This is the record of the family line of Jesus the Anointed One, a descendant of David and a descendant of Abraham.[1]
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Boaz the father of Obed (his mother was Ruth), and Obed the father of Jesse.[2] 6 Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon (his mother had been Uriah’s wife), 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph. 8 Asaph was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, around the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom Jesus was born — the one called the Anointed One.
17 So there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the exile in Babylon, and fourteen generations from the exile to the Anointed One.[3]
18 Now this is how the birth of Jesus the Anointed One came about. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they had sex, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her husband, was an upright man. He did not want to shame her publicly, so he decided to divorce her quietly.[4]
20 But as he was thinking this over, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she is carrying is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”[5]
22 All of this happened to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 “Look — the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”[6]
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do. He took Mary home as his wife, 25 but he did not have sex with her until she had given birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.
Notes
Note 1. “The Anointed One” translates the Greek χριστός (christos), which means “anointed.” It is the same idea as the Hebrew word “Messiah.” This edition uses “the Anointed One” for that word throughout, rather than the sound-alike “Christ.” ↩
Note 2. The Hebrew scriptures name Rahab as the woman of Jericho who sheltered Israel’s spies (Joshua 2), but they never name Boaz’s mother. ↩
Note 3. Matthew leaves out three kings who actually reigned between Joram and Uzziah — Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah (listed in 1 Chronicles 3:11–12). ↩
Note 4. A Jewish betrothal was already legally binding, so ending it took a formal certificate of divorce (a get), not just a change of mind — even though the couple had not yet begun living together. ↩
Note 5. “Jesus” comes through Greek from the Hebrew name Yeshua, tied to the root meaning “to save” or “salvation.” ↩
Note 6. Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 as it reads in the Greek Septuagint, which has parthenos, “virgin”; the Hebrew text of Isaiah has almah, the word used for Moses’ sister, “the girl,” in Exodus 2:8. ↩