The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew1:18–25

The Birth of Jesus

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Matthew 1:18–25 — The Birth 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.

18

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de houtōs hē genesis Tou Iēsou Christou ēn tēs autou mētros Marias mnēsteutheisēs tō Iōsēph ē prin autous synelthein heurethē echousa en gastri ek hagiou pneumatos

Word by word26 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οὕτωςhoutōsThis is howG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
houtōs: in this way The narrative hinge: what follows is not the ordinary way. Poole reads it exactly so, "not in the ordinary course and manner in which children are conceived and brought forth into the world."
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
γένεσιςgenesisbirthG1078
√ γένεσις — nativityNounNominative Feminine Singular
genesis: nativity, origin The noun that opened the book (Matthew 1:1, where the Verifier confirms the same lexeme G1078, a word used in only five verses) returns here. Matthew has just run seventeen verses of begetting; at the point where the chain should produce one more ἐγέννησεν, he stops and writes γένεσις instead. The genealogy's own grammar breaks at Jesus, and this word marks the break.
ΤοῦTouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦIēsouof JesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΧριστοῦChristouChristG5547
√ Χριστός — anointed, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἦνēncame aboutG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be (imperfect) Imperfect indicative, the tense of setting a scene rather than reporting an act.
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
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
μητρὸςmētrosmotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ΜαρίαςMariasMaryG3137
√ Μαρία — Maria or Mariam (iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
μνηστευθείσηςmnēsteutheisēswas pledged in marriageG3423
√ μνηστεύω — to give a souvenir (engagement present), iVerbAorist Participle PassiveGenitive Feminine Singular
mnēsteuō: to betroth A rare verb, occurring in only three verses of the New Testament (Verifier: Luke 1:27, Luke 2:5 are the other two, both of Mary). Cambridge supplies the legal weight: "from the day of betrothal the pair were regarded as man and wife." That is why Joseph is called her ἀνήρ in the next verse, and why releasing her needs a writ.
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἸωσήφIōsēphto JosephG2501
√ Ἰωσήφ — Joseph, the name of seven IsraelitesNounDative Masculine Singular
ἢēbutG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
πρὶνprinbeforeG4250
√ πρίν — prior, soonerAdverb
αὐτοὺςautoustheyG846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
συνελθεῖνsyneltheincame togetherG4905
√ συνέρχομαι — to convene, depart in company with, associate with, or (specially), cohabit (conjugally)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
εὑρέθηheurethēshe was foundG2147
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
heuriskō: to find (aorist passive) The passive leaves the finder unnamed. Benson guesses Joseph "who, with the care of a husband, observed his intended wife"; Gill says "it appeared by evident signs." Both are inference. The Pulpit Commentary calls the evangelist's reticence "the reverent silence with which a whole stage of the history is passed over."
ἔχουσαechousato be with childG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
ἐνen. . .G1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
γαστρὶgastri. . .G1064
√ γαστήρ — the stomachNounDative Feminine Singular
ἐκekthroughG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ek: out of, from Source, not instrument. Ellicott hears behind it "a divine creative energy, quickening supernaturally the germ of life, as in Genesis 1:2, Psalm 104:30" (his own canonical cross-reference, not a verbal link the Verifier can score across languages).
ἁγίουhagiou[the] HolyG40
√ ἅγιος — sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Singular
πνεύματοςpneumatosSpiritG4151
√ πνεῦμα — a current of air, iNounGenitive Neuter Singular
pneuma: breath, wind, spirit JFB draws the doctrinal conclusion from the grammar of agency here and elsewhere, that the Spirit is a personal agent and not an impersonal power. The lexicon's bare gloss, a current of air, is worth keeping in view: the word itself does not carry the doctrine; the usage across the canon does.
19

Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Iōsēph ho autēs anēr ōn dikaios kai mē thelōn autēn deigmatisai eboulēthē apolysai autēn lathra

Word by word16 · parsed
δὲdeBecauseG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸωσὴφIōsēphJosephG2501
√ Ἰωσήφ — Joseph, the name of seven IsraelitesNounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
αὐτῆςautēsherG846
√ 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 Feminine 3rd Person Singular
ἀνὴρanērhusbandG435
√ ἀνήρ — a man (properly as an individual male)NounNominative Masculine Singular
anēr: man, husband Not "fiancé." Ellicott: "The word was applied with strict accuracy from the moment of betrothal onwards." JFB adds the legal ground, that betrothal was in Jewish law valid marriage, so that separation required formal steps.
ὢνōnwasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
δίκαιοςdikaiosa righteous manG1342
√ δίκαιος — equitable (in character or act)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
dikaios: righteous, equitable The pivot of the verse, and the place where the commentators openly divide. If δίκαιος means law-observant, the following clause is a concession against his righteousness; if it means equitable, the clause is its expression. Benson records Doddridge's refusal of the soft reading on the ground that severity here would itself have been "a very severe and unrighteous part." The Greek adjective will carry either; the sentence does not settle it.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μὴmēvvvG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
θέλωνthelōnwas unwillingG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
thelō: to will, determine Present participle: a standing disposition, set against the aorist ἐβουλήθη that follows. He kept not-wanting, and then he decided.
αὐτὴνautēnvvvG846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
δειγματίσαιdeigmatisaito disgrace her publiclyG1165
√ δειγματίζω — to exhibitVerbAorist Infinitive Active
deigmatizō: to exhibit, make a show of One of the rarest words in the unit (two verses in the whole New Testament). Its only other occurrence, at Colossians 2:15, is Christ making a public show of the powers in his triumph. The same act Joseph refuses to perform on Mary, the cross performs on the principalities. The Verifier records the shared lexeme; the irony is ⚙ synthesis, not a claim that Matthew intended it.
ἐβουλήθηeboulēthēhe resolvedG1014
√ βούλομαι — to "will," iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
boulomai: to will, purpose Deliberative willing, the settled conclusion of a weighing, as against mere wishing. Its passive form here is standard for this verb and carries no theological freight.
ἀπολῦσαιapolysaito divorceG630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
αὐτήνautēnherG846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
λάθρᾳlathraquietlyG2977
√ λάθρα — privatelyAdverb
lathra: privately, secretly Rare (four verses). At Matthew 2:7 the same adverb describes Herod calling the Magi secretly, to kill; here it describes Joseph acting secretly, to spare.
20

But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de autou enthymēthentos Tauta idou angelos Kyriou ephanē autō kat’ onar legōn Iōsēph huios Dauid phobēthēs mē paralabein Marian tēn sou gynaika gar to gennēthen en autē estin ek Hagiou Pneumatos

Word by word31 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautouafterG846
√ 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
ἐνθυμηθέντοςenthymēthentoshe had ponderedG1760
√ ἐνθυμέομαι — to be inspirited, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveGenitive Masculine Singular
enthymeomai: to ponder, take to heart A rare verb, three verses in the New Testament (Verifier). At Matthew 9:4 it is what the scribes do in their hearts and Jesus sees through; at Acts 10:19 it is Peter turning a vision over while the Spirit speaks. In all three, someone is inwardly weighing something, and in all three the weighing is interrupted from outside. Henry: "it is the thoughtful, not the unthinking, whom God will guide."
ΤαῦταTautathese thingsG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἰδοὺidouG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
ἄγγελοςangelosan angelG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounNominative Masculine Singular
angelos: messenger The article is absent in the Greek, so "an angel of the Lord." Barnes notes the word literally means messenger and is used of men and winds as well; the Pulpit Commentary observes that Matthew leaves him unnamed here where Luke names Gabriel. Gill's identification of him as Gabriel rests on rabbinic citation, not on this text.
ΚυρίουKyriouof [the] LordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐφάνηephanēappearedG5316
√ φαίνω — to lighten (shine), iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
phainō: to shine, appear Aorist passive: he was made to appear. The Verifier finds the same lexeme again at Matthew 2:19, the third of Joseph's dreams; at Matthew 2:13 the computed link is through Ἰωσήφ and μήτηρ, not through this verb. Matthew is building a cycle, and this is its first instance.
αὐτῷautōto himG846
√ 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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
κατ’kat’inG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ὄναρonara dreamG3677
√ ὄναρ — a dreamNounAccusative Neuter Singular
onar: a dream The channel of the revelation, and the point at which an honest reader must stop and think. Barnes is unusually blunt that dreams are no present channel of revelation; the Pulpit Commentary suggests Joseph received dreams while Mary, "doubtless the more holy person", received a waking vision. That ranking is the commentator's inference, not the text's.
λέγωνlegōn[and] saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἸωσὴφIōsēphJosephG2501
√ Ἰωσήφ — Joseph, the name of seven IsraelitesNounVocative Masculine Singular
υἱὸςhuiossonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
huios: son "Son of David" is the only title the angel gives Joseph, and it is the title the genealogy has just spent seventeen verses establishing. The Pulpit Commentary reads it as doing two things at once: conceding that Joseph's instinct to guard the purity of the line was right, and then redirecting it, "to urge him to take Mary, that so the promise might be fully carried out in his family and no other."
ΔαυίδDauidof DavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
φοβηθῇςphobēthēsdo not be afraidG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Passive2nd Person Singular
phobeō: to frighten (aorist passive subjunctive) The prohibition is not against feeling but against withdrawing. Note what is not said: the angel never argues, never offers evidence, never answers the question of how. He states the origin of the child and issues a command.
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
παραλαβεῖνparalabeinto embraceG3880
√ παραλαμβάνω — to receive near, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
ΜαρίανMarianMaryG3137
√ Μαρία — Maria or Mariam (iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
τὴνtēn[as]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
γυναῖκάgynaikawifeG1135
√ γυνή — a womanNounAccusative Feminine Singular
γὰρgarforG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
τὸtothe [One]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
γεννηθὲνgennēthenconceivedG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
gennaō: to beget (aorist passive participle, neuter) The theological center of the verse. A passive participle with no named agent, immediately supplied with a source: ἐκ Πνεύματος. The Pulpit Commentary reads the word order of the clause as itself emphatic: "Of Spirit (not flesh), and that the Holy Spirit." Barnes takes the same grammar to the doctrine of the sinless body prepared for sacrifice, citing Hebrews 10:5.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτῇautēherG846
√ 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 PronounDative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ἉγίουHagiou[the] HolyG40
√ ἅγιος — sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Singular
hagios: sacred, set apart Anarthrous and postponed to the end of the clause, so the sentence closes on the word "Holy."
ΠνεύματόςPneumatosSpiritG4151
√ πνεῦμα — a current of air, iNounGenitive Neuter Singular
21

She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

texetai de huion kai kaleseis autou to onoma Iēsoun gar autos sōsei ton autou laon apo tōn autōn hamartiōn

Word by word19 · parsed
τέξεταιtexetaiShe will give birth toG5088
√ τίκτω — to produce (from seed, as a mother, a plant, the earth, etcVerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
tiktō: to bring forth, produce Future middle. The same verb returns four words into the Isaiah citation at verse 23 and again in the narrative at verse 25, so the promise, the prophecy and the fulfilment are stitched with one lexeme. The Verifier also finds it at Revelation 12:2, the only other place in the canon where τίκτω and ἐν γαστρὶ stand together as they do here.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
υἱὸνhuiona SonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
καλέσειςkaleseisyou are to giveG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbFuture Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
αὐτοῦautouHimG846
√ 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
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄνομαonomanameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Iēsous: Jesus, the Greek form of Joshua The name is the argument. Ellicott traces it to Jehoshua, "Jehovah is salvation", and notes that it "had not been directly associated, however, with Messianic hopes"; Benson cites Bishop Pearson that the divine name Jah enters its composition. Poole and Cambridge both set Joshua son of Nun beside it as the man who saved a people by conquest. The angel supplies the etymology himself in the next clause, and the etymology is a Hebrew one carried in a Greek word, which is why no shared Strong's number can link this verse to Joshua's.
γὰρgarbecauseG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
αὐτὸςautosHeG846
√ 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 PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
autos: he himself Redundant by grammar, therefore emphatic by choice. The whole soteriology of the sentence rests on a pronoun Matthew did not need to write.
σώσειsōseiwill saveG4982
√ σώζω — to save, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
sōzō: to save, rescue, preserve The verb's content is fixed by its object: not from Rome, not from Herod, but from their sins. Cambridge calls this "an announcement of a Spiritual Kingdom"; Henry works it out in two directions, "from the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, and from the power of sin by the Spirit of his grace." Barnes turns it on the reader: "It was not to save people in their sins, but from their sins."
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
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
λαὸνlaonpeopleG2992
√ λαός — a people (in generalNounAccusative Masculine Singular
laos: a people Covenant vocabulary. Whose people they are is decided by the pronoun attached: they are his before they are saved.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Plural
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ 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 Plural
ἁμαρτιῶνhamartiōnsinsG266
√ ἁμαρτία — a sin (properly abstract)NounGenitive Feminine Plural
hamartia: a sin Genitive plural, and the last word of the angel's speech. The name given in the first half of the verse is explained by the noun that ends it: the whole work of the child is defined, at his naming, by what he will remove.
22

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

holon de Touto gegonen hina plērōthē to hypo Kyriou rhēthen dia tou prophētou legontos

Word by word14 · parsed
ὅλονholonAllG3650
√ ὅλος — "whole" or "all", iAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΤοῦτοToutothisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
γέγονενgegonentook placeG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbPerfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ginomai: to come to be (perfect) The only perfect indicative in the unit. Matthew steps out of narrative aorist to speak from where he stands: this has happened, and it stands happened.
ἵναhinatoG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
hina: in order that / so that The conjunction that decides whether Matthew is claiming God arranged history to match a text, or claiming that the event and the text answer to one another in God's single plan. Ellicott takes the second road without hesitation: "as chance was excluded, there was no alternative but purpose."
πληρωθῇplērōthēfulfillG4137
√ πληρόω — to make replete, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Passive3rd Person Singular
plēroō: to fill full, complete Passive: the word does not fulfil itself; it is fulfilled. Cambridge notes the formula is Matthew's habitual marker for recognising "a fulfilment of a type or prophecy", which is a broader category than prediction alone. This is the hinge on which the whole of Matthew's use of Israel's Scriptures turns.
τὸtowhatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ὑπὸhypoG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
ΚυρίουKyriouthe LordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
kyrios: lord, supreme in authority The Pulpit Commentary reads the choice of "the Lord" rather than "God" as deliberate: "i.e. Jehovah, not 'God,' because the thought is of covenant promise." The citation that follows is covenant speech, not general revelation.
ῥηθὲνrhēthenhad saidG2046
√ ἐρέω — an alternate for G2036 (ἔπω) in certain tensesVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
διὰdiathroughG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
προφήτουprophētouprophetG4396
√ προφήτης — a foreteller ("prophet")NounGenitive Masculine Singular
prophētēs: a foreteller Unnamed here; Matthew supplies the words and leaves the reader to recognise Isaiah. Gill notes that some copies name him.
λέγοντοςlegontosG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
legō: to say (present participle) The participle that opens the quotation; the present tense keeps the prophet's voice live into verse 23.
23

“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Idou hē parthenos hexei en gastri kai texetai huion kai kalesousin to autou onoma Emmanouēl ho estin methermēneuomenon ho Theos Meth’ hēmōn

Word by word22 · parsed
ἸδοὺIdouBeholdG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
idou: behold! The same particle that opened the angel's appearance in verse 20 now opens the prophet's word. Gill reads it in Isaiah as marking "something wonderful and extraordinary" and therefore as part of what makes the sign a sign.
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
παρθένοςparthenosvirginG3933
√ παρθένος — a maidenNounNominative Feminine Singular
parthenos: a maiden, virgin The most contested word in the unit, and the contest is fully visible in the brief. Gill defends the rendering by appealing to the Septuagint translators, who chose this Greek word for Isaiah's Hebrew "some hundreds of years" before Matthew, and by the word's usage at Genesis 24:43. The Pulpit Commentary works through the problem in numbered steps and concludes that the Hebrew almah means "young woman" by derivation but "virgin" in ordinary usage (citing Cheyne), while carrying no implication that the virginity would be maintained through the birth. Ellicott and Cambridge both grant that Isaiah's own hearers would not have heard a supernatural conception. Matthew, reading the Greek, heard one.
ἕξειhexeiwill be with childG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
echō: to hold, have (future) The verb that ties the citation back to verse 18. Matthew quotes the prophet using the same idiom he used for the fact, which is why the citation lands as it does.
ἐνen. . .G1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
γαστρὶgastri. . .G1064
√ γαστήρ — the stomachNounDative Feminine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τέξεταιtexetaiwill give birth toG5088
√ τίκτω — to produce (from seed, as a mother, a plant, the earth, etcVerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
υἱόνhuiona sonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
καλέσουσινkalesousinthey will callG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
kaleō: to call, name (future plural) Note who is not commanded here. In verse 21 Joseph is told thou shalt call him Jesus, and he does so in verse 25. Immanuel is given to no one to bestow; it is what "they" will call him. ⚙ The Gospel records the first name being given and never records the second being used, which is itself an argument that JFB is right to treat Immanuel as a character rather than an appellation.
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
αὐτοῦautouHimG846
√ 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
ὄνομαonoma. . .G3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἘμμανουήλEmmanouēlImmanuelG1694
√ Ἐμμανουήλ — God with usNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Emmanouēl: God with us A transliterated Hebrew compound, which is why the evangelist immediately translates it. Barnes observes that Hebrew names often incorporate the divine name (Isaiah, Eleazar, Eli) and that Matthew "evidently intends more than was denoted by the simple use of such names", grounding the claim not in the etymology but in what he has just narrated about the conception.
ὅho( whichG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
ἐστινestinmeansG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
μεθερμηνευόμενονmethermēneuomenon. . .G3177
√ μεθερμηνεύω — to explain over, iVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
methermēneuō: to translate over Matthew stops the prophecy to explain a word. He does this rarely, and the intrusion marks the phrase as the point of the citation rather than an ornament on it.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΘεόςTheosGodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounNominative Masculine Singular
Theos: God Articular and final in the clause. The Pulpit Commentary draws the conclusion the whole unit has been building toward: this Son "shall not only be Jesus, Saviour, but also God with us; he is the manifestation of God in our midst. The thought is parallel to that of John 1:14."
Μεθ’Meth’withG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
ἡμῶνhēmōnusG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Plural
24

When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and embraced Mary as his wife.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho Iōsēph Egertheis apo tou hypnou epoiēsen hōs ho angelos Kyriou prosetaxen autō kai parelaben tēn autou gynaika

Word by word19 · parsed
δὲdeWhenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸωσὴφIōsēphJosephG2501
√ Ἰωσήφ — Joseph, the name of seven IsraelitesNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἘγερθεὶςEgertheiswoke upG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
egeirō: to waken, raise (aorist passive) The verb of ordinary waking is also the New Testament's verb for resurrection, and the passive form here is the resurrection form. ⚙ No claim is made that Matthew intended the echo; the observation is that the word which will later carry the raising of Jesus first carries the raising of the man who named him.
ἀπὸapo. . .G575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τοῦtou. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ὕπνουhypnou. . .G5258
√ ὕπνος — sleep, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
hypnos: sleep A function word in this sentence: it marks where the dream ended, nothing more.
ἐποίησενepoiēsenhe didG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
poieō: to do, make The narrative turn of the whole unit. Verses 18 to 23 are things that happened to Joseph or were said to him; this is the first thing he does.
ὡςhōsasG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἄγγελοςangelosangelG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounNominative Masculine Singular
ΚυρίουKyriouof [the] LordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
προσέταξενprosetaxenhad commandedG4367
√ προστάσσω — to arrange towards, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
prostassō: to arrange towards, command The obedience is described in terms of an order given, not advice taken. Benson reads the speed of it as evidence: "This sudden change of his resolution, shows his great faith and ready obedience to God."
αὐτῷautōhimG846
√ 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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
παρέλαβενparelabenembracedG3880
√ παραλαμβάνω — to receive near, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
paralambanō: to receive near, take to oneself The command of verse 20 returns as accomplished fact. Gill spells out what the one verb covered: he publicly married the woman he had before espoused, took her to his house, "lived with her as his wife, and owned her to be such". Ellicott adds the neighbours' side, that to anyone not told the history it must have looked like "an act of exceptional mercy and forbearance." JFB is alone in noticing what it did for Mary, who had "till now lain under suspicions of all others the most trying to a chaste and holy woman."
τὴνtēn[Mary as]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
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
γυναῖκαgynaikawifeG1135
√ γυνή — a womanNounAccusative Feminine Singular
gynē: a woman, wife The same noun the angel used in verse 20. She was his wife in law from the betrothal; from this verse she is his wife in his house.
25

But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a Son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai eginōsken ouk autēn heōs hou eteken huion kai ekalesen to onoma autou Iēsoun

Word by word14 · parsed
καὶkai[But]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐγίνωσκενeginōskenhe had no unionG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ginōskō: to know (imperfect) The imperfect is doing real work: Matthew is not reporting a decision but a duration. Set beside the aorists that surround it (ἐποίησεν, παρέλαβεν, ἔτεκεν, ἐκάλεσεν), the one continuous action in these two verses is the one Joseph refrained from. Tatian, quoted by the Pulpit Commentary, renders the sense: "He was dwelling in holiness with her."
οὐκouk. . .G3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ou: not (absolute negative) The absolute negative, attached to the imperfect.
αὐτὴνautēnwith herG846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
ἕωςheōsuntilG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
heōs: until (of time or place) The conjunction on which centuries of argument about Mary's perpetual virginity have turned. The honest report is that it is a particle excluding a preceding time and making no claim about what follows, which is exactly Poole's reading, and that Gill reaches the same conclusion from the other side: "the meaning is certain that he knew her not before. But whether he afterwards did or not, is not so manifest."
οὗhouG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἔτεκενetekenshe gave birth toG5088
√ τίκτω — to produce (from seed, as a mother, a plant, the earth, etcVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
tiktō: to bring forth The third and last appearance of this lexeme in the unit, and the only one in the aorist. Promised in 1:21, prophesied in 1:23, done here.
υἱόνhuiona SonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounAccusative Masculine Singular
huios: son See the divergence note: the word "firstborn" that stands in the older English is absent from the text underlying this unit, and the reader should know that when weighing Benson's, Poole's, Gill's, Geneva's and JFB's arguments about it.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκάλεσενekalesenhe gave Him the nameG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
kaleō: to call, name (aorist) Poole reads the clause as recording obedience and nothing else: "this is added to declare his obedience to the command received by the angel." The Pulpit Commentary adds that the name already existed in Joseph's family (Luke 3:29), so what makes this naming remarkable is not novelty but faith.
τὸto. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄνομαonoma. . .G3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
αὐτοῦautou. . .G846
√ 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
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Iēsous: Jesus The unit's last word, and the same word the angel gave in verse 21. Matthew ends the account of the birth not with the birth but with the naming, which is to say, with the mission.

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. The genealogy breaks, and a new word is used — 1:18

Matthew has just written seventeen verses of ἐγέννησεν, begot, begot, begot. At the place where the chain should produce one more link, the verb stops and a noun takes over: γένεσις (G1078), the same word that headed the book at 1:1. ⚙ The grammar itself is the first announcement. Benson insists that this word must not be "unwarily confounded" with γέννησις, and the Pulpit Commentary records the manuscript split behind the English, the received reading pointing to the causative act and the true reading to the birth itself. The Pulpit Commentary states the paragraph's whole aim: to show that Messiah was "in origin not of man but of God." Around that claim Matthew is deliberately spare. Ellicott notices everything he leaves out, all that Luke tells of Nazareth, the annunciation, Elizabeth, and offers two possible reasons, lack of access to a document like Luke's or a deliberate choice of starting point. Cambridge supplies the legal frame the verse assumes without stating: "from the day of betrothal the pair were regarded as man and wife." And where a reader most wants detail, the verb goes passive and the agent vanishes: εὑρέθη, she was found, by someone the evangelist never names. The Pulpit Commentary calls this "the reverent silence with which a whole stage of the history is passed over." Benson and Gill both fill the silence with a reconstruction; both are guessing, and both say so in the manner of men who know they are.

ii. A righteous man with no righteous option — 1:19 to 1:20

The single adjective δίκαιος (G1342) is where the commentators openly split, and the split is worth preserving rather than resolving. Barnes reads it as kindness: "the meaning is that he was kind, tender, merciful." Poole reads the term as "equitable, in opposition to severity and rigour." Cambridge reads the opposite: "one who observed the law, and, therefore, feeling bound to divorce Mary." ⚙ The Greek adjective will carry either, and the Pulpit Commentary is right that the real argument sits in the little negative that follows, "and yet not wishing", against "and therefore not wishing." Either way the man is cornered. What he chooses is the rare verb he refuses: δειγματίσαι (G1165), a word the Verifier finds in only two verses of the New Testament. The Pulpit Commentary narrows it, against Benson and Gill, to public proclamation of the divorce rather than public punishment of the woman. Then, before the resolution can be executed, the aorist genitive absolute of verse 20 freezes him mid-deliberation, and the angel arrives. Henry draws the pastoral line from the grammar: "it is the thoughtful, not the unthinking, whom God will guide." JFB, who has described the night and the blasted prospects at some length, closes the angel's word with a sentence worth the whole paragraph: "Though a dark cloud now overhangs this relationship, it is unsullied still."

iii. The name that is the office — 1:21, 1:24 to 1:25

The angel's speech ends on a noun: ἁμαρτιῶν, sins. Everything before it is defined by it. JFB catches the omission that makes the verse: "it is not said, 'she shall bear thee a son,' as was said to Zacharias of his wife Elizabeth." No dative, no fatherhood. Benson puts it in a Greek word, ἀπάτωρ, without father as man. Yet Joseph is given the naming, and the Pulpit Commentary reads that act as the legal transaction it is, "taking the position of his father; the child being thus recognized by all as of David's line." The name itself carries a Hebrew sentence inside a Greek word. Ellicott traces it to Jehoshua, "Jehovah is salvation", and notes honestly that it "had not been directly associated, however, with Messianic hopes." Poole sets Joshua beside it: he saved "the whole body of the Jews, from the Canaanites their enemies", and this Jesus saves from sins. Cambridge sharpens it against the politics of the day: the salvation Jesus brought "was not to be a saving from the Roman or Herodian rule, but a life protected from sin." Then verses 24 and 25 answer the angel clause by clause. The infinitive παραλαβεῖν of verse 20 becomes the indicative παρέλαβεν; the future καλέσεις becomes the aorist ἐκάλεσεν. The Pulpit Commentary counts "Joseph s threefold obedience", and Henry notes the manner: "speedily, without delay, and cheerfully, without dispute."

iv. The prophet's word and the evangelist's claim — 1:22 to 1:23

Here Matthew steps forward in his own voice, and here the modern reader has the hardest work. The perfect γέγονεν is deliberate; Cambridge translates "has come to pass" and notes that "the Evangelist speaks as a contemporary." The two prepositions are equally deliberate, and the Pulpit Commentary separates them: the Lord is the agent (ὑπό), the prophet the instrument (διά). What the commentators will not agree on is the force of ἵνα and the reach of πληρωθῇ. Poole flatly denies that fulfilling prophecy was the purpose: God sent his Son "to save his people from their sins, not to fulfil a prophecy." Benson reasons the same way, that the prophecies "predicted them because they would come to pass." Gill goes the other direction and insists the fulfilment is "in a strict, proper and literal sense." Barnes, more cautiously, lays out three distinct senses the word bears in Scripture and does not choose. Cambridge refuses the dilemma on theological grounds: with God "the intention and result are identical." On Isaiah 7:14 itself the honesty runs deeper. Ellicott concedes that "it is not so easy for us, as it seemed to St. Matthew, to trace in Isaiah's words the meaning which he assigns to them", and adds that the supernatural birth "did not enter into the popular expectations of the Messiah." Cambridge agrees that "the sign in Isaiah is not concerned with the manner of the child's birth", and locates the weight on the name. Geneva, reading the definite article in both Hebrew and Greek, sees the woman "set her forth plainly." Benson and Gill both argue hard the other way, that a young married woman bearing a son is no sign at all. ⚙ The argument is real and public in these pages; a study Bible that hides it is lying to its reader.

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

⚙ Fallible reading, offered to be tested. Notice what the angel never does. He does not explain the conception, does not argue from prophecy to persuade Joseph, does not offer a sign. He states an origin and gives a command, and the command is domestic: take your wife home. The whole supernatural weight of the passage lands on an ordinary man doing an ordinary thing in the morning. Matthew's own grammar bears this out: the infinitive παραλαβεῖν in verse 20 returns as the indicative παρέλαβεν in verse 24, and the future καλέσεις in verse 21 returns as the aorist ἐκάλεσεν in verse 25. Every word spoken to Joseph comes back as a verb he performed. And the two names govern the two halves of what is happening: Jesus, what the child will do, and Immanuel, who the child is. Barnes ties them together as tightly as the text allows, that Matthew "evidently intends more than was denoted by the simple use of such names." Under Sola Scriptura the reader should also hold the passage's genuine gap: Isaiah 7:14 in its own chapter was a sign to Ahaz about Rezin and Pekah, and Ellicott and Cambridge both admit that the manner of the birth was not what made it a sign there. Matthew claims more than Isaiah's first hearers could have heard, and he claims it in the Greek of the Septuagint, which is not evidence the Verifier can score. That is an honest tension, not a proof and not a refutation. The line offered below is this tool's own interpretive sentence, not Scripture and not a quotation from any commentator.

The angel does not ask Joseph to believe a miracle; he asks him to take a wife, and the miracle comes home with her.

⚙

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 public showing Joseph refused, and the one the cross performed verbal / quotation: confirmed

The verb Joseph declines to use on Mary, δειγματίσαι (deigmatizō, G1165), is among the rarest in the New Testament: the Verifier finds it in two verses only. Its other home is Colossians 2:15, where the same act is done to the principalities and powers, made a public spectacle in Christ's triumph. The Pulpit Commentary, glossing Matthew 1:19, cites Colossians 2:15 for the word's sense of public proclamation. ⚙ The synthesis is this and no more: a verb of public exposure is withheld from a woman under suspicion and spent instead on the defeated powers. Matthew makes no such connection; the shared lexeme is the whole of the recorded evidence.

Colossians 2:15

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1165 δειγματίζω, found in only 2 verses of the New Testament. A rare Greek to Greek lexical link; not a quotation, and no literary dependence is claimed.

Weighing it in the heart, and being interrupted verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἐνθυμέομαι (enthymeomai, G1760), the verb of Joseph's deliberation, is rare: three verses in the New Testament by the Verifier's count. At Matthew 9:4 it is what the scribes do inwardly, and Jesus reads it; at Acts 10:19 it is Peter turning a vision over while the Spirit interrupts him with instructions about a man at the gate. The Pulpit Commentary actually cites Acts 10:19 at Matthew 1:20, to contrast the tenses. ⚙ In all three the pattern holds: someone weighs a matter privately, and the weighing is broken into from outside. Henry drew the same conclusion from this verse alone, that "God's time to come with instruction to his people, is when they are at a loss."

Matthew 9:4 · Acts 10:19

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1760 ἐνθυμέομαι, in only 3 verses; all refs are New Testament, so the link is scored within one lexicon. The recurring pattern of interrupted deliberation is ⚙ observation, not part of the verbal basis.

The betrothal word, used of one woman only verbal / quotation: confirmed

μνηστεύω (mnēsteuō, G3423) appears in three verses of the New Testament, and the Verifier names the other two: Luke 1:27, where Gabriel comes to a virgin betrothed to a man of David's house, and Luke 2:5, where Joseph goes up to be registered with Mary his betrothed. Every canonical use of the verb is about the same woman. Cambridge supplies the legal weight the word carries, "from the day of betrothal the pair were regarded as man and wife", which is why Matthew can call Joseph her ἀνήρ and still require a writ of divorce. ⚙ Matthew and Luke here narrate independently; the shared vocabulary is evidence of a shared situation, not of one copying the other.

Luke 1:27 · Luke 2:5

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3423 μνηστεύω, in only 3 verses (Matthew 1:18, Luke 1:27, Luke 2:5). Rare lexeme, Greek to Greek. Shared Μαρία (G3137, 46 vv) and Ἰωσήφ (G2501, 35 vv) are common and carry no weight on their own.

Secretly, to spare and to kill verbal / quotation: confirmed

λάθρᾳ (lathra, G2977) is used in four verses. At Matthew 1:19 Joseph plans to release Mary secretly, to protect her; one chapter later, at Matthew 2:7, Herod secretly calls the Magi, to locate a child and destroy him. The Verifier also finds it at John 11:28, Martha calling Mary quietly, and Acts 16:37, where Paul refuses to be sent away secretly. ⚙ Matthew sets the two secrecies within a chapter of each other and lets the reader feel the difference between concealment that covers a person and concealment that hunts one. The evangelist never comments; the repetition is the comment.

Matthew 2:7 · John 11:28 · Acts 16:37

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2977 λάθρα, in only 4 verses; all refs New Testament. The moral contrast drawn between Joseph's secrecy and Herod's is ⚙ synthesis, not lexical evidence.

In the womb, and bringing forth structural / thematic: confirmed

The idiom ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχειν (G1064 with G2192) runs through this unit three times, at 1:18, at 1:23 in the Isaiah citation, and answered by τίκτω (G5088) at 1:21, 1:23 and 1:25. The Verifier finds both lexemes together again at Revelation 12:2, where a woman cries out in birth pangs and the dragon waits to devour the child she bears. ⚙ The link is motif and shared vocabulary, not quotation: John is not citing Matthew, and both are drawing on stock language of pregnancy. What the pairing does show is that the canon's last book tells the same event as a war, and a Gospel that has just recorded Herod's secret inquiry would not have found that strange.

Revelation 12:2 · Luke 1:31

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1064 γαστήρ (in 9 vv) and G5088 τίκτω (in 17 vv) at Revelation 12:2; G1064 with G5207 υἱός at Luke 1:31. The lexemes are uncommon but not rare enough to score a quotation, and no literary dependence is claimed; tiered structural on that ground.

Isaiah 7:14, quoted word for word and still not scorable as verbal structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew 1:23 is an explicit citation: verse 22 names it as spoken by the Lord through the prophet, and the words are those of Isaiah 7:14. Nothing in the tiering below questions that. The reason it cannot be badged verbal is mechanical and worth stating plainly: the Verifier scores shared Strong's lexemes, and a Greek verse and a Hebrew verse have no lexeme numbers in common, so no verbal evidence can be computed across the Testaments. The interpretive dispute is separate and genuine. Ellicott grants that Isaiah's sign, read in its own chapter, concerned deliverance from Rezin and Pekah, and that a supernatural birth "did not enter into the popular expectations of the Messiah"; Cambridge agrees that "the sign in Isaiah is not concerned with the manner of the child's birth, but with the name and the deliverance." Gill and Benson argue the contrary at length, Gill defending the rendering "virgin" from the Septuagint's own choice centuries before Matthew. The Pulpit Commentary lays out the whole problem in numbered steps and concludes that the angel "sees a further meaning in the promise than either Ahaz or Isaiah saw." ⚙ That last sentence is the fairest statement of what Matthew is doing, and it is a claim about God's providence in the text, not a claim that Isaiah's first hearers heard it.

Isaiah 7:14 · Isaiah 7:16

basis: Explicit New Testament citation formula at Matthew 1:22 introducing Isaiah 7:14; the identification is certain and universally held. A verbal tier cannot be scored because the shared Strong's evidence does not cross the Greek and Hebrew lexicons, so this is recorded as a confirmed structural link with an acknowledged quotation.

Immanuel beyond Isaiah 7: a link the Verifier did not supply flagged: verify source

Ellicott, commenting on Matthew 1:23, carries the name Immanuel forward inside Isaiah: "The land of Israel was to be his land (8:8). It is hardly possible not to connect his name with 'the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father' of Isaiah 9:6; with the Rod and Branch of the Stem of Jesse." Benson makes the same move, arguing from Isaiah 9:6 that the child "who is properly called El, God, and is also emmanu, with us, must infallibly be that Emmanuel." ⚙ This is flagged rather than confirmed for two honest reasons. First, no Verifier basis exists for it: it is a chain of association made by nineteenth-century commentators, not a computed link, and cross-Testament links cannot be scored verbally in any case. Second, the Pulpit Commentary, discussing the same connection, treats it as only "possible" that Isaiah himself identified the Immanuel child with the Messiah. The reading is old and serious; the evidence for it is interpretive, and a reader should check the Isaiah passages directly rather than take it on this page's word.

Isaiah 8:8 · Isaiah 9:6 · Isaiah 11:1

basis: No Verifier-computed basis. The link rests on Ellicott's and Benson's own association of Isaiah 7:14 with Isaiah 8:8, 9:6 and 11:1, which the Pulpit Commentary treats as only possible for Isaiah himself. Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's evidence is available either way. Verify against the Isaiah context before relying on it.

The dream cycle: Joseph told three times structural / thematic: confirmed

The angel of the Lord ἐφάνη (phainō, G5316) to Joseph in a dream here, and the Verifier finds that lexeme again at Matthew 2:19. At Matthew 2:13 the shared lexemes are Ἰωσήφ and μήτηρ rather than the verb, but the scene is the same: the same man, an instruction about the child and his mother, obeyed at once. The Pulpit Commentary lists the sequence at 1:20 and notes that Joseph consistently receives his communications by dream while Mary receives a waking vision. ⚙ Matthew never gives Joseph a line of speech in the whole Gospel. He is characterised entirely by what he does after being told something in his sleep, and this verse is where that pattern begins.

Matthew 2:13 · Matthew 2:19

basis: Verifier: Matthew 2:19 shares G2501 Ἰωσήφ (in 35 vv) and G5316 φαίνω (in 31 vv); Matthew 2:13 shares G2501 Ἰωσήφ and G3384 μήτηρ (in 78 vv) but not the verb. All are common lexemes, so the basis is the repeated narrative construction rather than a rare verbal link; tiered structural on that ground, within Matthew.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The name is the office: Jesus, because he will save ancient/widely-held

⚙ In the whole unit, only one clause gives a reason for anything, and it is the γάρ of verse 21: call him Jesus, for he himself will save his people from their sins. The name is not a label attached to a person who later takes up a work; it is the work, given in advance, to a child not yet born. Ellicott establishes the etymology, Jehoshua, "Jehovah is salvation", and notes the deliberate change of Hoshea's name at Numbers 13:16 that gave it that full force. Poole and Cambridge both set Joshua son of Nun beside it, a man who saved a people by conquest of a land, and Cambridge calls Joshua a type "in respect both of work and name." Henry states the limit that matters: "Christ came to save his people, not in their sins, but from their sins." Barnes turns the same clause into a test of profession, and Gill and JFB, who disagree about the extent of "his people", agree entirely about the nature of the saving. The emphatic αὐτός, grammatically unnecessary, carries the exclusiveness that Poole finds confirmed at Acts 4:12. This is the reading of every commentator in the brief without exception.

Matthew 1:21 · Numbers 13:16 · Acts 4:12

Immanuel: the name that says who, beside the name that says what ancient/widely-held

⚙ Two names govern this passage, and they are not doing the same work. Jesus names the office, and Joseph is commanded to give it. Immanuel names the identity, and no one in the narrative ever calls him by it: "they shall call", says the prophecy, and Matthew leaves it unassigned. JFB states the distinction precisely, that it was not to be a proper name "like 'Jesus'", but that "He should come to be known in this character, as God manifested in the flesh." Barnes presses the grammar of the unit into the doctrine: God is the child's origin by verse 20, therefore "His appropriate name, therefore, was 'God with us'", and he is candid that the mere use of such a name would not by itself prove divinity, but that Matthew, having just recorded the conception, means it so. The Pulpit Commentary makes the same move and names the parallel: "The thought is parallel to that of John 1:14." Gill reaches John 1:14 independently. Benson argues it from Isaiah 9:6. Geneva's marginal note on the definite article, and its heading that "Christ is the true Emmanuel", show the Reformed tradition holding the same line. The reading is ancient and near-universal; what this page will not do is pretend that Isaiah's eighth-century hearers heard it, since Ellicott and Cambridge both say plainly that they did not.

Matthew 1:23 · John 1:14 · Isaiah 7:14

Adopted into David's line: the silent man who gave the name ancient/widely-held

⚙ The passage has a legal spine that is easy to miss under its wonder. The angel addresses Joseph by one title only, son of David, and gives him one naming act. The Pulpit Commentary reads that act as the transaction it is: naming means "taking the position of his father; the child being thus recognized by all as of David's line." Poole says the same, that the address tells Joseph "he was to be the supposed and legal, though not the natural, father of the Messias." JFB notes that the angel's form of address "was doubtless advisedly chosen", and Benson turns it into promise: the God who made a shepherd's son a king can give a carpenter a son who is King. ⚙ So the Davidic claim of Matthew 1:1 to 1:17 is not abandoned when the begetting chain breaks; it is transferred by an act of legal fatherhood performed in obedience to a dream. The line comes to Jesus not by generation but by a righteous man's word, which is a strange and fitting way for a kingdom of grace to receive its heir.

Matthew 1:20 · Matthew 1:1 · 2 Samuel 7:12

Conceived of the Spirit, and the sinlessness the fathers drew from it ancient/widely-held

⚙ Matthew states an origin, ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου, twice (verses 18 and 20) and never explains it. The commentators in this brief are unanimous in drawing a further conclusion from it, and it is worth marking where the text ends and the inference begins. Henry: Christ should "partake of our nature, yet that he should be pure from the defilement of original sin." Poole gives it as a reason God chose this manner, "that the womb of the virgin being sanctified by the Spirit of holiness, there might be no traduction of original sin." Benson gives the same in a numbered list; Gill adds the purpose, "that so being the immediate produce of the Holy Ghost and without sin, it might be fit for union with the Son of God"; Barnes ties it to Hebrews 10:5, the body prepared. Geneva's gloss guards the other side, that the child is "of the mother's substance by the Holy Spirit", so that the humanity is genuinely Mary's. ⚙ The doctrine is old, coherent and held by every voice here. The honest note is that Matthew asserts the origin and leaves the consequence unstated; the consequence is drawn from the whole canon, chiefly Luke 1:35 and Hebrews, not from this verse alone.

Matthew 1:18 · Matthew 1:20 · Hebrews 10:5 · Luke 1:35

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)

Text. Three places in this unit have a live textual question, and all three are reported by the brief's own sources. (1) At 1:18 the Pulpit Commentary distinguishes the received reading γέννησις (generation, the causative act) from what it calls the true reading γένεσις (the birth itself); Benson defends the former. The interlinear supplied to this unit reads γένεσις, G1078, and the synthesis follows it. (2) Also at 1:18 the Pulpit Commentary canvasses "of the Christ" and "of Christ Jesus" as variants, citing Hort, Westcott and Irenaeus on different sides; the interlinear reads Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. (3) At 1:25 Ellicott states that "firstborn" "is not found in the best MSS", Cambridge says "the oldest MSS. omit the word", and the Pulpit Commentary judges it added from Luke 2:7. The interlinear for this unit contains no such word, and the synthesis does not treat it as present. Benson, Poole, Gill, Geneva and JFB all argue about "firstborn" at length on the assumption that it is in the text; their arguments are reproduced as they stand, and the reader should know they rest on a reading later editors removed.

Grammar and lexicon. All parses, Strong's numbers and glosses come from the Berean interlinear supplied in the brief. Where the brief's lexicon gives a truncated gloss (for example G1537 ἐκ, "literal or figurative"), the synthesis has used only what the parse and the immediate usage support. This unit's original language is Greek throughout; the Hebrew words discussed (Jehoshua, almah, El, immanu) are known here only through what the named commentators say about them, not through any Hebrew data in this brief.

Cross-references. Every thread basis is the Verifier's computed shared-lexeme output, quoted with its frequency, except the Immanuel thread, which is explicitly flagged as having no computed basis. Cross-Testament links cannot be scored verbally because Greek and Hebrew Strong's numbers do not overlap; the Isaiah 7:14 thread is therefore tiered structural even though the citation formula in 1:22 makes the quotation certain. Shared proper names (Μαρία in 46 verses, Ἰωσήφ in 35) are noted where the Verifier returned them but are not treated as evidence of a link.

What is uncertain. Four things. Who found Mary to be with child, and how: Matthew's passive names no one, and Benson's and Gill's reconstructions are conjecture. Whether δίκαιος at 1:19 means law-observant or equitable: the commentators split evenly and the Greek settles neither. Whether ἵνα at 1:22 is final or consecutive: Poole and Benson take one view, Gill another, Cambridge declines to choose. Whether Isaiah's original sign concerned a supernatural conception: Ellicott and Cambridge say it did not, Gill and Benson say it did, and this page has recorded both rather than picking a winner.

Synthesis. Everything marked ⚙ is this tool's own fallible reading. The pullquote is an interpretive line composed here; it is not Scripture and not a quotation from any commentator.

✦ = 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)