Liber generationis

Liber generationis

The ancestors of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, in the World English Bible, and the questions readers have put to the two lists. Every name opens to where it stands in Scripture, what tradition made of it, and who stands beside it.

“Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob…”Matthew 1:2 — reads down from Abraham
“…the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”Luke 3:38 — reads up from Jesus

The two lines

Earliest at the top, Jesus at the bottom. Matthew’s names run in the left lane, Luke’s in the right; where both lists give the same person, the two strands run together in the middle. Tap any name.

Matthew Luke Both Mothers Matthew names Omitted by Matthew

Where the lists differ

The questions the two genealogies raise when read side by side, and the answers that have been given.

The womenWhy these four women?Two fathersWas Joseph the son of Jacob or of Heli?Solomon or NathanWhich son of David, and where do the lines cross?FourteenWhy three fourteens?Seventy-sevenHow many names does Luke give, and does the number mean anything?Down or upWhy does Matthew descend from Abraham and Luke climb to God?The carnal lineWhat does the line look like from below?

Genealogies elsewhere

Paul warns against ‘endless genealogies’ (1 Tim 1:4; Titus 3:9); Hebrews praises Melchizedek as ‘without genealogy’ (7:3). The Old Testament sources behind the lists are Genesis 5 and 11, Ruth 4:18–22, and 1 Chronicles 1–3.