Matthew 1:1

Matthew 1:1

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham

a. NLT: This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David[fn] and of Abraham: [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: A roll of the birth of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Classic Amplified: The book of the ancestry (genealogy) of Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the son (descendant) of David, the son (descendant) of Abraham. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

1. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ…”

a. [The] book [Strong: 976 biblos bib'-los properly, the inner bark of the papyrus plant, i.e. (by implication) a sheet or scroll of writing:--book.

b. [of the] generation [Strong: 1078. genesis ghen'-es-is from the same as 1074; nativity; figuratively, nature:--generation, nature(-ral).]

c. [of] Jesus [Strong: 2424. Iesous ee-ay-sooce' of Hebrew origin (3091); Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites:--Jesus.]

d. Christ [Strong: 5547. Christos khris-tos' from 5548; anointed, i.e. the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus:--Christ.]

2. “...the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

a. [the] son [Strong: 5207. huios hwee-os' apparently a primary word; a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinship:--child, foal, son.]

b. [of] David [Strong: 1138. Dabid dab-eed' of Hebrew origin (1732); Dabid (i.e. David), the Israelite king:--David.]

c. [the] son [Strong: 5207. huios hwee-os' apparently a primary word; a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinship:--child, foal, son.]

d. [of] Abraham [Strong: 11. Abraam ab-rah-am' of Hebrew origin (85); Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch:--Abraham.]

1). Primarily, Matthew was writing to Jews and presenting Jesus as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. This is why Matthew in the very first verse of the gospel refers to Jesus Christ as the “son of David”. The son of David was a messianic term that specifically referred to the Messiah. At the end of the attempted traps that the Jewish leaders laid for Jesus, he gave them a taste of their own medicine. He asked them who the Messiah was, and they all answered that he was the son of David (Matthew 22:41, 42). So here in the very first verse Matthew is declaring that Jesus was the promised Messiah.