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Matthew 1

1A record of the ancestry of Jesus the Messiah, son of David, son of Abraham.

2Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. 3Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram. 4Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon. 5Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse. 6Jesse fathered David the king.

David fathered Solomon by Uriah's wife. 7Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asaph. 8Asaph fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, and Joram fathered Uzziah. 9Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah. 10Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amos, and Amos fathered Josiah. 11Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel, 13Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor. 14Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud. 15Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob. 16Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom Jesus was born, who is called Messiah.

17So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

18Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah happened this way. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19Joseph her husband, being righteous and unwilling to expose her to public shame, decided to divorce her privately. 20But after he had considered these things, look, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife with you, for what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

22All this has happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:

23“Look, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel”—which translated means “God with us.”

24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife with him. 25But he did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.

Translation notes 9

1:1 — Ancestry; Messiah. The opening can also be understood as a record of Jesus' origin or birth, with a possible scope wider than the genealogy. “Messiah” represents the title traditionally rendered “Christ.” “Son of David” and “son of Abraham” identify descent, not immediate parentage.

1:2–17 — Fathered; fourteen generations. The repeated verb traces a line of descent and need not identify an immediate father in every link. The genealogy is selective. Its threefold fourteen is retained without adding names to make the list agree with another genealogy.

1:6 — Uriah's wife. Matthew identifies Solomon's mother by her relationship to Uriah, without giving her name. “Wife” makes the Greek's implied relationship explicit.

1:7–10 — Asaph and Amos. These are the spellings in the Greek base. Other Greek texts have Asa and Amon, the familiar names of the kings intended in this line. Whether to normalize the English names is a separate translation decision; these spellings do not establish that Matthew meant the psalmist and prophet.

1:16 — From whom. The Greek relative pronoun is feminine singular, referring to Mary. The repeated “fathered” gives way to “was born”; Joseph is not said here to have fathered Jesus.

1:18–20 — Betrothed; righteous. Betrothal involved a binding marriage commitment, explaining “husband,” “wife,” and “divorce.” “Righteous” retains a recurring Matthew term without deciding that Joseph's righteousness consisted only in legal strictness or only in mercy.

1:21 — Jesus. The name is related to the Hebrew name Joshua and its association with the Lord's saving. The explanation connects his name with saving his people from their sins.

1:23 — Virgin; Immanuel. Matthew's Greek quotation uses “virgin” and recalls Isaiah 7:14. The translation follows Matthew's wording; it does not settle the separate question of the Hebrew wording in Isaiah. The name's explanation is part of Matthew's text.

1:25 — Until; a son. The statement concerns the period before the birth and does not explicitly describe the couple's subsequent sexual relationship. The base has “a son”; other texts add wording identifying him as her firstborn son.