Chapter 1

1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar), Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth), Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah), 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. 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, fourteen generations. 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.⁠ 19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately.⁠ 20 When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord 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.⁠ 21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”⁠ 22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”⁠ 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, 25 but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.

Texts in conversation

Compare Judges 13:6 and Matthew 1:20

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

Summary

Matthew's story of Jesus' birth follows a pattern from the Hebrew Bible where a divine messenger announces the birth of a child with a special role. The angel’s message to Joseph about Mary follows Judges 13, where an angel announces Samson’s birth.

Passages

Judges 13:6

Hebrew Bible

1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for 40 years. 2 There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are infertile and childless, but you will conceive and have a son. 4 Now be careful! Do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. 5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. You must never cut his hair, for the child will be dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.” 6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God came to me! He looked like God’s angel—he was very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. For the child will be dedicated to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Judges

Matthew 1:20

New Testament

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

70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... It is quite clear that the italicized Matthean material matches very closely the standard annunciation message. So does some non-italicized material like 'she will give birth to a son' and 'he will save his people from their sins'; but that is because in those clauses there coincided the two literary forms in the pre-Matthean stratum, the angelic dream pattern and the angelic annunciation of birth. In other words, those are clauses that had a function (and sometimes a different one) in both patterns. For instance, in the angelic dream pattern, 'for he will save his people from their sins' serves as the standard reason offered by the angel for his command (Genesis 16, 17; Judges 13), while in the annunciation pattern it is the etymology of the name Jesus, Thus, I would explain Matthew's 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid' as the standard 3a-c of the annunciation pattern, and Matthew's 'The child begotten in her ... She will give birth to a son; and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins' as the standard 3d-g of the annunciation pattern ..."

Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979), 154–164.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Comments

"Genesis 16, 17" - There is no such source in the Jewish Bible.
test that I conducted, even among you Christians there is no such numbering:
https://biblehub.com/bsb/genesis/16.htm
Brown, Raymond E. Refers to the correct source in Genesis 16:8-11.

NIV, May 24, 2024

Matthew28 chapters

Compare Judges 13:6 and Matthew 1:20

Summary

Passages

Judges 13:6

Matthew 1:20

References

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