Matthew 1:1--2:23

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.

1:2 Abraham was the father ²  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 ³ ), 1:7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, ⁴  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, ⁵  Amon the father of Josiah, 1:11 and Josiah ⁶  the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

1:12 After ⁷  the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, ⁸  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 ⁹  Jesus was born, who is called Christ. ¹⁰ 

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, ¹¹  fourteen generations.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, ¹²  she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 1:19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, ¹³  was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her ¹⁴  privately. 1:20 When he had contemplated this, an ¹⁵  angel of the Lord ¹⁶  appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 1:21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him ¹⁷  Jesus, ¹⁸  because he will save his people from their sins.” 1:22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him ¹⁹  Emmanuel,” ²⁰  which means ²¹  “God with us.” ²²  1:24 When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord ²³  told him. He took his wife, 1:25 but did not have marital relations ²⁴  with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named ²⁵  Jesus.

The Visit of the Wise Men

2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem ²⁶  in Judea, in the time ²⁷  of King Herod, ²⁸  wise men ²⁹  from the East came to Jerusalem ³⁰  2:2 saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose ³¹  and have come to worship him.” 2:3 When King Herod ³²  heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, ³³  he asked them where the Christ ³⁴  was to be born. 2:5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:

2:6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,

for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” ³⁵ 

2:7 Then Herod ³⁶  privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. 2:8 He ³⁷  sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.” 2:9 After listening to the king they left, and once again ³⁸  the star they saw when it rose ³⁹  led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. 2:10 When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. ⁴⁰  2:11 As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down ⁴¹  and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, ⁴²  and myrrh. ⁴³  2:12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, ⁴⁴  they went back by another route to their own country.

The Escape to Egypt

2:13 After they had gone, an ⁴⁵  angel of the Lord ⁴⁶  appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod ⁴⁷  is going to look for the child to kill him.” 2:14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during ⁴⁸  the night, and went to Egypt. 2:15 He stayed there until Herod ⁴⁹  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ⁵⁰ 

2:16 When Herod ⁵¹  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ⁵²  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ⁵³  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. 2:17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud wailing, ⁵⁴ 

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she did not want to be comforted, because they were ⁵⁵  gone.” ⁵⁶ 

The Return to Nazareth

2:19 After Herod ⁵⁷  had died, an ⁵⁸  angel of the Lord ⁵⁹  appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 2:20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 2:21 So ⁶⁰  he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel. 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus ⁶¹  was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, ⁶²  he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee. 2:23 He came to a town called Nazareth ⁶³  and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus ⁶⁴  would be called a Nazarene. ⁶⁵ 

[1:1]  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.

[1:2]  ² tn Grk “fathered.”

[1:6]  ³ sn By the wife of Uriah, i.e., Bathsheba (cf. 2 Sam 11:3).

[1:7]  ⁴ 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.

[1:10]  ⁵ 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.

[1:11]  ⁶ 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.

[1:12]  ⁷ 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.

[1:12]  ⁸ sn The Greek text and the KJV read Salathiel. Most modern English translations use the OT form of the name (cf. Ezra 3:2).

[1:16]  ⁹ 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.

[1:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[1:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[1:18]  ¹² tn The connotation of the Greek is “before they came together in marital and domestic union” (so BDAG 970 s.v. συνέρχομαι 3).

[1:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “husband.” See following note for discussion.

[1:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “send her away.”

[1:20]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “behold, an angel.” 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).

[1:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” Linguistically, “angel of the Lord” is the same in both testaments (and thus, he is either “an angel of the Lord” or “the angel of the Lord” in both testaments). For arguments and implications, see ExSyn 252; M. J. Davidson, “Angels,” DJG, 9; W. G. MacDonald argues for “an angel” in both testaments: “Christology and ‘The Angel of the Lord’,” Current Issues in Biblical and Patristic Interpretation, 324-35.

[1:21]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “you will call his name.”

[1:21]  ¹⁸ sn The Greek form of the name Ihsous, which was translated into Latin as Jesus, is the same as the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua), which means “Yahweh saves” (Yahweh is typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT). It was a fairly common name among Jews in 1st century Palestine, as references to a number of people by this name in the LXX and Josephus indicate.

[1:23]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “they will call his name.”

[1:23]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 7:14.

[1:23]  ²¹ tn Grk “is translated.”

[1:23]  ²² sn An allusion to Isa 8:8, 10 (LXX).

[1:24]  ²³ tn See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20. Here the translation “the angel of the Lord” is used because the Greek article (ὁ, Jo) which precedes ἄγγελος (angelos) is taken as an anaphoric article (ExSyn 217-19) referring back to the angel mentioned in v. 20.

[1:25]  ²⁴ tn Or “did not have sexual relations”; Grk “was not knowing her.” The verb “know” (in both Hebrew and Greek) is a frequent biblical euphemism for sexual relations. However, a translation like “did not have sexual relations with her” is too graphic in light of the popularity and wide use of Matthew’s infancy narrative. Thus the somewhat more subdued but still clear “did not have marital relations” was selected.

[1:25]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and he called his name Jesus.” The coordinate clause has been translated as a relative clause in English for stylistic reasons.

[2:1]  ²⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “in the days.”

[2:1]  ²⁸ sn King Herod was Herod the Great, who ruled Palestine from 37 b.c. until he died in 4 b.c. He was known for his extensive building projects (including the temple in Jerusalem) and for his cruelty.

[2:1]  ²⁹ sn The Greek term magi here describes a class of wise men and priests who were astrologers (L&N 32.40).

[2:1]  ³⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:2]  ³¹ tn Or “in its rising,” referring to the astrological significance of a star in a particular portion of the sky. The term used for the “East” in v. 1 is ἀνατολαί (anatolai, a plural form that is used typically of the rising of the sun), while in vv. 2 and 9 the singular ἀνατολή (anatolh) is used. The singular is typically used of the rising of a star and as such should not normally be translated “in the east” (cf. BDAG 74 s.v. 1: “because of the sg. and the article in contrast to ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, vs. 1, [it is] prob. not a geograph. expr. like the latter, but rather astronomical…likew. vs. 9”).

[2:3]  ³² sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:4]  ³³ tn Or “and scribes of the people.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

[2:4]  ³⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:6]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Mic 5:2.

[2:7]  ³⁶ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:8]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[2:9]  ³⁸ tn Grk “and behold the star.”

[2:9]  ³⁹ tn See the note on the word “rose” in 2:2.

[2:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “they rejoiced with very great joy.”

[2:11]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “they fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[2:11]  ⁴² sn Frankincense refers to the aromatic resin of certain trees, used as a sweet-smelling incense (L&N 6.212).

[2:11]  ⁴³ sn Myrrh consisted of the aromatic resin of certain shrubs (L&N 6.208). It was used in preparing a corpse for burial.

[2:12]  ⁴⁴ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “behold, an angel.” 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).

[2:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[2:13]  ⁴⁷ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Herod the Great was particularly ruthless regarding the succession to his throne.

[2:14]  ⁴⁸ tn The feminine singular genitive noun νυκτός (nuktos, “night”) indicates the time during which the action of the main verb takes place (ExSyn 124).

[2:15]  ⁴⁹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:15]  ⁵⁰ sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.

[2:16]  ⁵¹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Note the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the angel in 2:13.

[2:16]  ⁵² tn Or “soldiers.”

[2:16]  ⁵³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:18]  ⁵⁴ tc The LXX of Jer 38:15 (31:15 ET) has “lamentation, weeping, and loud wailing”; most later mss (C D L W 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï) have a quotation in Matthew which conforms to that of the LXX (θρῆνος καὶ κλαυθμός καὶ ὀδυρμός; qrhno" kai klauqmo" kai odurmo"). But such assimilations were routine among the scribes; as such, they typically should be discounted because they are both predictable and motivated. The shorter reading, without “lamentation and,” is thus to be preferred, especially since it cannot easily be accounted for unless it is the original wording here. Further, it is found in the better mss along with a good cross-section of other witnesses (א B Z 0250 ˹ pc lat co).

[2:18]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “are”; the Greek text uses a present tense verb.

[2:18]  ⁵⁶ sn A quotation from Jer 31:15.

[2:19]  ⁵⁷ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. When Herod the Great died in 4 b.c., his kingdom was divided up among his three sons: Archelaus, who ruled over Judea (where Bethlehem was located, v. 22); Philip, who became tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis (cf. Luke 3:1); and Antipas, who became tetrarch of Galilee.

[2:19]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “behold, an angel.” 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).

[2:19]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[2:21]  ⁶⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s instructions.

[2:22]  ⁶¹ sn Archelaus took after his father Herod the Great in terms of cruelty and ruthlessness, so Joseph was afraid to go there. After further direction in a dream, he went instead to Galilee.

[2:22]  ⁶² sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:23]  ⁶³ sn Nazareth was a very small village in the region of Galilee (Galilee lay north of Samaria and Judea). The town was located about 15 mi (25 km) west of the southern edge of the Sea of Galilee. According to Luke 1:26, Mary was living in Nazareth when the birth of Jesus was announced to her.

[2:23]  ⁶⁴ tn There is no expressed subject of the third person singular verb here; the pronoun “he” is implied. Instead of this pronoun the referent “Jesus” has been supplied in the text to clarify to whom this statement refers.

[2:23]  ⁶⁵ tn The Greek could be indirect discourse (as in the text), or direct discourse (“he will be called a Nazarene”). Judging by the difficulty of finding OT quotations (as implied in the plural “prophets”) to match the wording here, it appears that the author was using a current expression of scorn that conceptually (but not verbally) found its roots in the OT.