Passage

Matthew 1.1

"The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:" (Matthew 1:1, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

"2. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judah and his brethren; 3. and Judah begat Perez and Zerah of Tamar; and Perez begat Hezron; and Hezron begat Ram;" (Matthew 1:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

"2. Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers. 3. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram." (Matthew 1:1-3, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

"2. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; 3. And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;" (Matthew 1:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. A roll of the birth of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham."

"2. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judah and his brethren, 3. and Judah begat Pharez and Zarah of Tamar, and Pharez begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram," (Matthew 1:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Matthew the tax-collector-apostle (traditional authorship) as narrator opening his Gospel
Audience: primarily Jewish-Christian readership, with an emphasis on Hebrew-Bible fulfillment throughout the Gospel
Location: first-century Palestine for the events; composition often placed in Syrian Antioch
Time period: composed c. AD 60-80; the genealogy itself spans Abraham (c. 2000 BC) to Jesus (c. 4 BC)

Synthesis

Matthew 1:1 is the incipit of the Gospel of Matthew, and its single verse encodes the controlling claim of the book: Jesus is the Messiah, the legal-Davidic king and the seed-of-Abraham heir through whom the nations are blessed. The Greek biblos geneseōs (book of the genealogy / record of the origin) deliberately echoes the Septuagint's recurring formula in Genesis (LXX Gen 2:4, 5:1), signaling that Matthew is opening a new chapter of redemptive history of the same order as creation and the patriarchal narrative. Three names anchor the verse: Jesus, David, Abraham. The Davidic-Messianic frame this incipit installs runs through the whole Gospel.

Theological reading

The Genesis echo is deliberate. Biblos geneseōs in LXX Genesis 2:4 marks the "book of the generations of the heavens and the earth," and in Genesis 5:1 the "book of the generations of Adam." Matthew opens by claiming continuity with the canonical pattern: this is the next entry in the toledot series. Jesus's arrival is not a discrete miracle but the culmination of the storyline begun in Genesis. See Genesis 12.1-3 (the Abrahamic call), which Matthew's "son of Abraham" presupposes.

The Davidic frame is load-bearing for Matthean Christology. "Son of David" is the most-used Christological title in Matthew (used 9 times, more than any other Gospel). Matthew 1:1 puts it ahead of "son of Abraham" because the kingship question dominates the Gospel: the Magi seek "the King of the Jews" (2:2), the genealogy of 1:2-17 is organized in three sets of fourteen (the gematria of David's name, dwd = 4+6+4 = 14), the question put to the Pharisees in 22:41-45 turns on whether Messiah is David's son or David's Lord. The covenantal anchor is 2 Samuel 7.12-14, the Davidic-covenant promise that David's offspring will rule forever; see Davidic Covenant for the full systematic treatment.

The Abrahamic frame is the Gentile-inclusion key. "Son of Abraham" reaches back further than the Davidic monarchy to the original promise that in Abraham's seed "all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Genesis 12.1-3). The genealogy that follows (1:2-17) names four Gentile or Gentile-connected women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba "the wife of Uriah"), already telegraphing the Great Commission of Matthew 28.19-20: the Messiah of Israel is the Messiah for the nations. Matthew opens with Abraham; Matthew ends with "all the nations."

The genealogy is theological, not strictly biological. Matthew's list (1:2-17) is organized into three groups of fourteen generations and omits several historical kings to achieve that count. This is not a defect; ancient genealogies are routinely selective for rhetorical purpose. The point is structural-theological: history is divided into Abraham-to-David, David-to-Exile, Exile-to-Messiah, three movements terminating in Christ. See Failed Messianic Prophecy Objections for treatment of standard skeptical objections to the Matthean genealogy (alleged contradiction with Luke 3, Jeconiah-curse problem).

Key words

G2424 - Iesous, Iesous (Jesus). The Hellenized form of Hebrew Yeshua / Yehoshua ("YHWH saves"); the name is itself a theological claim (cf. Mt 1:21).
G5547 - christos, christos (Christ / Messiah). The titular Greek rendering of Hebrew mashiach (anointed one); Matthew uses it as title here, not surname.
G5207 - huios, huios (son). Used twice in the verse, marking Davidic and Abrahamic descent; the same word will later carry the deeper "Son of God" weight (3:17, 16:16).

Theological themes

Davidic Messiah. Jesus is the legitimate royal heir through Joseph's legal line.
Abrahamic seed. Jesus is the heir of the covenant promise to bless the nations.
Toledot continuity. Matthew positions the Gospel as the next entry in the Genesis series of generations.
Gospel structure. The 1:1 incipit + 1:23 Emmanuel + 28:20 "I am with you always" inclusio frames the whole Gospel as the story of Israel's God dwelling with his people in the person of the Messiah.
Gentile inclusion telegraphed. Four Gentile-connected women in the genealogy, four Magi visitors in chapter 2, Great Commission in chapter 28.

Cross-references

Genesis 12.1-3, the Abrahamic call and promise of universal blessing through Abraham's seed.
2 Samuel 7.12-14, the Davidic-covenant promise of an eternal throne.
Matthew 1.16, the careful break in the genealogical formula ("Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born") that protects the virginal conception.
Matthew 22.41-45, Jesus's question "whose son is the Messiah" turning on the Davidic title.
Romans 1.4, Paul's parallel framing of Jesus as "descended from David according to the flesh."

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.