputed is the one title in the whole list. JFB notes that David alone is "twice emphatically styled 'David the king,'" and Cambridge calls it "a special hint of Christ the King." Pulpit sets that crown beside the phrase that follows it and finds the juxtaposition deliberate: the wording "seems to call attention most pointedly to David's sin, and that too in a sentence where his kingly dignity has just been markedly emphasized."

iii. What the verb does not mean — 1:7-1:15

From v. 7 the women vanish and the kings run on, and at v. 8 the verb quietly stops meaning what it appears to mean. Three kings, Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah, stand between Joram and Uzziah in the Hebrew records, and JFB states the fact and the reason together: "Some omissions behooved to be made, to compress the whole into three fourteens." Ellicott generalises it into a rule for reading the entire chapter, that "A begat B" is "simply an expression of the fact of succession with or without intermediate links," and Pulpit says the same of the English word: "begat" here "does not signify always the direct succession of son to father." Why these three were the ones dropped is where the named voices part company. JFB lists the options (the house of Ahab, on Lightfoot, Ebrard and Alford; a slender right to count as theocratic links, on Lange). Poole and Pulpit both reach for the second commandment and its four generations. Benson, quoting Doddridge, goes furthest and calls the omission a peculiar divine direction, the intermediate descendants "blotted out of the records of Christ's family." Further difficulties follow and the commentators do not hide them. Cambridge finds a step missing at v. 13, Ellicott "a cluster of genealogical difficulties" at v. 12, and Barnes, who surveys the whole problem of Matthew against Luke, concedes flatly that of the various proposed solutions "it must be admitted that none of them is perfectly satisfactory." For the eight names after Zerubbabel there is no external check at all. JFB: "None of these names are found in the Old Testament; but they were doubtless taken from the public or family registers, which the Jews carefully kept." Gill supplies the evidence for such registers from the Talmud, and adds that if the account had been false "it might easily have been refuted by these records." Poole simply states the position he is arguing from: "That Matthew in what he wrote was guided by the unerring Spirit, and that he had rolls of pedigrees which we want, we have reason to believe."

iv. The verb that changes voice, and the count that will not quite come out — 1:16-1:17

Everything the unit has built turns on one morphological change. Forty times the text has said ἐγέννησεν, aorist active. At v. 16 it says ἐγεννήθη (egennēthē, aorist indicative passive), and the named male subject is gone: Joseph is called not the father of Jesus but τὸν ἄνδρα Μαρίας, the husband of Mary, "out of whom was begotten Jesus." JFB states the effect without ornament: "it is here studiously proclaimed that Joseph was not the natural, but only the legal father of our Lord," and yet "the acknowledged descent of his legal father from David secured that the descent of Jesus Himself from David should never be questioned." Benson puts it in one line: "This is elegantly said, for he was the seed of the woman, not of the man." Then v. 17 counts. Ellicott calls the three triads "obviously in the nature of a memoria technica"; Barnes explains the practical need, that the Jews had few copies of the Scriptures and devised divisions of equal length to be committed to memory, "as a man who wished to commit to memory the names of a regiment of soldiers would naturally divide it into companies." Cambridge quotes Lightfoot's warning that the rabbis "oftentimes screw up the strings beyond the due measure and stretch them till they crack." And the count is genuinely awkward: JFB observes that the last division appears to contain only thirteen distinct names, offers Lange's suggestion that Mary supplies the thirteenth link, and prefers a simpler reckoning in which Josiah closes the second fourteen as David closed the first. Barnes reckons it differently again, counting David and Josiah twice. Poole, having tried, admits the evangelist reduced the progenitors to fourteen "for reasons which we cannot fathom." Three of the most careful readers in this brief cannot agree on how to count to fourteen three times, and all three say so in print.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. Read the unit as one long sentence with a single broken verb. Forty times a man acts: egennēsen, aorist active, a completed deed with a named male agent, and the line advances on human initiative. Five times that engine is interrupted by ἐκ and a feminine article, and four of those five women are outsiders or scandals or both. Then at v. 16 the interruption becomes the point: egennēthē, aorist passive, no human agent named at all. The genealogy is not merely a proof of pedigree; it is an argument in grammar that runs out of subjects exactly where salvation begins. And the list is honest about its own repairs. It skips three kings at v. 8, loses a step at v. 13, and cannot obviously count to fourteen three times at v. 17, and the commentators in this brief say all of that openly, Barnes conceding that no proposed harmony of Matthew with Luke "is perfectly satisfactory" and Poole admitting the evangelist's reasons "we cannot fathom." ⚙ Our reading is that this is not damage to the claim but the shape of it. A pedigree assembled from public registers, pruned to an aid to memory, carrying twin-born Zerah who inherits nothing and Judah's eleven brothers who are not the line, insists that the promise ran through real records kept by fallible clerks, through a Canaanite woman and a Moabite woman and a woman named only by her murdered husband, through kings excised for marrying into Ahab's house, and through an exile the evangelist will not even call a captivity: JFB notes that "the Jews avoided the word 'captivity' as too bitter a recollection," and Matthew writes metoikesia, a change of dwelling. Henry's summary is the safest place to stand: "while we read the names in his genealogy, we should not forget how low the Lord of glory stooped to save the human race." We hold this loosely. The one thing we will not soften is the grammar of v. 16, which is not conjecture but parse.

Forty times a man begets; once a child is begotten, and no man is named. (This line is our own fallible synthesis, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The same five names, in the other Gospel's other order verbal / quotation: confirmed

Luke 3:33 carries the identical stretch of the line that Matthew 1:3 and 1:4 carry, in reverse direction, and the Verifier confirms the overlap by three shared Greek lexemes, two of them rare. Barnes, surveying both lists, notes that "From Abraham to David the two tables are alike. Of course there is no difficulty in reconciling these two parts of the tables." The difficulty lies further down. Poole records the same agreement: "From Abraham to David there is no difference between Matthew and Luke, they both reckoned up the same fourteen persons." This thread records only what the shared lexemes establish: two independent documents, drawn from separate registers, run over the same names in this section.

Luke 3:33 · Luke 3:32

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G5329 Φάρες (in 2 vv) and G2074 Ἐσρώμ (in 2 vv), both rare, plus G689 Ἀράμ (in 3 vv) at Luke 3:33; and G3476 Ναασσών (in 2 vv), G1003 Βοόζ (in 2 vv), G2421 Ἰεσσαί (in 5 vv) at Luke 3:32. Greek to Greek within the New Testament, so a verbal tier is scoreable. No quotation is claimed: this is shared onomastic vocabulary, not citation.

Where the two pedigrees touch again: Shealtiel and Zerubbabel verbal / quotation: confirmed

After David the two lists diverge completely, and then, for two names only, they meet. The Verifier finds G4528 Σαλαθιήλ and G2216 Ζοροβάβελ shared between Matthew 1:12 and Luke 3:27, and both lexemes are rare. Cambridge marks the junction: "The genealogies meet again in the names of Zorobabel and Salathiel." How they meet is disputed in the brief itself. Cambridge holds that "Salathiel was the son of Neri (Luke), but heir to Jehoiachin"; Ellicott proposes that Jeconiah's only son Assir died without issue, so the line of Solomon ended and the descendants of Nathan "took their place in the succession"; Pulpit reaches substantially the same reconstruction while calling it very difficult to decide. The shared lexemes are certain; the family mechanism behind them is not, and we do not pretend otherwise.

Luke 3:27

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4528 Σαλαθιήλ (in 2 vv) and G2216 Ζοροβάβελ (in 3 vv). Both rare, both New Testament Greek, so the verbal link is scoreable. The link is lexical only; the genealogical relation it implies is contested by Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit alike.

The root of Jesse, preached structural / thematic: confirmed

The name Ἰεσσαί (Iessai, G2421) is rare in the New Testament, and where it occurs outside a genealogy it occurs in preaching. At Acts 13:22 Paul, in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch, tells the same story this list tells in shorthand, God raising up David the son of Jesse; at Romans 15:12 he quotes the root of Jesse as the hope of the Gentiles. Gill, commenting on Matthew 1:5, records the Old Testament ground independently: Messiah was to be a rod of Jesse's stem (Isaiah 11:1), a text "interpreted of the Messiah, by many of the Jewish writers," and the Jews "pray for him in their synagogues under the name of the son of Jesse." The genealogy and the apostolic sermon are reaching for the same small name.

Acts 13:22 · Romans 15:12

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2421 Ἰεσσαί (in 5 vv) at both Acts 13:22 and Romans 15:12, with G1138 Δαβίδ (in 54 vv) also shared at Acts 13:22. Deliberately NOT tiered verbal, although the refs are all New Testament and a verbal tier would be scoreable: the shared item is a proper name recurring in preaching, not a parallel text and not a quotation of Matthew, so the honest basis is a shared motif carried by a rare name. Romans 15:12 is itself quoting Isaiah 11:10, but that Old Testament link cannot be scored verbally and is not claimed as one.

Babylon, the name the evangelist would not sharpen structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew says Βαβυλών five times in this short unit (vv. 11, 12, 17 three times), always with metoikesia, a change of dwelling, and never with the word for captivity. JFB catches the deliberate softening: "the Jews avoided the word 'captivity' as too bitter a recollection, and our Evangelist studiously respects the national feeling." Elsewhere in the New Testament the same lexeme is not soft at all. 1 Peter 5:13 greets a church "in Babylon," and Revelation 18:2 makes it the name of the whole system under judgment; Strong's own gloss for G897 already carries the double sense, the capital of Chaldaea "literally or figuratively (as a type of tyranny)." The link is a shared motif carried by a shared word, not a quotation.

1 Peter 5:13 · Revelation 18:2

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G897 Βαβυλών (in 11 vv) at both 1 Peter 5:13 and Revelation 18:2. Eleven verses is not rare enough to justify a verbal tier, and no citation is involved, so this is recorded as a shared motif with a real lexical basis.

The book of the generations of Adam, and of the second Adam typological

Six of the named voices in this brief independently trace βίβλος γενέσεως to the Septuagint of Genesis 5:1. Ellicott calls the words "an essentially Hebrew formula (as in Genesis 5:1)," and notes that the formula was applied chiefly though not exclusively to genealogies. Barnes quotes it outright: "This is the book of the generations of Adam." Geneva glosses it "as the Hebrews used to speak; see Ge 5:1." Cambridge says the expression recalls it "perhaps designedly." Pulpit adds that toledoth in Genesis can head events and works as well as descent. Gill draws the figural conclusion the others stop short of: "as that was the book of the generation of the first Adam; this is the book of the generation of the second Adam." ⚙ That last step is a reading, not a lexical result, and it is the oldest such reading of this verse.

Genesis 5:1

basis: Cross-Testament: Greek Matthew to Hebrew Genesis, so no shared Strong's number can be scored and no verbal tier is available. The recorded basis is the explicit Septuagint formula βίβλος γενέσεως named at Genesis 5:1 by Ellicott, Barnes, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit. Widely held rather than novel; Gill's second-Adam application is the figural extension and is marked as such.

"Write ye this man childless" and the son he had anyway structural / thematic: confirmed

Jeremiah 22:30 pronounces Coniah childless, and Matthew 1:12 says he begat Shealtiel. The brief's voices converge on a reading of the prophecy rather than of the genealogy. JFB: "what follows explains in what sense this was meant, for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David. He was to have seed, but no reigning child." Poole reaches the identical conclusion, that the text "supposes that he should have seed, but none that should prosper." Gill offers a second line, that the Hebrew word rendered childless denotes one stripped bare rather than one without issue, and reports a Jewish tradition of Jechoniah's repentance in prison. Cambridge and Pulpit take the harder road and treat Jehoiachin as having no children of his own at all, the line passing to him by heirship from Nathan's branch. The tension is real, the proposed resolutions differ, and no shared lexicon can adjudicate it.

Jeremiah 22:30

basis: Cross-Testament: Greek to Hebrew, so a verbal tier is not scoreable and none is claimed. The basis is that Ellicott, Benson, JFB, Poole, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit all name Jeremiah 22:30 as the text standing against Matthew 1:12, and all offer a resolution. The link is certain; the resolution is contested, and we record the contest.

Jechonias twice, or Jehoiakim once: a disputed text at v. 11 flagged: verify source

At Matthew 1:11 the name Jechonias appears where the Hebrew records put Jehoiakim, and the same name then opens v. 12. Cambridge reads the margin as the true text: "Josias begat Jakim (Jehoiakim), and Jakim begat Jechonias (Jehoiachin)," and argues from the brethren, since "Jehoiachin had no brethren, but Jehoiakim had three." Benson calls that reading "absolutely necessary to keep up the number of fourteen generations." Gill, Poole and JFB defend the received text instead, JFB holding that Jehoiakim "might well be sunk in such a catalogue, being a mere puppet in the hands of the king of Egypt." Pulpit weighs both and concedes that "manuscript evidence for this is extremely slight," citing Westcott and Hort, while still thinking a clerical error likely. We flag this rather than decide it: the count in v. 17 depends on the answer, and the answer is not secure.

Matthew 1:12 · 1 Chronicles 3:15

basis: Contested provenance. The variant reading inserting Jehoiakim at Matthew 1:11 is preferred by Cambridge and Benson and by the Bodleian and other manuscripts Benson cites, but Pulpit reports the manuscript evidence as extremely slight on Westcott and Hort, and Gill, Poole and JFB retain the received text. The 1 Chronicles 3:15 reference is Hebrew and cannot be scored verbally against the Greek; it is cited as the historical control, not as a lexical link.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Two promises, one heir ancient/widely-held

The first verse makes a double claim and the rest of the unit is its evidence. Henry states the logic exactly: the promise of the blessing was made to Abraham and his seed, the promise of the dominion to David and his seed, "and, therefore, unless Jesus is a son of David, and a son of Abraham, he is not the Messiah." Pulpit names the same two points as the reason a pedigree opens a Gospel written for Jews: descent from David, "him in whose descendants the Ruler of Israel must necessarily (2 Samuel 7:13-16) be looked for," and from Abraham, "to whom the promise had been given that in his seed all the nations of the earth should bless themselves." Ellicott adds the corollary that the Abrahamic title emphasises what Messiah shares with every Israelite, "as being the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed," and points to Hebrews 2:16. Poole reaches Jeremiah 23:5 and finds him "David's righteous Branch." This is the apostolic reading, recorded here by Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit alike.

Genesis 22:18 · 2 Samuel 7:12 · Jeremiah 23:5 · Hebrews 2:16

The verb that stops: egennēthē at v. 16 ancient/widely-held

The single strongest christological datum in the unit is a parse, not an inference. Through fifteen verses the verb is ἐγέννησεν, aorist indicative active, with a named man as subject. At v. 16 it becomes ἐγεννήθη, aorist indicative passive, and the subject is Jesus, born ἐξ ἧς, out of her. Joseph is given the word ἄνδρα (husband), never father. JFB: "it is here studiously proclaimed that Joseph was not the natural, but only the legal father of our Lord." Benson: "This is elegantly said, for he was the seed of the woman, not of the man." Poole works through the objection that a legal father proves nothing, and answers that the two genealogies together establish both what the Jews would grant and what the believer confesses, "both the Son of David, descending from Mary a virgin, and also the true Messiah, in whom the prophecy was fulfilled, of a virgin's conceiving and bearing a Son." ⚙ Our own addition is only this: the passive does not merely permit the virgin birth, it is the hinge on which the whole chapter's grammar turns, and Matthew 1:18-25 then supplies what the passive withheld.

Matthew 1:20 · Isaiah 7:14 · Galatians 4:4

The descent that had to be low ancient/widely-held

The list is a royal line, and by its end the royalty is gone. Benson traces the movement as three states: private persons to David, kings to Jehoiakim, and then "private persons from the Babylonish captivity, when an end was put to the royal dignity of our Lord's progenitors." Gill draws the conclusion at v. 16: "what a low condition the family of David was in, when the true Messiah came; according to ancient prophecy, it was like a stump of a tree, or like to a tree cut down to the root, Isaiah 11:1, and Christ who sprung from it was like a root out of a dry ground, Isaiah 53:2." Pulpit reaches the same judgment from the bare absence of the last eight names from every other record: "it seems likely that the family of David had fallen into low estate for several generations before the birth of Christ." Henry names the descent for what it is: "When the Son of God was pleased to take our nature, he came near to us, in our fallen, wretched condition; but he was perfectly free from sin." ⚙ The genealogy is thus a record of a throne emptying out, and the emptying is not an obstacle to the claim but part of the prophecy it fulfils.

Isaiah 11:1 · Isaiah 53:2 · Luke 1:32

Four women and the company the Messiah keeps ancient/widely-held

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah are named where dozens of mothers are not, each with ἐκ and a feminine article. JFB reads the pattern as programmatic and notes that it "comes well from him who styles himself in his list of the Twelve, what none of the other lists do, 'Matthew the publican'; as if thereby to hold forth, at the very outset, the unsearchable riches of that grace which could not only fetch in 'them that are afar off,' but teach down even to 'publicans and harlots.'" Cambridge agrees that He who came to save that which was lost "does not scorn such descent." Ellicott offers the same inference but insists it cannot be carried beyond probable conjecture, and corrects the modern instinct by recording that Jewish memory honoured Tamar. Poole gives the pastoral use: "it was no way incongruous, that He who came into the world to die for great sinners, should be born of some that were such." ⚙ We mark this widely held rather than settled, because Pulpit, in this same brief, rejects it outright and argues the four are named only because their circumstances differed from the ordinary steps of the pedigree. The honest position is that the pattern is undeniable and its intention is inferred.

Matthew 1:3 · Matthew 1:5 · Matthew 1:6 · Luke 19:9

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. (1) Language: the original here is Greek, and every grammatical category used above (aorist indicative active, aorist indicative passive at v. 16, present participle middle or passive at v. 16 word 13, the accusative articles, the postpositive δέ) comes from the brief's parse data. No Hebrew root is claimed behind any Greek word; where Hebrew is discussed it is because a named commentator discusses it.

(2) Text: the interlinear surface differs from the Textus Receptus tradition several commentators are working from. It reads Ἀσάφ at v. 7 where the Strong's entry is G760 Ἀσά and BSB prints Asa; Ἀμώς at v. 10 where BSB prints Amon; Βόες at v. 5 where Poole, Gill and JFB read Booz; Ἰωβὴδ where they read Obed. These are recorded, not resolved. The variant at v. 11 (Jechonias against Jehoiakim) is flagged as a thread, since Cambridge and Benson prefer the marginal reading while Pulpit reports the manuscript support as extremely slight on Westcott and Hort.

(3) Arithmetic: v. 17 claims three fourteens, and the brief's own voices cannot agree how to count them. JFB finds only thirteen names in the last division, reports Lange's suggestion that Mary supplies the missing link, and prefers instead to end the second fourteen at Josiah; Barnes counts David and Josiah twice; Gill concedes the middle period actually contained seventeen and that the evangelist mentioned only the fourteen he thought fit; Poole says the reduction was made "for reasons which we cannot fathom." We have not invented a resolution.

(4) Omissions: three kings are absent at v. 8 (Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, on JFB, Poole, Gill, Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit); a step is likely absent at v. 13 (Cambridge); the stretch from Salmon to Jesse is too short for the received chronology (Cambridge, Pulpit, Poole, Benson, JFB, who differ on whether the chronology or the list is at fault). Barnes, having surveyed the harmonies of Matthew with Luke, states that none of them "is perfectly satisfactory," and we have not improved on him.

(5) Unverifiable stretch: for Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar and Matthan there is no Old Testament control whatever. JFB attributes them to public or family registers; Gill documents from the Talmud that such registers existed; Poole says plainly that the rolls "are now lost." Nothing above treats these eight names as independently attested.

(6) Thread tiers: only the two links to Luke's parallel genealogy (Luke 3:32, 3:33, 3:27) carry a verbal tier, on the Verifier's rare shared lexemes, and even there no quotation is claimed. The Jesse link (Acts 13:22, Romans 15:12) would also score verbally, since the refs are all New Testament, but has been deliberately downgraded to structural because a proper name recurring in preaching is a shared motif, not a parallel text. Cross-Testament links (Genesis 5:1, Jeremiah 22:30, 1 Chronicles 3:15) cannot be scored verbally, because the shared Strong's evidence does not cross the Greek and Hebrew lexicons, and are tiered typological or structural accordingly. The Babylon thread is deliberately downgraded to structural: eleven verses is not rare enough to score verbally.

(7) The sola reading and the pullquote are machine synthesis, fallible, and offered to be tested against the text and against the named voices above.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)