Matthew 1:1

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

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

Matthew 20:30-31

20:30 Two ²  blind men were sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, ³  “Have mercy ⁴  on us, Lord, Son of David!” ⁵  20:31 The ⁶  crowd scolded ⁷  them to get them to be quiet. But they shouted even more loudly, “Lord, have mercy on us, ⁸  Son of David!”

Matthew 22:42-45

22:42 “What do you think about the Christ? ⁹  Whose son is he?” They said, “The son of David.” ¹⁰  22:43 He said to them, “How then does David by the Spirit call him ‘Lord,’ saying,

22:44 ‘The Lord said to my lord, ¹¹ 

“Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet”’? ¹² 

22:45 If David then calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” ¹³ 

Luke 18:38-39

18:38 So ¹⁴  he called out, ¹⁵  “Jesus, Son of David, ¹⁶  have mercy ¹⁷  on me!” 18:39 And those who were in front ¹⁸  scolded ¹⁹  him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted ²⁰  even more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

John 7:41-42

7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” ²¹  But still others said, “No, ²²  for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ²³  7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant ²⁴  of David ²⁵  and comes from Bethlehem, ²⁶  the village where David lived?” ²⁷ 

¹ 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.

² tn Grk “And behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

³ tn Grk “shouted, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

⁴ sn Have mercy on us is a request for healing. It is not owed to the men. They simply ask for God’s kind grace.

⁵ sn There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42-49]).

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁷ tn Or “rebuked.” The crowd’s view was that surely Jesus would not be bothered with someone as unimportant as a blind beggar.

⁸ tc ‡ The majority of mss (C W ˹ 33 Ï and several versional witnesses) read κύριε (kurie, “Lord”) after ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς (elehson Jhma", “have mercy on us”). But since this is the order of words in v. 30 (though that wording is also disputed), and since the κύριε-first reading enjoys widespread and early support (א B D L Z Θ 085 0281 ˹³ 892 pc lat), the latter was considered original. However, the decision was by no means easy. NA²⁷ has κύριε after ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς here; a majority of that committee felt that since the placement of κύριε in last place was the nonliturgical order it “would have been likely to be altered in transcription to the more familiar sequence” (TCGNT 44).

⁹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

¹⁰ sn It was a common belief in Judaism that Messiah would be the son of David in that he would come from the lineage of David. On this point the Pharisees agreed and were correct. But their understanding was nonetheless incomplete, for Messiah is also David’s Lord. With this statement Jesus was affirming that, as the Messiah, he is both God and man.

¹¹ sn The Lord said to my Lord. With David being the speaker, this indicates his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord). Jesus was arguing, as the ancient exposition assumed, that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of this figure and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great Messiah is.

¹² sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.

¹³ tn Grk “how is he his son?”

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the blind man learning that Jesus was nearby.

¹⁵ tn Grk “called out, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

¹⁶ sn Jesus was more than a Nazarene to this blind person, who saw quite well that Jesus was Son of David. He understood what Luke 7:22-23 affirms. There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42-49]).

¹⁷ sn Have mercy on me is a request for healing (cf. 17:13). It is not owed the man. He simply asks for God’s kind grace.

¹⁸ sn That is, those who were at the front of the procession.

¹⁹ tn Or “rebuked.” The crowd’s view was that surely Jesus would not be bothered with someone as unimportant as a blind beggar.

²⁰ sn Public opinion would not sway the blind man from getting Jesus’ attention. The term shouted is strong as it can be used of animal cries.

²¹ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

²² tn An initial negative reply (“No”) is suggested by the causal or explanatory γάρ (gar) which begins the clause.

²³ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “does he?”).

²⁴ tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).

²⁵ sn An allusion to Ps 89:4.

²⁶ sn An allusion to Mic 5:2.

²⁷ tn Grk “the village where David was.”