Matthew

The Family Background of Jesus

An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), and Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Aram.

Aram was the father of Aminadab. Aminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon.

Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse.

Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife.

Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings: Abijah, Asaph,

Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah,

Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah,

Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.

Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor

Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud.

Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus, who is called the Christ—the Messiah.

There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the exile to the birth of Christ.

Birth of Jesus

This is how Jesus Christ was born: Mary, his mother, had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit.

Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.

While he was pondering this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said: “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.

She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will have a son. You shall call him ‘Jesus,’ for he will save his people from their sins.”

All of this happened to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive

and give birth to a son,

and he will be called Emmanuel,

which means: God-with-us.

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord told him to do and took his wife to live with him.

He had no relations with her until she gave birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.