Genesis 22:18

22:18 Because you have obeyed me, ¹  all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ²  using the name of your descendants.’”

Matthew 1:1-17

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

1:1 This is the record of the genealogy ³  of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

1:2 Abraham was the father ⁴  of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 1:3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar), Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 1:4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 1:5 Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth), Obed the father of Jesse, 1:6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah ⁵ ), 1:7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, ⁶  1:8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah, 1:9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 1:10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, ⁷  Amon the father of Josiah, 1:11 and Josiah ⁸  the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

1:12 After ⁹  the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, ¹⁰  Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 1:13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 1:14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 1:15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 1:16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom ¹¹  Jesus was born, who is called Christ. ¹² 

1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, ¹³  fourteen generations.

Romans 4:16-25

4:16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ¹⁴  with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, ¹⁵  who is the father of us all 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ¹⁶  He is our father ¹⁷  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ¹⁸  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ¹⁹  4:18 Against hope Abraham ²⁰  believed ²¹  in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations ²²  according to the pronouncement, ²³  “so will your descendants be.” ²⁴  4:19 Without being weak in faith, he considered ²⁵  his own body as dead ²⁶  (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 4:20 He ²⁷  did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 4:21 He was ²⁸  fully convinced that what God ²⁹  promised he was also able to do. 4:22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham ³⁰  as righteousness.

4:23 But the statement it was credited to him ³¹  was not written only for Abraham’s ³²  sake, 4:24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 4:25 He ³³  was given over ³⁴  because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of ³⁵  our justification. ³⁶ 

Galatians 3:16

3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. ³⁷  Scripture ³⁸  does not say, “and to the descendants,” ³⁹  referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” ⁴⁰  referring to one, who is Christ.

Galatians 3:29

3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, ⁴¹  heirs according to the promise.

¹ tn In the Hebrew text this causal clause comes at the end of the sentence. The translation alters the word order for stylistic reasons.

² tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 26:4). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)

³ tn Grk “the book of the genealogy.” The noun βίβλος (biblo"), though it is without the article, is to be translated as definite due to Apollonius’ corollary and the normal use of anarthrous nouns in titles.

⁴ tn Grk “fathered.”

⁵ sn By the wife of Uriah, i.e., Bathsheba (cf. 2 Sam 11:3).

⁶ tc The reading ᾿Ασάφ (Asaf), a variant spelling on ᾿Ασά (Asa), is found in the earliest and most widespread witnesses (Ì^1vid א B C [D^luc] Ë^1,13 700 pc it co). Although Asaph was a psalmist and Asa was a king, it is doubtful that the author mistook one for the other since other ancient documents have variant spellings on the king’s name (such as “Asab,” “Asanos,” and “Asaph”). Thus the spelling ᾿Ασάφ that is almost surely found in the original of Matt 1:7-8 has been translated as “Asa” in keeping with the more common spelling of the king’s name.

⁷ tc ᾿Αμώς (Amws) is the reading found in the earliest and best witnesses (א B C [D^luc] γ δ θ ˹ 33 pc it sa bo), and as such is most likely original, but this is a variant spelling of the name ᾿Αμών (Amwn). The translation uses the more well-known spelling “Amon” found in the Hebrew MT and the majority of LXX mss. See also the textual discussion of “Asa” versus “Asaph” (vv. 7-8); the situation is similar.

⁸ sn Before the mention of Jeconiah, several medieval mss add Jehoiakim, in conformity with the genealogy in 1 Chr 3:15-16. But this alters the count of fourteen generations (v. 17). It is evident that the author is selective in his genealogy for a theological purpose.

⁹ tn Because of the difference between Greek style, which usually begins a sentence with a conjunction, and English style, which generally does not, the conjunction δέ (de) has not been translated here.

¹⁰ sn The Greek text and the KJV read Salathiel. Most modern English translations use the OT form of the name (cf. Ezra 3:2).

¹¹ tc There are three significant variant readings at this point in the text. Some mss and versional witnesses (Θ Ë¹³ it) read, “Joseph, to whom the virgin Mary, being betrothed, bore Jesus, who is called Christ.” This reading makes even more explicit than the feminine pronoun (see sn below) the virginal conception of Jesus and as such seems to be a motivated reading. The Sinaitic Syriac ms alone indicates that Joseph was the father of Jesus (“Joseph, to whom was betrothed Mary the virgin, fathered Jesus who is called the Christ”). Although much discussed, this reading has not been found in any Greek witnesses. B. M. Metzger suggests that it was produced by a careless scribe who simply reproduced the set formula of the preceding lines in the genealogy (TCGNT 6). In all likelihood, the two competing variants were thus produced by intentional and unintentional scribal alterations respectively. The reading adopted in the translation has overwhelming support from a variety of witnesses (̹ א B C L W [˹] 33 Ï co), and therefore should be regarded as authentic. For a detailed discussion of this textual problem, see TCGNT 2-6.

¹² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

¹³ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “that it might be according to grace.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “those who are of the faith of Abraham.”

¹⁶ tn Verses 16-17 comprise one sentence in Greek, but this has been divided into two sentences due to English requirements.

¹⁷ tn The words “He is our father” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to show that they resume Paul’s argument from 16b. (It is also possible to supply “Abraham had faith” here [so REB], taking the relative clause [“who is the father of us all”] as part of the parenthesis, and making the connection back to “the faith of Abraham,” but such an option is not as likely [C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:243].)

¹⁸ tn “The God” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Or “calls into existence the things that do not exist.” The translation of ὡς ὄντα (Jw" onta) allows for two different interpretations. If it has the force of result, then creatio ex nihilo is in view and the variant rendering is to be accepted (so C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:244). A problem with this view is the scarcity of ὡς plus participle to indicate result (though for the telic idea with ὡς plus participle, cf. Rom 15:15; 1 Thess 2:4). If it has a comparative force, then the translation given in the text is to be accepted: “this interpretation fits the immediate context better than a reference to God’s creative power, for it explains the assurance with which God can speak of the ‘many nations’ that will be descended from Abraham” (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 282; so also W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans [ICC], 113). Further, this view is in line with a Pauline idiom, viz., verb followed by ὡς plus participle (of the same verb or, in certain contexts, its antonym) to compare present reality with what is not a present reality (cf. 1 Cor 4:7; 5:3; 7:29, 30 (three times), 31; Col 2:20 [similarly, 2 Cor 6:9, 10]).

²⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²¹ tn Grk “who against hope believed,” referring to Abraham. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

²² sn A quotation from Gen 17:5.

²³ tn Grk “according to that which had been spoken.”

²⁴ sn A quotation from Gen 15:5.

²⁵ tc Most mss (D F G Ψ 33 1881 Ï it) read “he did not consider” by including the negative particle (οὐ, ou), but others (א A B C 6 81 365 1506 1739 pc co) lack οὐ. The reading which includes the negative particle probably represents a scribal attempt to exalt the faith of Abraham by making it appear that his faith was so strong that he did not even consider the physical facts. But “here Paul does not wish to imply that faith means closing one’s eyes to reality, but that Abraham was so strong in faith as to be undaunted by every consideration” (TCGNT 451). Both on external and internal grounds, the reading without the negative particle is preferred.

²⁶ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A C D Ψ 33 Ï bo) have ἤδη (hdh, “already”) at this point in v. 19. But B F G 630 1739 1881 pc lat sa lack it. Since it appears to heighten the style of the narrative and since there is no easy accounting for an accidental omission, it is best to regard the shorter text as original. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

²⁷ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here.

²⁸ tn Grk “and being.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

²⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³¹ tn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

³² tn Grk “his”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³³ tn Grk “who,” referring to Jesus. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

³⁴ tn Or “handed over.”

³⁵ tn Grk “because of.” However, in light of the unsatisfactory sense that a causal nuance would here suggest, it has been argued that the second διά (dia) is prospective rather than retrospective (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 288-89). The difficulty of this interpretation is the structural balance that both διά phrases provide (“given over because of our transgressions…raised because of our justification”). However the poetic structure of this verse strengthens the likelihood that the clauses each have a different force.

³⁶ sn Many scholars regard Rom 4:25 to be poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage.

³⁷ tn Grk “his seed,” a figurative extension of the meaning of σπέρμα (sperma) to refer to descendants (L&N 10.29).

³⁸ tn Grk “It”; the referent (the scripture) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The understood subject of the verb λέγει (legei) could also be “He” (referring to God) as the one who spoke the promise to Abraham.

³⁹ tn Grk “to seeds.” See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse. Here the term is plural; the use of the singular in the OT text cited later in this verse is crucial to Paul’s argument.

⁴⁰ tn See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse.

⁴¹ tn Grk “seed.” See the note on the first occurrence of the word “descendant” in 3:16.