The ancestors of Jesus Christ
1 This is a list of the ancestors of Jesus Christ. Jesus was from the family of King David. David was from the family of Abraham.
1:1Jesus was a descendant of Abraham. Abraham was the ancestor of all the Israelite people. We can read about Abraham in Genesis 12-25. Jesus was also a descendant of Judah, one of Jacob's sons. Later, the descendants of Judah were called Jews. Jesus was also a descendant of King David. We can read about King David in 1 Samuel 16-31 and in 2 Samuel. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah. Tamar was their mother.
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.
4 Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz. Rahab was his mother.
Boaz was the father of Obed. Ruth was his mother.
Obed was the father of Jesse.
6 Jesse was the father of King David.
David was Solomon's father. Solomon's mother was the wife of Uriah.
7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.
Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.
Abijah was the father of Asa.
8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.
Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.
9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham.
Jotham was the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.
Manasseh was the father of Amon.
Amon was the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers.
This was at the time when the Israelites' enemies took them away to Babylon.
12 Here is a list of Jesus' ancestors who lived after that time:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
Abiud was the father of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the father of Azor.
14 Azor was the father of Zadok.
Zadok was the father of Akim.
Akim was the father of Eliud.
15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
Matthan was the father of Jacob.
16 Jacob was the father of Joseph.
Joseph married Mary. Mary was the mother of Jesus. Jesus is the one who is called Christ, the Messiah.
1:16‘Christ’ and ‘Messiah’ both mean someone that God has chosen to be a special king. ‘Christ’ is the Greek word. ‘Messiah’ is the Hebrew word.
17 So then, there were 14 generations from Abraham to David. There were another 14 generations from David to the time they took the Israelite people away to Babylon. Then there were 14 generations from that time until Jesus, the Messiah, was born.
1:17The names of all their ancestors were very important to the Jews. Then they knew that they were Jews. The list shows that Jesus was in the same family as Abraham, Judah, Joshua and David. They were his ancestors. Matthew records Jesus' ancestors as far as Joseph. Jesus was Mary's son, but he was not Joseph's son. Matthew explains this in the next verses. But, when Joseph married Mary, he became the father of Jesus by the law.
